~This is it. This is where she tells me she doesn't want me anymore.~ His thoughts were spinning and none of them were good. He decided to speak up first, try and postpone the inevitable.

"Bella...I know I haven't...I mean..." She was stalking towards him, and he instinctively backed up. Something in her eyes unnerved him, and even though he could break her in half without blinking, he found himself being driven backward.

"Edward." Her voice was like ice cubes made of flame and it made him shiver. His legs hit the edge of the bed and he sat down involuntarily.

"Bella...I-"

"Shut up." She was standing right in front of him, eyes flashing, looking spectacular and smelling amazing and he was scared to even speak because he didn't know if he would drive her away.

"All this time I've waited for you. Wanted you. Needed you. Damn it, loved you. And you pushed me away. Time and time again.

"Do you know how that made me feel? The thought that maybe you were just trying to be nice by saying you cared? That maybe I just wasn't good enough for you? Not pretty enough, not smart enough, not sexy enough to tempt you into feeling the way I did? I'm not saying it was a rational thought on my part, but what the hell was I supposed to think? We'd be kissing and your hands would be on me and then suddenly you're across the room and I'm left burning like you dipped me in alcohol and lit a match.

"Well, these past few months have made me see a few things. I've seen myself through other peoples' eyes. I've gotten to experience the kinds of things most girls can only dream of. I've learned who I am, what I'm capable of. I've realized I can take a lot more than anyone thinks I can, and that I love surprising them with that. And I only have one thing to say, you frustrating, mercurial, MAN of a vampire..." He froze. This was where the hammer fell. His unbeating heart fell to his feet as he stared into the eyes of the only woman he'd ever loved and prepared to say goodbye.

"I love you, Edward Cullen. Even if I live and die a human, I will always love you. And if you still want me, I'm yours."

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~Oh my god, the look in his eyes...is it wrong to be turned on by him backing up?~ Bella knew what she had planned, had known since the ride back to the house from the airport. She hadn't realized how good it would feel to voice all of her old doubts, to wash them away with the cleansing waters of her own certainty and new-found belief in herself. She saw his face as she spoke, his beautiful golden eyes filling with love and sorrow and resignation. It tore her heart out, but she knew she had to do this, to break the bubble she'd always held over her thoughts of them together. She couldn't live in a dreamworld anymore. Things would not always be perfect. They would fight, they would hurt each other, but if she'd learned anything at all in these past few months, it wasn't about her - it was that love really did conquer all. And she meant every word she said. Once she was finished, she simply stood there as he stared in dumbfounded silence at her. ~Please, god, let me not have broken us forever!~

"Bella..." He spoke softly, with a complete lack of certainty that she felt as well. "You still want me?" She blinked, then laughed.

"You silly little - of COURSE I want you!" She wanted to throw herself into his arms, but held back. She needed to be certain. "Only if you want me, though. I won't try to convince you." There was a brief second where neither her heart or her lungs wanted to function, and then his arms were wrapped around her and she was pressed back onto her beautiful new bed - the bed he'd made for her - and she could have cried with how right it felt. His lips met hers and they danced together until she was gasping for air and her entire body was pulsing with need. She broke it off and looked up at him.

"I meant it when I said I wouldn't push you. We'll take this only as far as you feel safe taking it." He met her gaze for a long moment, and then he smiled at her, and her libido slammed into overdrive at the promise in those gorgeous eyes.

"Oh, Bella...you're not the only one that's learned things these past few months." He bent down and nipped at her neck and she bucked against him. ~Oh GOD - I'm going to come and we haven't even been kissing for five minutes!~ His hands slid down and shifted her ankles over his hips, nestling himself between her legs as he proceeded to nip and suck at her neck. Working from below her ear across to her lips, then over to the other side; even though he was only touching her neck, her entire body felt like it was going to spontaneously combust. And then he gently...oh-so-gently...closed his teeth over her jugular through the material of her shirt and she shattered, crying out his name and holding him against her as she shuddered. Finally she stopped, dragging his mouth back to her own for a moment before he pulled away and looked at her lust-fogged eyes.

"So while you've been having undoubtedly superb and frequent sex with Carlisle, guess what I've been doing?" She smiled, the thoughts running through her head only serving to make her more and more desperate for him.

"Why don't you tell me?" she asked, her voice husky.

"I've been not having sex." She blinked. ~Did I hear that right?~

"You've been...not...having sex?" He nodded.

"You want to know why?"

"Yes..."

"Because the first time I go that far, I want it to be with you." Her heart melted and she drew him against her.

"Edward..."

"Mmm?"

"Please, PLEASE tell me you plan on that happening someday soon." He glanced at her, grinning.

"Well, I was kind of hoping it would be tonight. Unless you're not up for it-" His cheeky comment was cut off as his beloved Bella slammed her lips against his, startling him enough that she was able to flip him onto his back. She drug his hands to her breasts, sliding her tongue along his lower lip before sucking it hard. He moaned.

"I leave it up to you," she gasped, feeling his fingers close over her throbbing nipples. "You can run the show or I can."

"I think..." he began, pausing a moment to lift her shirt up slightly and press a kiss above her belly button. "...that you'd better take the lead tonight. At least, this time." It was her turn to moan.

"It's not going to be slow, Edward. I've wanted you for too long."

"I don't want it slow...I've been waiting, too. Slow we can do later." A frenzy of movement later and she had him totally nude, laying underneath her as she feasted her eyes on his inhumanly beautiful body. With one hand she scraped her fingernails across his nipples, and with the other she rubbed his thigh, not quite getting close enough to touch his straining cock.

"I think...this isn't fair."

"Hmm?" she asked, enjoying the tease as much as he was.

"You're wearing too many clothes." A totally wicked idea crossed her mind and she stood, stepping a few paces away.

"So you'd like me to be more naked, is that right?" He smiled, knowing she had something on her mind from the light in her eyes and the smile on her kiss-swollen lips.

"Yeah, I'd say that's about right."

"So if I were to, say, take off my skirt..." She matched action to words, slowly sliding the skirt down over her legs, standing back up even slower so she could see his expression when she did. It didn't disappoint.

"God, Bella..." He sounded almost like he was in pain. She decided to make it worse, walking a few steps closer clad only in her garter, stockings, heels, and shirt. He began to beg, the sound just as wonderful as she thought it would be. "Please...take off the shirt?"

"Your wish, my command," she murmured, toying with her breasts through the material for a moment before lifting it inch by inch over her head. Whenever it was off and laying...somewhere, she didn't know where...and she could see him again, she saw what she'd always loved - his eyes, black as midnight with desire. Without prompting she slunk up to him, climbing up on top of him and pressing a kiss to his chest. He seemed frozen with indecision, so she made up his mind for him, coaxing his lips back to her neck while she brushed her nipples against his chest. What followed was almost too much for her to process...his teeth closing over her jugular, not quite hard enough to break the skin but enough that she knew she'd be wearing another mark of ownership in the morning...the feel of his hips between her knees as she adjusted herself over the pulsing cock she'd been dreaming of for so long...his hands tugging just hard enough on her nipples...

"Edward..." she whispered. "Are you sure?" She had to be certain. This was the farthest they'd ever gone, and she didn't want to wake up in the morning to find him filled with regret. He drug his mouth from her neck and back to her lips, kissing her deeply.

"I love you, Bella Swan." That was all the answer she needed. After so much hurt, so many tears, so much dreaming...she slid down onto him slowly, evenly, until she was sitting on him, his entire length buried deep within, where he belonged. She didn't know she was crying until he shifted, bringing her down to kiss the tears away. The movement brought her back to the wonderful present and she lifted her hips, dragging a moan from him as she did so.

"God...Bella...this is..." She smiled, knowing well the intense feeling that stole words and reason.

"Touch me, Edward," she whispered. "Touch me as we make love. I've needed this for so, so long."

It was different, somehow. He wasn't as practiced, as confident as the others, but this joining, the feeling of Edward inside her...nothing could ever compare with it. Not the best encounters with Carlisle in Greece, not the wild night in the kitchen with Emmett and Rosalie, not even that first night with Jasper and Alice. Nothing came even close. She set a slow, hard pace, grinding against him, taking him deep with every thrust. She didn't realize how close she was until she came hard, screeching and arching her back as she kept moving atop him. Riding the shockwaves, she kept sliding up and down on his hardened prick, feeling herself building again.

"Bella...I'm going to...should I..?" She shook her head, understanding what he was asking and choosing to explain it all later.

"I want you, Edward...all of you...that's it, buck your hips...god, yes...come with me baby...I need to feel you come inside me...do it..." That's all it took. With a roar he clamped his hands onto her hips and dragged her hard against him, holding her still as her climax triggered his, her hot depths willingly taking everything he poured into her.

"Bella...I love you so much," he whispered as she collapsed on top of him, her tight muscles still clenching rhythmically around him.

"I love you, Edward. You mean more to me than anything else."

That night, having blazed and fought through pain and sorrow, hurt and despair, the two lost souls that had found one another in the most unlikely of times and places finally became one. Forever and always.

-fin.

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Author's note: So I promised a happy ending. :)Like most stories - especially most of mine (as anyone who's read Divided We Stand will know) the ending isn't ever really the ending. If you're anything like me, you can easily imagine future storylines, more adventures. So I pose you all, constant readers, this idea. I'm willing to write more stories, and as it's been a while since I've done anything like this and I want to stretch my mental muscles again...I'm taking suggestions. Anything you can think of that you might want to see, anything at all, shoot me a line and I'll see what I can put together. Word prompts, picture inspirations, pairings, full plot ideas; I welcome any and all suggestions. I'm having too much fun with these characters to return them just yet. Also, I'm working on compiling a playlist for each Book. I can't seem to write without music of some kind, and each chapter seemed to have one song that worked with it more than any other. Once I get it set, I'll be posting the list and lyrics to each song on my actual official website, and I think there's a link to that on my profile page. Will keep y'all posted.

I wanted to thank you all for coming with me through this...exceedingly...long journey. The summary of this Book, I think, said it all. "What a long, strange trip it's been." Who'd have thought that my original idea for four 3-chapter Books would have taken on such a life of its own? And I'm so happy to have been able to share it with all of you. On behalf of myself, and my Evil Plot Bunnies, thank you, thank you, and thank you.

And now...it's time to go eat something. All that happy makes me hungry. ;-D

-Corianin