A dark path looms before me, deep velvet blackness envelops my body, stark silence pressing against my eardrums. My feet pull me onward, down the path, my feet padding against soft, dark soil. I feel an inexorable force urging my onward, faster, faster, until I'm running at a full sprint down this pitch-black path – no light, no sound to guide me. Sharp branches block my way, but I plow through the brambles in my haste, the dark, piercing brush no more painful than crow's feathers. I cannot decide if I am chasing something or fleeing, I just continue to sprint. Stars twinkle above me, but shed no light on this path. My way is dark, my eyes blind. I hear a small noise drift toward me on the soft, night air, steadily growing clearer. I hear my name whispered.

Bella

I race on. My feet are blurred now with my speed, I travel miles in just a few minutes. I feel my journey is at an end. My name floats towards me again, soft as a sigh, accompanied by a most glorious scent – hibiscus, warm earth, honey, and ocean. I smell color – emerald green, crimson, gold, and cerulean, all muted by the night. My blind eyes seeing in my mind a wonderful vision. I press on, breaking through the last of the trees, my eyesight restored by the vast full moon hanging in the brilliant midnight sky. I hear my name, whispering like the small waves breaking on the shore. I halt in the still-warm sands of the perfect crescent beach.

Bella

I sense a presence with me on the beach - a bright-white beacon in the midnight waters. I slowly walk down the beach, hesitant, my toes sinking in the wet sand, ocean waves lapping lightly at my ankles. The water is warm, comforting. A figure stands facing the endless horizon, staring at the moon. His smooth back beckoned to me over the black water. I walk deeper into the waves, the soaked hem of my short sundress clung to my legs. I stood behind him waiting.

"Beautiful moon tonight," he whispered. "I have watched it rise and move across the sky while I waited here for you."

"I'm sorry," I replied, my head dropping with unexpected guilt. "I ran here as fast as I could."

"Bella. I know you ran as fast as you could," he said. "I was pleased you got here so quickly. I have missed you."

"We have been apart so long. Lets end this, turn around," I whispered.

"Not yet, please allow me to prepare myself. I know you are still my Bella, but the changes since I left have been drastic and I do not want to rush you. I am sorry I left you to get used to this life on your own. I just did not want you to feel as if you owed me time, or anything. You know, now."

"No, I don't feel that way. I came here because I had to. I need to. I need you. A force pulled me here, down a path that led straight to you. It was dark, it was silent, full of obstacles, but straight and true. You were waiting here at the end, I can only assume I was meant to find you here. You said you were waiting for me."

"Yes, some force drew me here as well. It had a familiar feel, a taste almost. It was you. My path was not straight, it was not true. I had many paths to choose, some noble and others horrible, but the force pulled me onward, inexorably, down a long road that led to this beach. I waited here for you. I could feel you coming. I could hear your steps, so fast. I could taste your scent, no longer dangerous, but new somehow, a tang of sweetness, roses and orange blossom, sour citrus. It was you, but new. Different. I knew it had happened. I was elated to hear. I had hoped I could finally be with you, but my heart grew weary. I realized that now you had the time and perspective to make a truly informed choice. I ask that you make this choice now, before I turn around. You know I am essentially a selfish creature, I ask that you decide to stay before I look upon your undoubtedly breathtaking beauty and see what I have truly lost. Please, make it now."

"My path has been long, tough, and dark. But as I said straight. It led me here to you. It is you. It has always been you. And it always will be. Please turn around, I will still be here. "

Slowly, the figure turned, his eyes closed tight. I stayed where I was, frozen in the waves. With his confession I felt suddenly powerful.

"Open your eyes."

And he did. I stared into his eyes for the first time in weeks, since the awful events in Italy. I saw his pain and regret, I saw wonder, I saw shame. In his eyes, I saw a mirror image of myself, young and scared. These were my eyes, I thought, before. Before all the events that led to this moment. This was how I looked at him. His expression changed to one of cautious admiration. He took a small step toward me in the water, small waves lapping at his jaunting hipbones, his ever-present khakis soaked to a dark brown. I stepped to him, reaching a hand out for his. Our hands met in the middle -his large, capable hand engulfing my small, alabaster one. I was back. I was healed. I was whole.

We could have stood there for hours. Time had ceased to mean much for me on that beach. We just stared at each other. Our collective wonder lighting up the night, our bright white skin, shining moon-like together in the darkness of the midnight beach.

He closed the distance quickly then, pulling me into him with a small moan.

"Bella," he whispered, agonizingly. "I have missed you."

He pulled my head up from his chest and crushed his mouth to mine. My mouth responded in new ways to this complete abandonment of his careful control. This was a new Edward, a new being I had only ever seen hinted at during our most passionate moments.

"Bella, I love you. I'll never leave you. I am yours. Please forgive me."

I was incoherent as a result of his ardent pleading, his kisses rendering me breathless with the old longing. Waves washed over us, neither of us cared. The tide could carry us out to sea, and we would not have noticed. The sweetness of our reunion could not be spoiled. I answered his question without words. I pulled myself into his arms, laying him back in the water. He pulled us deeper, the water up to our necks, my white dress completely soaked and useless. I molded myself to him, our bodies pressing together. I could not remember being happier, ever. His hands worked up and down my back, rubbing a steady rhythm to our kissing. I felt a catch, and then a release as he began to slide my dress off my shoulders. I slid around to his side and ran my mouth up his neck to his ear. Kissing his neck, I lightly bit his ear. He pulled me around roughly to face him, growling in my ear:

"This will be so much easier now that you are a vampire."

I jolted awake as Rosalie unceremoniously dumped me out of my airline seat and drug me to the doorway.

What had I just seen?