This is an extra long chapter, ok?? I think it's my longest so far but I did enjoy writing it. I even wrote some on a car journey while on my laptop.

Shows just how much I love you guys.

GOOD.

This is SIX pages on Word. I mean talk about long.

3,000 words exactly!

But I guess this Author's note is pretty stretched out and long.

Btw the story is winding down because Chapter 30 is the last except for the Epilogue.

I know I'm sad too!!

Chapter dedication: ALL OF YOU

IPod selection: First One On The Blog by Farewell

Low by Flo Rida

They both rock so listen to them.

Song: All You Need Is Love (I don't know who it's by)

This song is perfect for how Bella is feeling at the end of the chapter.

Now read on…

Chapter 29

Someone was jumping on the bed, I felt cocooned inside my warm quilt and Edward's arms but I was suddenly cold. I opened my eyes a little to see Edward grab a very excited pixie by the scruff of her neck and drag her towards the doors. He hissed something to her which made her face fall about a mile. I made the necessary waking up sounds and stretched for effect. I sat up slowly, blinking to clear my sleepy eyes.

'Hello?' I called out, knowing they were there but trying to sound worried.

'BELLA! You're awake. Go away Edward, get off of me. Oh, Bella, why didn't you say? I had to coax it out of Jazz. We have to go to Victoria Secret today and Macys and Saks and Century 21 and…everywhere else. Come on, get out of bed, I have got to get you ready and you and I need to have a little, little chat about something!' Alice shrieked as she flung herself towards me. I had a feeling the 'chat' would be about why Edward and I were in a hotel bed together. I groaned. Edward came and sat behind me, shooting daggers at Alice and rubbed my shoulders. I leant back against him.

'Alice, I really need to relax today. My legs can't take anymore. I'm sorry, I really am but I cannot. I have the court hearing tomorrow and I need my rest. Yesterday totally drained me, sorry!' I apologised, I really was shattered. Edward's arms snaked around my waist.

'We need to be out of the room in around 4 hours,' he breathed in my ear. I nodded and breathed in deeply.

'Bella, we need to get you dressed and I will redo your bandages!' Alice offered. I shook my head.

'No thanks, Alice. I am going back to bed for a bit. Please don't try and change my mind,' I muttered, closing my eyes.

'But…' Alice started. Edward interrupted her. I opened my eyes a little.

'No Alice, you heard Bella. Now come back to pick us up in three hours and we will be ready to leave ok?' he said in his authorative no-nonsense tone. Alice's shoulders slumped and she sighed.

'Fine, see you later,' she whispered, kissing my forehead and kissing Edward's cheek. She waved and I raised my hand in a wave. She smiled and left.

'Sleep Bella,' Edward encouraged me, so I nodded and fell asleep against him.

I woke up as Edward shifted behind me. I wasn't very tired at all any more. Edward's hand gently swept down the side of my face, caressing my cheek gently. I smiled. He chuckled.

'Good sleep?' he asked. I nodded and rolled onto my front which happened to be on top of him. I folded my arms across his chest and lay my head on that. He chuckled again and smoothed down my hair.

'Who is going to change your bandages, if you sent Alice away?' Edward asked curiously. I grimaced, I was glad he couldn't see my face burn up while I thought that he could do it. Normally I had to take off my jeans to change my bandages. I bit my lip.

'Erm…well…' I muttered.

'I don't mind doing it as long as you are comfortable with it,' he offered, I lifted my head and looked into his eyes. I smiled brightly and nodded.

'Are you sure?' I said suddenly.

'Of course,' he replied smoothly. I kissed his chest and lay my head back down. His arms enclosed me in a death trap and squeezed me tightly, but not too tight.

'Time to get up then Bella,' Edward said. I muttered something unintelligible and rolled off of him…onto the floor.

'Oh, crap!' I mumbled. Edward was struggling not to laugh, I gave him a look but he laughed even harder and rolled off the other side by accident. It was my turn to start laughing. Edward's head appeared at the top of the bed looking down on me, now that he had gotten up. He smiled that I was ok and sat Indian style on the bed. I got up and ran a hand through my knotted hair.

'Get up, make the bed!' I commanded. He jumped but did so immediately. I grinned, pleased by my power. Edward appeared in front of me and picked me up and lay me down on the bed and kissed my stomach where my pyjama top had ridden up. I wriggled, his breath tickled. He drew back and collected my clothes from the overnight bag Rose had delivered last night, well early that morning.

'Get into your clothes that you can, I'll do your bandages after that,' Edward said. I kissed his lips and walked slowly to the bathroom. I had a boiling hot shower and dressed my top half and wore my underwear, I also slipped into a pair of cycling shorts that Rose had so cleverly thought to pack. I smiled; she was the best sister ever. I came out the bathroom and was shocked by the sight in front of me.

Edward. Shirtless.

My eyes involuntarily widened as I took it the sight. He wasn't looking at me, luckily. I closed my eyes tightly trying to get rid of that dream. I opened them but it was real. I almost fainted I swear. I know it sounds cheesy but it's really true. He's so muscular. Then he noticed me staring. He laughed loudly.

'Bella, my face is here. Wow, I thought only girls had to say that!' Edward chuckled. My face flushed. I looked away.

'Hey! I don't mind,' he quickly added rushing to my side and hugging me against his bare chest. I smiled. We stayed like that for a couple of minutes.

'Right, bandages,' he said pulling away. My face fell a little at the loss of warmth and comfort but I brightened quickly. I sat on the bed and stuck my legs out in front of me. Edward knelt in beside them and pulled out the bag of bandages Rose had packed for me. Edward knew already what to do and worked efficiently. Soon I had been re-bandaged up and went back into the bathroom to change out of my cycling shorts and into my jeans.

Edward was lying on the bed flicking through a large pile of papers.

'Coursework?' I asked sitting beside him on the bed. He sighed.

'The one and only,' he said simply. 'You've got half of this to do!' he added complaining.

'Well, Edward, how would you like getting tied up and shot a couple of times and whacked a bit, eh?' I asked sarcastically.

'Point taken,' he replied. I watched over his shoulder as he read through the notes, I kissed his shoulder every now and again and whispered 'I love you' into his ear too. I knew I was distracting him, so I decided to clear up the broken mirror and fix the drawers. I picked up the little pieces of the mirror and threw them away.

I picked up a rather large piece and it slipped into the bin, tearing through the skin on my hand. I gasped in pain and blinked away the tears. Fresh blood gleamed viciously from the wound and I balled up my hand, making the pain and blood flow worse. I jumped around, repeating; 'Shoot, shoot, shoot,' over and over again. Then Edward looked up to see me. He rushed over in record time and was behind rubbing my back. He took my hand and stretched it out. I hissed in pain. The cut went from the middle of my little finger to my wrist.

'Ouch!' Edward commented, turning my palm over and back, assessing the damage.

'Looks like we'll need that spare bandage,' I muttered angrily.

'Good assessment, Miss Swan,' he whispered, kissing my cheek and reaching for the bandage.

'Well, I've had many injuries like this one in the last twenty one years!' I replied. Edward bound up my hand and kissed my finger tips before kissing my lips softly at first. I placed my hands delicately in his hair and ran my fingers through his soft, auburn locks. He smiled against my lips and slid his hands into the back pockets of my jeans.

For a second I forgot to breathe but then I pressed harder against his lips. He bit my bottom lip and I opened my mouth slightly. His tongue darted in quickly, he tasted fresh and nice. I could feel that we both wanted to take this further but I didn't really want to while I was tied down with bandages practically everywhere!

Then like all good moments, Alice decided to come and get us. She knocked on the door. I pulled away reluctantly, licking my lips. Edward's were red from all the kissing. I grinned and put my arms around his waist. He then suddenly swept me into his arms and went over to let an excited but bored pixie in. Alice stifled a gasp when she saw us but soon waltzed in and picked up our bag and Edward's coursework, then she left the room without saying a word.

I raised an eyebrow at Edward.

'She's still angry at us for not going shopping with her,' he said, letting me down and slipping an arm around my waist for support. We went downstairs and gave the receptionist the key and left. Alice was fidgeting impatiently in the back seat of the Volvo. She handed Edward the key as he helped me into the passenger seat. Edward got in the driver and we were back off to NYU, home, at least for now!

The rest of the day I spent in bed and on the phone to my lawyer. All the others stayed over at my new dorm room. It was state of the art in technology and style. Both Alice and Rose were jealous but happy for me. I was trying to prepare myself for my court appearance but inside I was shaking like crazy. Edward always sat me on his lap for the phone calls and most times in between when I wasn't asleep. His presence brought a strange sense of safety, security and calmness on me. He really was perfect and stuck by me through everything.

At the end of the day we decided we were all going to stay here at my dorm for the night because who knew what tomorrow would bring. Edward and I shared my bed. Alice and Jasper took the couch. Rose and Emmett took the other bed after I had told them if they christened that bed then I wouldn't talk to them ever again and would cut off Rose's subscription to 'Car and Driver' and Emmett's subscription to 'WWE', it was my last birthday present's to the pair of them. I had spent a lot of money of them but I loved them both so much anyway, especially Rose but I suppose Emmett was like my big brother.

Mom and dad were coming down for the court case but were probably going to go home afterwards. I would miss their ever nearby presence but like all college student I wanted them away, sort of! They'd been really supportive of me and had paid for a lawyer out of their retirement fund, which meant so much to all of us in the Hale and partly Swan family. They were everything to me and I guess I was everything to them. It made me feel safer and protected. I had a great extended family too. Emmett, Alice and Edward were also the world to me. Edward was practically my oxygen. I smiled at the thought and tried to drift off to sleep, thinking happy thoughts.

I hardly slept a wink but I still felt awake in the morning. I was first up, ordering breakfast up to my room. It was something that only I had been allowed to have since my legs weren't going to be in perfect condition all the time. I was allowed to order for everybody since we had the court case today. Everyone on campus was very understanding and supportive of us. Emily Young was meeting us outside my room four hours before the hearing, so we could talk through things.

Slowly everyone else got up, had breakfast and got ready. We looked like we were going to a really fancy business meeting not a court case but there you go, that's Alice and Rose for you. Emily knocked on the door and I let her in. Alice and Rose decided to go in the adjoining room until we were ready to leave.

Emily and I went through what our stories were. Then we talked about how life had been going since then. Both of us were having a rough time. Emily and I were lucky to have such good friends. Alice and Rose had bounced back quickly but Emily and I hadn't. I really didn't know how they got up in the morning sometimes but I think I was beginning to.

Take life by the horns and ride it 'til it kills you, Rose had once screamed at me, when I was being boring, then I got really pissed at her, now I was starting to know what she meant. I'd had a real reality check and I was very, very lucky to be alive today; so yeah I was going to take Rose's advice. I wasn't going to be boring again, at least I hoped so.

Emily and I finished talking and then she decided to go freshen up in her own room until we left. The attacks and murders had really affected her and she seemed shaky when she left. So I sat by the door to the other room where Alice and Rose were chatting. I leant against it and tried to hear their conversation.

'I really couldn't believe it when he told me,' Rose was saying.

'I felt like screaming but she was asleep like 3 metres away from us at the time,' Alice said.

'I already think of her as a sister but now…'

'I know. We'll all really be related then as in proper family!' Alice shrieked quietly, if it was even possible.

'It all seems quite sudden because they haven't even been on an actual date ever, in all the seven months they've been together. They are perfect together!' Rose gushed.

'I can't believe they haven't been on a date and he's going to propose! It's like a dream come true. I always wanted them both to fall in love properly and with each other… it's just a bonus!'

I started to gasp quietly. Edward was going to propose to ME!

I mean I loved him and everything but like Alice had said we hadn't even been on a date but I felt like I'd known him forever and a day longer. I did love him and I felt so close to him. Oh my god, he wanted to marry me. The thought hadn't even crossed my mind but now…

OH MY GOD!

I was going to be Mrs Cullen. AHHHHHHHHHHHH! I wanted to scream.

I squealed and stood up. I decided to try and push the thought to the back of my head. I walked casually into the room but couldn't help but feel a little light on my feet and a little light headed. Alice beamed at me when I came in while Rose scrutinised my face for signs of eavesdropping. I made my expression a little dimmer, but I felt like I was glowing.

'Ready?' Alice asked. I nodded and smoothed out my skirt. I picked up my bag and followed Rose to Emily's room.

Edward kissed me goodbye. I smiled so brightly at him, that I was sure they could see it from space. I felt so nervous though. I had to face my attackers, they were murderers. My expression grew angry and furious. I focused all my energy on surviving the next few hours. I needed a miracle to get through this…

But then I thought of one.

The court attendant walked over to me to show me into the court room, I took a deep heavy breath and followed them.

I was going to marry Edward Cullen.

And that was all I needed to get through today and hopefully…

Forever

Wow. So that chapter covered a lot of ground I needed done and dusted by the final chapter (not the Epilogue) which is next. sob

I can't believe it's almost over. It's so hard to believe. I'm almost in tears at having to leave you guys. Your support has been amazing, I never thought in a hundred years that this story would be so popular and in fact when I started all I wanted was 100 reviews but now I'm past 400 and I can't believe it.

I'm gonna miss you guys sooo much.

Please review,

Beth 'Miserable but Happy and Evil' Cullen

xx