The next few weeks were spent quietly, adapting to the island and meeting the others, getting to know them and the jobs we all pitched in on. I quickly fell into a groove of taking care of the kids and working in the small garden. Being Maine, winter was coming early and quickly so we were in a rush to harvest all the vegetables from the garden and then to preserve them. I grimaced slightly at that but didn't say anything. At least these canned fruits and vegetables were a little fresher than the ones we'd been living off of thus far.

The first run back to the mainland was successful. They returned with what looked like the entire contents of a Wal-mart. There were a couple of vehicles they kept at the docks, pickup trucks, and they'd filled those up completely, using tarps to keep the shit inside. They'd encountered a few zeds along the way but nothing they couldn't handle.

The best thing about it all, though, was the fact that they hit a museum and stole a transatlantic telegraph. I wasn't sure how they intended to make it work without the cables or whatever the fuck it was that made telegraphs work, but Edward's dad, Carlisle, was giddy with excitement and spent hours tinkering with it.

"You know," I muttered one night as Edward and I were snuggling down under the quilts, my teeth chattering "a satellite phone would have been more useful. We could try to call someplace else. Europe or Asia or something."

He sighed. "They're planning a trip to Europe."

"What?" I sat up and looked at him with surprise.

"Yeah, as soon as spring hits, they want to load up a boat and set off for England."

"That'll take a couple of weeks, if they make it." I stared at him incredulously.

"I know. I think it's a stupid ass idea but there's no talking Jasper out of something once he's made his mind up about it." He gently pulled me back down next to him. We lay in silence for a bit.

"You know what they need is some of those trunks from Joe vs. the Volcano," I muttered. "Those fuckers were indestructible."

Edward laughed and rubbed my arms soothingly. "Please don't tell me you have a brain cloud."

"No, but I hate the sunshine. It gets me down."

He laughed and started to tickle me, rolling over on top of me as I squirmed and laughed, trying to get away. "I'm not arguing that with you."

I gasped with laughter, trying to push him off of me as his fingers hit the secret spots only he knew. "I know he can get the job, but can he do the job," I panted, finally managing to push him away from me a little.

He was laughing now, collapsing on top of me and effectively pinning my arms and legs. "Well, at least I'm not sick, besides this terminal disease." He started to kiss along my jaw to my neck, hitting the hollow at the base of my throat and slipping his fingers up under my shirt. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled his mouth to mine, wrapping my legs around his waist in the process.

"Not tonight," he murmured softly as I pressed my hips against his. "It's that time of the month for you."

I growled frustratedly but nodded. Damn ovulation. I'd relish not having a period anymore for more than one reason, that was for sure. As undernourished as I'd been, you'd think I would have stopped having one but no, my body decided to defy convention. Leah, one of the soldiers, was also a medic and she, while not having much in the way of medical training, wondered if that meant I was a little more fertile than most. So, Edward and I were doubly careful. Condoms every time and no sex in the middle of my cycle when I was likely ovulating. It was a real mood killer to have to stop and count sometimes.

He flopped onto his back beside me and we lay, staring up at the ceiling and breathing heavily.

"Fucking zombies," I muttered.

"No shit." He ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. He rolled onto his side and pulled me against him. "Promise me one thing."

"What's the one thing?"

"Don't volunteer to go to England."

I laughed and nodded. "Deal. Same goes for you."

He chuckled and kissed my temple. "No way in hell am I getting on a boat. Open water terrifies me."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously. I hated coming out to the island as a kid because of all the water surrounding it."

"And now?"

"Now? Still scary, but also a safety blanket. Sort of."

"Why only sort of?"

He was silent for a long moment. "B, they're learning. They're adapting and living longer. It's like they're evolving or some shit."

"How do you know?"

"I overheard a couple of guys talking about the last trip. They saw a zed trying to drive. Only thing that stopped it was the car was out of gas."

I shivered and that time, it wasn't the cold air in the room.

"It's only a matter of time, B. They know we're out here, it's just a matter of time until they figure out how to get here. They don't need to breathe so they could potentially just walk across the harbor to get here."

"Fuck."

"Yeah. It may be an insane idea to take a boat to England, but at this point, that might be our best option."

I nodded and cuddled closer to him. Here, in this bed and in his arms, there were no zeds and no fears and no worries. Just us.

Gradually, I was accepted by everyone on the island. Edward's parents and sisters-in-law were quick to accept me, but Jasper and Emmett held back a little. I could tell they were wary of me still and I didn't blame them. Who was I to any of them but a strange girl who'd somehow captured their brother's affections?

My chance to prove myself came on the first raid I participated in. It was cold, late October, and there were five of us going: Emmett, Sam, Leah, Jared, and me. I felt pretty secure with the three soldiers but Emmett kept giving me looks. I tried to look away but even then, I felt his eyes boring into the back of my skull.

We landed and piled into the trucks, heading out in the direction of the last raid. There'd been a couple stores in a shopping area they'd missed and wanted to get again. I wordlessly pulled on my protective gear and hefted my bat. It wasn't the cricket bat from Phoenix, but an aluminum baseball bat. I could do some serious damage with this.

We pulled up to the shopping center and my heart started to beat faster. I could see the broken blood smeared windows, evidence that there were zeds around...or had been. I was really hoping it was a had been situation.

"Recent activity," Leah muttered in my ear, jerking her head in the direction of the bloody glass. "It was clean last time we were here."

"Great."

She nodded and renewed her grip on her gun, her thumb lightly caressing the side.

We piled out carefully, holding our weapons up in a ready stance as we slowly made our way towards the two stores they'd missed: a pharmacy and a clothing store. I could only hear the rushing of blood in my ears as we neared it, waiting anxiously for a signal of some kind.

Sam used some kind of military miming to indicate that he was going in first and that Emmett should bring up the rear. I followed Leah in through the broken window, scanning for any sign of movement. We quickly searched the perimeter of the pharmacy, relieved to find it was empty. Emmett stood guard outside while we filled up the small carts and started dumping shit in the beds of the trucks. I went out to stand with him for a moment, trying to figure out how to let him know I was trustworthy.

"I'd kill for a cigarette right now," he said after a few minutes of me standing beside him in silence.

I grinned. "None of the places have cigarettes?"

"They do, we're just not allowed to smoke. I think we should, since its an appetite suppressant."

"Life's hard in the AZ," I chuckled. "We all have to give up our vices."

"What'd you give up?"

I thought for a moment. "Writing."

"That's not a vice," he scoffed.

"You never read my writing."

He laughed, a great booming sound that sounded odd and out of place here in the shell of civilization. I grabbed his arm and he immediately stopped, following my gaze to some movement in the distance.

"Zeds?" I asked.

He nodded. "Looks like. They're moving fast."

"Well, they're fast fuckers. Have you not noticed that before now?"

"Most of the ones we run into are decaying enough that they're fairly slow."

"Well, the fresh ones would put Bolt to shame." I stepped back into the store to alert the others.

They picked up the pace and we opted to forget the clothing store, piling into the trucks and pulling out before really securing the second tarp. Emmett and I were in the back working on tying it down when the first zed caught up to us. Leah easily picked him off with her gun. It startled me but Emmett kept working. I shook myself and worked beside him, quickly lashing down the precious meds we'd grabbed.

Emmett let out a startled yelp and went flying off the truck as one of the zeds grabbed him and pulled him off the truck. I didn't think, I just reacted. I jumped off too and rolled when I hit the ground. I jumped to my feet and pounded off down the pavement to where Emmett was fighting off zeds. There were five of them, all surrounding him. He was a goner and he knew it. I wasn't ready to accept it, though.

I screamed at the top of my lungs, drawing a couple of the zeds to me. I quickly took them out with the bat, grateful they'd staggered their approach some, then ran towards Emmett.

His gun was clicking, signifying there were no more bullets, but he kept pulling the trigger as one of the zeds was attempting to peel his protective clothing off to get at his skin.

"Back off, asshole," I growled, swinging and connecting with the head. The rest of the body slumped down and rested on Emmett's stomach.

The other two had been dispatched by Emmett's gun before he ran out, their corpses oozing and still on the pavement. I kicked the one on him off, then offered him a hand. He took it and let me pull him up. We stared at each other for a long moment, panting.

"That was the dumbest fucking thing you could have done."

"Sorry. Won't happen again."

He grinned at me and shook his head. "You're always like that?"

"Well, not always. Sometimes I have something witty to say."

He chuckled and slung an arm around my shoulders as we set off towards the trucks that were now returning. "You're ok by me, kid."

"Do me a favor then?"

He raised an eyebrow at me. "What's that?"

"Don't tell Edward I jumped out of a moving vehicle. He'll get pissed."

He laughed again and nodded. "I won't, but I'll bet one of them does." He motioned to the others who were watching us wide eyed.

I sighed. "Then I'll just have to appease him with my feminine wiles."

"You do that. He could use some decent feminine wiles used on him. He's too tense if you ask me."

The others first berated then congratulated me on the epic save. I pleaded with them not to tell Edward, but they did anyway. He was furious, like I knew he would be, but he calmed down finally and thanked me for saving Emmett. In the same breath he told me if I ever did anything like that again, he'd lock me in a closet every raid day.

The winter passed slowly. It seemed to last forever, too. The snow came early and stayed late. The small pond on the island froze solid so we went make-shift ice skating in our boots. The next trip to the mainland, the raiders brought back ice skates and hockey gear. Why they hadn't gotten some before now I didn't understand but I didn't argue the fact. I simply strapped on the gear and headed out on the ice.

Growing up in Texas did not prepare me for such harsh winters and I couldn't ice skate to save my life. As a result, I was shivering uncontrollably and ended up being made goalie. I actually wasn't half bad, blocking the majority of the pucks with my body by falling.

Edward, of course, was a natural. He looked like he'd been born on skates, as did almost everyone else on the island. Even the kids were better than me. I didn't care, though, since my clumsiness resulted in Edward staying close by in case I really hurt myself.

The whole island ate together for nearly every meal. It was easier to cook that way and there were rarely ever leftovers. I didn't miss that the portions gradually got smaller. It concerned me but I couldn't really do anything to fix it. Food was scarce out in the AZ. Here on the island, we had whatever we'd scrounged from there but there were a lot of people to feed, plus the animals. At least they could mostly live off the land. No need to worry about them too much, though the cows had trouble finding grass in the winter.

Spring finally came, though it was later than I was used to. In Texas, we got spring in early March, sometimes even late February. Here, it was May. We all shed our multiple layers and enjoyed the days of sunshine and relative warmth. A few brave souls even went swimming in the hockey pond. I got chills just thinking about it.

Things were quiet on the island, the days became monotonous and simplistic. The raids were the most exciting parts of our months, the one or sometimes two days that a few people would leave the island in search of supplies. There was always the anxiety that one or all of them would not make it back to us. They always made it, though, and sometimes, they brought us back surprises.

Once, they came back with some wild turkeys they'd managed to catch. Another time they brought back some antique shit from a farming museum nearby. The most random thing, though, was the Tiffany's raid.

I'd never been a huge fan of Tiffany's, to be honest. Expensive jewelry didn't make a lot of sense to me. Sure, when I got old enough to realize what it was and started thinking about marriage, I wanted a pretty ring, but once I realized what Tiffany's was, I was horrified to realize that they charged upwards of $10,000 for a ring. My first car cost less than that. So, when Edward presented me with a silver necklace that night, I chided him for it.

"Seriously? Why didn't you guys get something useful like shoes or clothing or more animals?"

He chuckled and fastened it around my neck anyway. "We thought it might be nice to get something pretty for our women. Plus there were no live animals in the mall we hit."

I grunted and studied the pendant in the dim moonlight. "Well, thank you. It's beautiful."

"You just enhance its beauty. It's really a piece of junk."

I laughed and swatted him with my pillow. He grabbed me and pulled me close for a kiss. I snuggled against his chest, tangling my legs with his.

"Are they still set on the trip to England?" I asked after a while.

He nodded. "Yep."

"When are they talking about going?"

"July. It'll be a little warmer then."

I nodded, twisting my fingers in his shirt. "And the zeds?"

"Still out there, though there are less. They've taken to eating animals now."

I shuddered. He hugged me tighter to him and we lay quietly.

"You know," he said suddenly "we missed our anniversary."

"What anniversary?"

"The anniversary of our meeting. It was a couple months ago."

"So it was."

"Well…happy anniversary."

I laughed. "So what do we want to do to celebrate?"

"This." He shifted around in the dark and suddenly I felt something cold and metallic on my hand. I shifted and held it up, peering at it in the moonlight.

"It's a ring."

"Yep."

"Is it a Tiffany's ring?"

He laughed softly and kissed my bare shoulder. "No. We hit a pawn shop for weapons and I stole the ring there."

"I love it, thanks." I rolled over and kissed him, moving my legs so I was astride him. His arms tightened around my waist and he held me tightly to him.

"It's an engagement ring, B."

"I figured."

"So?"

I laughed and shook my head. "There's not really marriage anymore, Edward. There are no more pastors or churches or much in the way of religion. Just what we decide and what we want."

"I've decided I want you."

I smiled and cupped his face, scratching the scruff he had on his jaw. "And I want you. Why bother with a ring? No one else on the island is after either of us."

"Because it's a small semblance of civilization and of what used to be, that's why. Plus, it makes me happy."

I sighed and rested my forehead against his chest. "I'm afraid if I say yes, you'll die."

"I'm afraid if you say no, I'll die and you'll regret it. I don't ask for much from you, you know."

"I know." My voice was muffled by his shirt. He rubbed his hands up and down my back and I finally sat up and took a deep breath. "I'll marry you, Edward, but on one condition."

He raised his eyebrows at me. "I'm listening."

"Promise me you won't go to England."

"I'm not even remotely interested in going, B."

"Promise me."

"Fine, I promise."

I nodded and smiled down at him. "I accept your proposal, then, Edward…whatever your last name is."

He laughed and sat up, shifting me slightly and kissing me. "It's Cullen."

"Edward Cullen. Nice." I slipped my arms around his neck and toyed with the hair at his nape.

"And you?"

I smiled. "You want to know my name?"

"I figure after over a year with you and an engagement, I'm due."

I smiled and sat back from him a little, holding out my hand. "I'm Isabella Eve Swan."

"Eve?"

"Yep."

He smiled and shook his head. "My first name is Adam."

"Shut up." I shoved his shoulder lightly.

"Seriously. Adam Edward Cullen. Named after my grandfathers."

I laughed and kissed him again, pushing him back. "So I guess our sons will be Cain and Abel and Seth?"

"I prefer Aron and Cal and Abra."

"Love that book."

"Love you."

He rolled over and pulled my panties down along with his own pants and settled between my legs. I lifted my hips as he rolled on the condom and smiled up at him.

"Love you, too."

He kissed me again and paused a moment, hovering against me. "Did you see Cold Mountain?"

I frowned. "No."

"There was a scene in it where the couple wanted to get married but couldn't because there wasn't a preacher. They decided that if they said 'I marry you' three times, they were married."

I reached up and threaded my fingers in his hair. "I marry you." I pulled him down and lightly kissed his jaw. "I marry you." I kissed the hollow at the base of his throat. "I marry you." I kissed his mouth. "Any questions?"

He grinned and kissed the juncture of my jaw and my neck. "I marry you." He kissed my throat. "I marry you." He nuzzled the underside of my chin. "I marry you. No questions asked."

I grinned. "That makes this my wedding night. You better make it special."

"Oh, I intend to." He kissed me again and moved against me.

***

Tali: So, this story was originally written as my own (like pretty much all of my stories) and the characters' names were Chris and Eve, or E. I had to amend it for Twilight but really wanted to keep the Adam and Eve thing since as far as they know, it's the end of the world. So, I changed their names.

Movies quoted are (obviously) Joe Vs the Volcano and Cold Mountain. The book is East of Eden by John Steinbeck. I adore that book, mostly cause my husband and I read it together while we were dating and he was overseas. Plus, I adore JS in general. Check it out my friends.

Also, the bit with the raid (about 1300 words) was totally added in the past 20 minutes to appease a couple of people: its a raid (so you can know kind of what they're like) and B's moment of proving herself. Hope it works for you ladies! I'm sorry, I can't remember your names and I'm sick so going to go lay down instead of look them up. Hugs and air kisses! Air cookies? Something. Enjoy!