Edward

"I was wondering when you were going to wake up." I teased.
"I was up earlier than you." She stuck her tongue out at me like a two year old. I laughed.
"Bella I don't sleep."
She rolled her eyes, "That's just a technicality."
I smiled.
"Did I miss it?" She asked eagerly.
I shook my head. "I wouldn't let you sleep through it on your birthday. What kind of a brother would I be if I did?"
Her face fell. "What's wrong?"
Her face reddened and she was quick to change the subject. "Come on." She hurried up to my room.
I stayed in the safety of the shadows while she unhinged the window boards, just like I showed her.
She fidgeted in anticipation, curling up on the sofa I brought for her.
"How much longer?" She asked.
I smiled, "Bella, you can't rush the sun."
She didn't smile back. "I'm scared." She whispered.
I tensed, "About what?" I asked cautiously.
The whole time she wouldn't look at me, just stared out the window, but when she turned her head I saw the tears. "Will this be the last time I see the sun?"
Bella becoming a vampire was never an issue. We all knew it was coming, but now her transformation was soon approaching.
I wanted to move closer to her, but it was too close to dawn to be anywhere direct sunlight could reach me.
I sighed, "You have another year Bella." She didn't look any happier, "I'll make sure you see the sun as much as you want to before that year is up."
I sat on the floor with my back against the wall. "I wish you could watch it with me."
'I wish I could too', I thought.

Bella
"What do you think I'd look like if I was fifty?" I asked Alice, my female companion in the house. I sat at my vanity combing my hair.
Her expression in the mirror was one of confusion and humor, "And why are you asking me this?"
She kept brushing my hair back, "Well, for starters, I'll never be fifty, and I'm just curious."
Her face fell, and she stepped closer to me.
She took the brush from my hands and took over. "Bella…" She whispered.

Alice's actions alarmed me; she seemed worried, secretive, speaking barely above a whisper.

"Do you want to leave?" She asked.

"Leave…."

"Shhh!" She said forcefully.

"Alice why would I want to leave?" I matched her quiet tone.

She looked hard at me before continuing, "Bella, you have another year before the transformation. I can get you out if you don't want to go through with it."

I've lived this life for so long, knowing what I would become, that I never thought that I would be able to choose differently. And though I've dreamed of the outside world, I never dared to think of escape.

"But…" I was speechless.

"Bella I would not have chosen this life for myself if I knew what I do now." She said sadly.

"But you and Rosalie. And Edward." I said shaking my head. "No."

Although the thought of James made me cringe I couldn't run away. I had too much here.

She sighed sadly and resumed brushing.

We didn't speak after that.

Edward

"How is she doing?" James asked me while the humans lay bare and drained at his feet.

"She's ready." I replied.

James' brow rose. "No. I doubt she'll ever be ready for the transformation. Or me," he said as a side note, "But that's where the fun lay. I like an unwilling prey."

On impulse my stomach tightened and fists clenched. I took a deep breath and let me fists loosen.

"I want to join her for dinner tonight."

At my questioning gaze he said, "We'll have to speak sometime. I'd rather it be before her transformation than the day of."

"I'll tell her at once."

"Good Edward." He smiled at me as if he knew something I didn't, "I like to sample my dish before I devour it."

As I left the room, I resisted the urge to punch something.