Hello all my friends! Thanks for coming back! Well, this is it. The second-to-last chapter. Are you as sad as I am? Well, no fluff this time. I'll just let you get right to the story. It starts right where we left off last time.

As always, Stephenie Meyer owns all. I own a crappy dishwasher I have to fight with all the time...grrr...

Enjoy! XOXO-Ka

Right Vs. Good

by: JudeOrion

Chapter Seventeen: Reflections

Hugs had been passed around and "welcome homes" had been said. Esme had complimented my home profusely, although I knew it could never look as good as her own home—or homes. She and Carlisle sat on my large sofa, across from the plush chair that Edward and I were sharing. Rose and Emmett stood in front of the TV, entertaining us with stories from their travels around China. Jasper was talking with Nick and Kimber in the kitchen, and Alice was in the other chair in the living room.

When Rose had finished speaking, Carlisle asked, "Where are your father and the Blacks?"

"Everyone but Billy and Mel went camping up in Glacier Park for a few days, then they're going to head back home. The other two are staying at the resort there."

"We planned a camping trip around there soon, too, didn't we Rosie?" Emmett asked. "Dangerous times for humans to be running around there, what with all the grizzly you can eat."

I scowled good-naturedly at him and he burst out with laughter. I joined in. You couldn't help but laugh at Emmett's jokes. No matter how macabre they were.

I looked at Edward from where I was perched on his lap, and he gave me a look as if to say, "Get a move on." I sighed. We had talked about this with the Cullens, and everyone—with the exception of Rosalie—was in agreement. I had to talk to the kids to figure out the next step from here.

"Everyone? Could you come into the living room, please?" Jasper followed Kimber and Nick out and stood next to his wife. Nick sat next to Esme on the couch and leaned into her; she wrapped an arm around him. Kimber, however, stood on the other end of the room from the TV, as far away as she could get without being impolite. I never understood why they made her nervous and not Nick. She was ok with them most of the time, but the last time she had seen them was over two years ago, when they came for a visit at Christmas. It always took her a few days to warm up to them. Nick was always comfortable with the Cullens, like me. Edward reckoned it was because Nick was my biological son, and therefore we probably reacted to the same things in the same way.

"What's up?" Nick asked.

I looked at Edward and he kissed my forehead. That was all the encouragement I needed.

"I wanted to talk to you and Kimber." I shot a glance her way. "As you both know, I love Edward. I also love you both more than I could ever express. That's why I wanted to talk to you both…about how you would feel about my being changed."

Nick sat up and looked directly at me. Kimber wrapped her arms around her chest and stared at the floor.

"I won't do it unless the both of you are ok with it. And, Nick, it definitely won't be until after you're off at college." I felt a twinge of sadness at knowing how much older I would be than Edward; than any of them. I would have to pose as the mother, possibly the grandmother. I didn't regret it, or resent my children for it. And given the choice again I would have them both just the same. But I didn't like being so much older—Kimber was older than Edward was when he was changed.

Some of the tension in Nick's body relaxed at my reassurance not to leave him. Kimber still didn't move.

"So…what do you think?"

Nick sighed hard. "I always knew it was going to happen. I'm surprised you didn't ask before this. I'm all for it, as long as you don't fall off the face of the earth. At least—" he stopped short and looked at Edward. He nodded his head for Nick to continue. "At least I wouldn't have to deal with you dying eventually," he said quietly.

"Oh, Nick." I got up from Edward's lap and hugged my son. He was always afraid of people dying. A leftover fear from Gracie.

I turned to Kimber. "What do you think, sweetie?"

She rolled her eyes at the floor. "What I say won't matter anyway. You'll do it all the same."

"Kimber. I just said I wouldn't do it unless you're both fine with me changing. Don't get upset at me, you know what I said was true." She may be graduating college, but my best Mom Voice was enough to make her look ashamed of what she said.

She sighed in defeat. "I know. I just…I'm afraid. You would be ok with seeing us grow old? With seeing us die?"

My next words were harsh, but true and needed to be said.

"Kimber, sweetheart, one way or another we would all be dead. Does it really matter the order? I would rather mourn the both of you than either of you feel the pain of mourning me."

She nodded in understanding. Then she looked at me in the face for the first time since I had started speaking.

"Change me, too."

"What?"

"Change me, too. I want to be a vampire, too."

The Cullens looked amongst each other in contemplation.

"Kimber, I don't know if…" Carlisle started.

Kimber held up her hand to stop him. "Mom said she wouldn't do it unless Nick and I were both ok with it. I'm not ok with it unless I can be changed too. It's…it's actually something I've been thinking about for a while."

"You have?" That startled me; she always seemed to not want much to do with our vampire family.

She nodded. "I knew you wanted to be changed. I thought it was Nick and I holding you back. I was going to ask Carlisle during his visit this week about what he thought. I don't want to be apart from you."

"But Kimber, what about your job? What about what you've worked so hard for?"

"I won't be throwing it away, Mom. If anything it's a humongous opportunity for me to learn everything I could ever want to learn. Please. Please."

I sat back in Edward's lap and thought for a few moments. Having my children with me for all eternity would be a dream come true. But what about Nick?

"What do you think?" I asked him.

Nick shook his head. "I'm ok if you do. I'm ok if Kimber wants to. But I'm only fourteen. I can't even legally drive yet—" he shot a half guilty, half amused look at his sister, who returned it.

"I'm not going to ask," I said.

Everyone laughed. That was good, broke the tension. "But anyway, I can't fathom how my life is going to be by the time I'm off to college, or when I'm graduating or whatever I do. I know I don't want to become a vampire now. But I'm not crossing the idea off my list of possibilities."

"Ok. I understand. So…you would both be all right with my being changed." Kimber and Nick nodded. My heart sped up with anticipation; Edward squeezed my waist when he heard it pounding. The only thing to hash out now was when it would happen…but that was a conversation we could have at a later time.

It was entirely too serious in the living room. We needed to up the atmosphere a bit. How…?

Alice saved me. She bounced up from the seat and opened a large bag behind the chair. "I brought gifts!"

XOXO

For the four hundredth time I looked in the mirror and sighed in defeat. I couldn't go out of the bathroom in this. Not when the basis for perfection was sitting on my bed. I re-analyzed myself in the mirror. I didn't mind the wrinkles so much, or the south-traveling boobs. But my hair bugged the crap out of me. I was only thirty-five (ok, almost thirty-six) and my hair was grayer than most women my age. There was still a good amount of my chestnut brown, but I frequently got mistaken for being years older than I was. I blame Charlie.

I twirled a tress in my fingers and contemplated letting Alice have her way with it. Then looked lower at what I was wearing that Alice had already had her way with. A gauzy forest-green babydoll and panty set with a kind of floral print in some black velvety fabric. She had insisted I put it on the second I had Edward to myself, but I was kind of nervous now. I never felt comfortable in these sexy little numbers. They looked stupid and and itched like hell.

Edward was damn lucky I loved him.

I took a deep breath and opened the bathroom door. The guy wasn't even in the stupid bedroom. I crept into the hall and looked over the banister but couldn't see him in the kitchen. I cast a quick glance to the clock on the wall; it was almost two, everyone would be asleep by now.

"Edward?" I whispered.

"Living room," he called back. Taking a deep breath to keep my courage intact I went down the stairs and into the living room. I leant against the wall at the back of the stairs, right at the entrance of the living room and smoothed out the babydoll. The entire time I kept my eyes on the ground; I'm sure my face was past tomato red.

"Hey." Wow, I could get my voice to work. Kudos to me. I had barely greeted Edward when I felt a whoosh of air and something falling around my shoulders and covering me. I opened my eyes and saw Edward's face in front of mine. I looked down and he had wrapped a blanket around me. A flash of anger shot through me. I worked up my courage and bit my pride and this is how he shows his appreciation? By going all prude on me? I opened my mouth to snap at Edward, but he wasn't even looking at me. I followed his gaze to the right of me, on the big sofa. Nick sat on it, stone-still and mouth open.

Crap.

"Uh…Nick. What are you doing up so late?"

"Looking for the eye bleach. But that's ok, I don't need it now. I think I just went blind."

"Nick!"

He got up off the sofa and put his hands up; he walked slowly to the stairs as if he were talking someone off a ledge. "I'll go to my room. But for God's sake keep it down please. My MP3 player's broken and your room is right next to mine."

"Just go."

Nick skittered to his room, laughing.

I looked at Edward. "I blame your brother for Nick's sense of humor."

Edward chuckled and dropped his lips to brush mine. He lowered the blanket and pulled away from me to look at the outfit I was wearing. His eyes darkened considerably.

"Hmm…I must send Alice a thank-you note."

"Smartass," I said, smirking. "I feel ridiculous."

He ran his long fingers over my belly, over the sides of my breasts and to cup around my neck on either side. "Hmm…You feel like my Bella." I rolled my eyes. "You look incredible."

I was still with my back against the wall. Edward moved one of his hands from my neck to the wall and replaced it with his mouth, barely touching my skin as he swept his way from my ear to just at my shoulder and back up. His other hand traveled down my neck, lowered the strap over my shoulder, and continued his long fingers over my collarbone, between my breasts to lay flat against my stomach. He had this obsession with my stomach, I don't know why.

I moaned into Edward's mouth and he lifted me up so my legs were were wrapped around his waist. I felt us start to move across the floor and up the stairs. He set me down on our bed, then gently pushed me onto my back, legs still bound around his waist.

I watched Edward as he moved his hands from my shoulders to the top button of his Polo. I could feel his smirk as I watched him slowly undo his shirt.

Tease.

As he pulled the shirt off his head, Edward's eyes met mine. I loved how they would always darken when we were together like this. It was an ego boost that every time he saw my body he had to struggle to keep control. In a matter of seconds his eyes would go from gold to black and send a thrill through me.

I leaned up on one elbow and ran my fingers over the ridges of his abs. Once again I fretted over him being so perfect at seventeen, whereas I—

"Don't you do that." I looked up at Edward's face. "I see what you're doing and don't start it. You're perfect."

I wasn't convinced and Edward saw it. He raised an eyebrow at me. "What?"

"Say what's on your mind."

"Can't we just go back to what we were doing?" I ground myself into his erection and saw the internal debate in his face before he suddenly fisted his hand in the fabric barely covering me and ripped it from my body.

Poor Alice. She'll be dev—oh God.

I hadn't even noticed Edward undoing his pants before he thrust into me unexpectedly.

"Let me show you how perfect you are, Bella."

XOXO

"How are you going to feel when people ask why you're with your grandmother so much?"

"What do you mean?" Edward ran his fingers up and down my stomach. See? Stomach obsession. No idea.

"After I'm changed. People are going to wonder why you seem strangely close to someone older than your mother."

"Esme? You may look older than her—"

"Thanks."

"Bella, listen to me. You look older than Esme because you are older than Esme, in a sense. The change will probably take a few years off of your appearance. And anyway, even if it didn't, it wouldn't matter. We will be together. Why does anything else matter, especially something as trivial as how old you appear? Ignore what other people think."

I sighed and snuggled my back further into his chest. Stupid, accurate…

"Besides, at least it means you won't have to repeat high school again and again and again…"

I snickered. "Yeah. Thank goodness for that."

He nuzzled his nose into the crook of my neck and inhaled slowly. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

"So…since you're going to be spending eternity with me anyway…"

"Yes?"

I felt him twist around in the bed and come back to cocoon me in his arms. "Will you make it official with me?" He took my left hand from the mattress and slipped a ring around my finger. Bright gold and a large, but simple oval cut diamond. Garnets were set on either side of the diamond. "Will you marry me?"

"I'm surprised you didn't ask a long time ago. Of course I will." I turned and kissed Edward, forcing my lips on his tightly. I felt him smile under my onslaught. When he pulled away, he ran a finger around my ring.

"Does it look familiar?"

"Vaguely. Why?"

"The ring I gave you a long time ago? It's the same design, only diamond instead of pearl, garnet instead of ruby. I was going to give you my mother's ring, but I know you wear the other one on this finger most of the time anyway. I figured we could have our own. If that makes any sense."

I grinned at him. "I get it. Thank you, it's so beautiful." I yawned.

"Darling, it's past three. Why don't you get to sleep? I'll entertain everyone tomorrow and let you sleep in."

"Thanks. I love you so much."

"I love you, Isabella."

XOXO

I woke up at noon the next day. It felt nice; usually I was up at six. I made my way downstairs and found Carlisle reading on my couch. A Chopin CD was in the stereo, barely masking a rhythmic banging down in the basement. Carlisle looked up from his old leather-bound text and smiled at me.

"Good morning, Bella. Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah, I did, thanks. You?" I asked. He winked at me. Carlisle was easy to be with. He had a good sense of humor, if a bit dry. And it seemed like he could always innately tell what I needed when it came to talking or quiet.

"What's going on?"

"I've been sworn to secrecy. Esme promised me she would deny me if I told you. Sorry. I'm not risking it."

I rolled my eyes. Men. All alike.

"Edward made you coffee, it should still be warm."

"Thanks." I made my way to the kitchen and poured myself a cup. I sat at the bar with a newspaper and turned to Carlisle. "Where is everyone?"

"Kimber and Nick decided to join Charlie camping. Emmett and Rose went hunting. The rest I don't know really, they were gone before Esme got back from Bed Bath & Beyond and Home Depot. I just got back from a hunt myself."

"Bed Bath? Home Depot? Why was she there?"

"Uh..."

"Oh dear God, what did she do?" Esme decorated my home when I moved in, but she was too much like Alice. She couldn't leave it alone and every time she came to visit she had to re-do my house.

"I would like the record to show that I had nothing to do with this. She took my car without my knowledge or consent," Carlisle defended, a wry smirk on his lips.

I sighed. "I need to call Kimber and Nick first."

I called Kimber's cell first, but it was turned off. Nick's phone rang but he didn't pick up. "Hey, it's Nick. Leave a message. If this is Mom, sorry I didn't tell you first but it was last second and you were still asleep and you can punish me when I get home. Bye!"

I rolled my eyes and told him to call me back. Then I picked up my mug and headed to the downstairs, ruffling Carlisle's hair on my way.

"Esme…what are you—what did you do!"

"Oh, hello, Bella. I told Carlisle not to tell you I was doing this," she said casually, then went back to hammering the drywall.

"What in the world is going on?"

"You've been talking about getting this basement done for a long time now. I just thought I'd get it jump-started for you."

"Esme, this is too much."

"I'd hold out my hand to stop you but I have to use both hands. So please just stop there and accept it. If you're really that concerned about it you can go into the bathroom. I have some samples in there for you."

I ground my teeth together and went to the bathroom.

Oh, God, Esme.

She had tile samples, paint samples, wood, carpet, laminate samples. Some drawings she'd made up of plans for the rooms. She'd basically planned out two bedrooms, one bathroom, and a rec room of sorts.

"Esme…how much is this costing?"

"I'm sorry, dear! Can't hear you! Nail gun!"

You'd thought I'd learned my lesson by now, wouldn't you?

A few hours later I was in the kitchen at the bar, looking through samples, when Edward came home with Alice and Jasper. He wrapped his arms around my waist and leant his chin on my shoulder. "Hello, Love. How are you?"

"I'm just fine. How about you? What were you doing?"

"I'm better now that I'm with you."

"Cheese."

"No thanks, don't like it."

"Dork. So what were you guys doing?"

"Esme sent us on errands. She's getting as bad as Alice at shopping, if that's possible at all."

"Do we need to schedule an intervention?"

"Let's wait to see if she starts bouncing first. Then we might have to."

We chuckled and he helped me go over some sets for the downstairs. It was nice, doing something as mundane as picking out paint and carpet with him. I had a vision of us doing this years from now, sitting side-by-side, talking about plans for our home.

I was excited to be with him in every sense of the word. As his wife, a vampire, his equal in all ways, finally. Not just in the looks. In all honesty, that didn't bug me too much. Certain times of the month (read: PMS) my insecurities flared up along with my mood swings and basically drove Edward crazy. No, I was anxious to be equal to Edward in the sense that when we were intimate he could fully enjoy himself instead of over-analyzing every movement of his hands and hips. I was excited to be able to retain enough information to have an intelligent conversation where I could both understand his case and not have to end it because I simply didn't know about the subject. Just last month we'd had a conversation about a new weight loss surgery and Edward, having just finished up his most recent medical doctorate, knew more about it than I could retain in one conversation and when I looked it up in his university books I couldn't make head nor tail of it. I craved the ability to talk with Edward on his own level.

And of course I was excited to have newborn strength and get Emmett back for all the times he held me above his head and spun me around. Especially the time Alice had forced me into a wraparound skirt and the wind kicked the stupid thing up to show the whole room my ass. Oh yes, payback was going to be a bitch.

Edward glanced at the clock on the wall and stood. "What do you want for dinner?"

I peeked at the clock, too. Almost four-thirty. "I can make it," I offered, albeit half-heartedly. Edward had also perused enough of my cookbooks and watched plenty of Cooking Channel to become a great cook. Of course, he didn't have a perfect track record. Sure he never let anything burn or even overcook because of his great sense of smell. But he liked to experiment. Like the time he put wasabi into Thai peanut sauce…Euugh. It took three days to get the smell out of the house. I didn't even dare taste it. Despite all that he had grown into a fantastic cook and though I still loved to prepare meals, I rarely turned down one of his masterpieces.

"Sit down, Love. I'll get it. Lasagna?"

"Sure. Sounds good. Thanks."

Edward got started on dinner and I stared off absent-mindedly. My thumb, of its own free will, twirled my new ring around my finger. I looked down at it. It was beautiful, that's for sure. I didn't even want to think about how much it cost.

I found myself thinking about Josh. The whole ordeal eight years ago had been…not good. After I broke up with him he continued to see Nick once or twice a week, taking him out to the park or to a movie, even to stay the night a couple of times. We never returned to being friends and things were awkward between the two of us to this day. Josh kept his promise and never told anyone about Edward. Edward graduated Flathead High the year after, and seeing as the story was that he would be going to college, our cover was that Edward and I broke up amicably. By that time Kimber and Nick knew the real situation, so the only person I had to lie to was Josh.

That would be another thing I would enjoy. Not lying to people important to me.

After Edward and I "broke up" Josh tried to stir up the same feelings as before, but even if it hadn't been a ruse I wouldn't be interested in Josh again. He was a friend. An awkward friend, yes, but a friend nonetheless. About five years ago the diner closed and Josh left for eastern Montana, where his cousin was opening up a bar. Nick was devastated, but Josh called often and visited when he came to see his family. Last I'd heard he had met a nurse and moved in with her just recently. I was happy for him. Especially since he really had a thing for nurses. Let's just say that the outfit Edward had only a few hours previously ripped off of me was tame compared to some of the embarrassing things Josh tried to convince me to wear.

I still felt bad for accepting Josh's marriage proposal. I hurt him badly and lost one of my best friends in the process. But I would never be sorry I had dated him. It was good for me. If I hadn't been with him, I probably would've jumped into a relationship with Edward too fast and ruined our chances of having a healthy relationship this go-round. As opposed to the train wreck obsession that was our relationship in high school. Our connection had grown and strengthened after seeing Edward fight so hard for me. I needed it, because I couldn't have gained his trust back just by his word. He showed me and he won. And he only played a little bit dirty.

I sat at the bar and watched Edward get dinner together. I was so lucky. Not everyone gets to marry their best friend. Everything that had happened to bring us apart, we had gotten through together. Through James attacking me, through Edward leaving me, our nasty reunion, my dating Josh and Edward fighting for me, growing up, maturing, trials and errors, mistakes and successes. He was my support, the whole Cullen family was.

I couldn't wait to marry him.