AN: Let me know what you think. I wasn't quite certain about my ending, but I'll let you guys decide. ;) Thanks again for everything. Be sure to read the Editor's Note!
Leave reviews, please! It would be nice to hear how everyone liked (or disliked) the story.
Songs:
Heaven (Remix) -- And Then There Were None .com/watch?v=ZoQeTCNSt5Q (Carlisle and Esme in a nutshell)
Chasing Cars -- Snow Patrol .com/watch?v=l_32ej1PspQ
The Colour of My Love -- Celine Dion .com/watchv=_LppWW0GCZU&feature=PlayList&p=9C0832F65B25A3A8&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=13 (sorry for the huge URl, but this song is just perfect. I love Celine Dion, she's my favorite artist ever)
*Epliogue*
It was a fairy-tale day, one with beautiful, cloudless skies, and bright lances of sunlight shining down, piercing through the dense trees of the Hoh rainforest. Every citizen of Forks would be outside, the high-schoolers hanging out on the beach and everyone else reveling in the warm weather. It was a perfect, sunny day, a rare sight in Washington.
So, of course, I was inside, sandwhiched between Edward and Alice on the comfortable couch in the Cullens' living room. Alice was tearing up the magazine that had been laying on the couch for over a week, starting from the section where she'd ripped that first page. The magazine represented some of the darkest days of our lives, and together, Alice and I had decided to burn it. There was already a fire in the spotless fireplace, its orange flames welcoming. I was unruffled by the heat, snug between two ice sculptures.
"Ashes to ashes," intoned Emmett, as Alice dumped the paper shreds into the fire, "and dust to dust."
"Goodbye, and good riddance," muttered Edward. I squeezed his hand, and he returned the gesture, bending to kiss me. With the magazine, we were banishing the bad memories from our minds, resolving not to forget, but to move past the negative emotions paired with the recollections.
"That's a load off my mind," sighed Alice, sinking into the space between Jasper and I. Jasper put his arm around her, laying his head happily next to hers on the back of the sofa. Alice snuggled closer to him, but her right hand snaked toward mine, lacing our fingers together.
I laughed. "Alice, I don't have any hands free now."
She just laughed with me, and didn't let go. Edward was chuckling, too, but he didn't relinquish his grip, either. "What a dilemma," teased Alice, "you have so many people who love you, you can't even move!"
"It's a cruel fate," I responded dryly. "But it's a cross I'll just have to bear."
After the amusement died down, we were all quiet for a moment, love and friendship palpable in the air. Jasper was probably in ecstacy, drinking in all the sweet happniess.
"Ugh," snorted Emmett, his head in Rosalie's lap, "I can smell the ink burning."
"You're closest to the fire," Jasper pointed out. "If you moved it would be less overpowering."
Emmett pretended to consider the idea, but Rosalie began to run her fingers through his hair. "Nope," sighed the big vampire, relaxing under Rose's touch, "I'm afraid this spot is just too comfortable."
"Amen," Edward said, hugging me close to his side. I buried my head in his chest, and he wrapped his arms around me, enveloping me in his wonderful scent. I would have been in heaven, except for my arm, which was bent backwards at an awkward angle. My best friend was refusing to let me go. "Alice," Edward complained, "let go of Bella."
Alice didn't answer, her eyes ostensibly squeezed tight in contentment.
"I'll take care of that," Jasper volunteered, and scooped up his tiny love, breaking her hold on me. Alice was too busy being overwhelmed by Jasper's snug embrace to miss my hand in hers.
Free of discomfort, I hugged Edward back. "I love you," he whispered.
Resting in his arms, I looked around at the Cullens, my vampire family. Jasper and Alice were quietly conversing at the end of the sofa. Their voices were too low and fast for my human ears to pick up, but I could hear the intimate tone of their exchange. Rosalie and Emmett were kissing, Rosalie's fingers still woven into Emmett's hair. At first glance, their contact appeared to be so much more passionate than Alice and Jasper's. But I saw the fire burning in Jasper's eyes as he talked with his soulmate, and Alice's equally devoted gaze as she took his hand in both of hers. Very gently, she kissed his palm, her lips quivering, speaking in vampire speed.
I turned my look out the back door of the Cullens' house, into the sunny field that served as the backyard. There the sun was beating down, unencumbered by trees, its honey-golden rays rimming everything in sight in an other-worldly glow. The two glittering figures resting on the grassy lawn only amplified the feel of surreality. In order for my picture of the Cullen family to be complete, I had to turn my gaze to the two pillars of the house, Carlisle and Esme, who had taken their leave of us on this afternoon of happiness.
Ever since we had fled France, barely escaping the Volturi, Carlisle had all but welded himself to his wife's side. Esme had acted accordingly, keeping her hand in her husband's through the airport, on the plane, and, finally, in the car back to Forks. Even then, Carlisle hadn't tried keeping his focus on the road. Nothing short of a natural disaster could have separated them.
Of course, this almost obsessive need for each other had affected all of us. I had enjoyed the look on the stewardesses' faces as four unbelievably attractive men had boarded the plane-- each with eyes for one woman alone. Rosalie had forsaken her own plane seat in favor of sitting in Emmett's lap; Alice and Jasper had shared one pair of headphones for the entire flight; Edward and I had our arms around each other the moment the wheels left the runway. And Carlisle and Esme had been determinedly unaware of their surroundings, Esme's head on Carlisle's shoulder, their hands intertwined over the armrest between them.
Back at their own house, our two family leaders were lying out in the sun, the rainbows of light being thrown off their skin a reflection of the bliss evident on their faces. The two glasses of wine they'd jokingly poured--to celebrate, Carlisle had solemnly explained-- were perched on a little hill beside them. Even the glimmering shine off the wine glasses couldn't compare to the loveliness of the sparkling vampire skin, and the glow of contentment of Carlisle and Esme's expression had an unsurpassed beauty of its own. They were so happy together, the long week that had kept them apart a fading pain.
"Look at them," I whispered to Edward. "They're like newlyweds."
"They always have been," he answered. "I've never seen that level of love and devotion except for in my parents."
"You obviously haven't looked in the mirror lately," I responded, rolling my eyes.
Tweaking my nose, Edward kissed me. "I'm not sure either of us can compete with Carlisle and Esme until we've been married for almost a century."
"Ugh." I shuddered. "Marriage."
"Come on, Bella." Edward pointed at the couple in the field. "Look at them. Would marriage really be so awful?"
Why did he always have to have such good arguments? "I'm still not sold on the idea." My tone wasn't convincing.
Smiling, my prince charming settled into the sofa, pulling me onto his chest. "That's fine. We've got the rest of the semester for you to decide."
I groaned loudly, earning a dirty look from Rosalie. "School. I'd forgotten about that."
"We'll have to start next week."
"I know, I know." Sighing, I curled further onto Edward's chest. "I'm just relieved I won't have to start without you."
Love is not proud
Love does not boast
Love after all
Matters the most
Love does not run
Love does not hide
Love does not keep
Locked inside
Love is the river that flows through
Love never fails you
Love will sustain
Love will provide
Love will not cease
At the end of time
Love will protect
Love always hopes
Love still believes
When you don't
Love is the arms that are holding you
Love never fails you
When my heart won't make a sound
When I can't turn back around
When the sky is falling down
Nothing is greater than this
Greater than this
Love is right here
Love is alive
Love is the way
The truth the life
Love is the river than flows through
Love is the arms that are holding you
Love is the place you will fly to
Love never fails you
-- Love Never Fails, Brandon Heath