AN –Okay I planned on having this up this morning but I'm functioning at full strength today. But here is the next chapter. We get to see how Bella feels about what Edward has done! Hope you enjoy it.

I do not own these characters.

BPOV

As quickly as the burning had started it ended. One second my skin was a raging inferno and then it was like ice cold water had been poured over me. The relief was exhilarating.

I found the will to open my eyes again but for some reason I feared what I might see. Not remembering the exact reasoning behind it I decided to give it a try.

The utter brightness almost made me want to close them again immediately. Then I saw him. Edward, still here by my side, I was in awe of his beauty. I waited for the normal rush of emotions, the heat to my checks, or the rush of my heart and felt nothing. That was odd. I reached for his hands and asked the only question I could think of.

"Edward, what happened?" Sadness passed briefly thru his eyes and was quickly gone. I tried to decipher the meaning behind it but couldn't determine the why. He grabbed my hands in his and I could sense that he was debating with himself.

"Bella," he looked down at our hands entwined and lifted them to his mouth. Placing kisses on each finger. He squeezed my hand with his own. The pressure of it surprised me. He had never been so forceful with me before. I instantly worried about my bones but there was no pain.

Then I remembered everything. He had been sitting in that exact location with my blood on his lips. The pain that was in his eyes before I passed out, I never wanted to see them filled with so much pain again.

"Edward? Why?" I could see how that single word crushed him. His stomach clenched ever so slightly and I had to reassure him. "Edward…." I sat up, forced him to look at me. "I'm not mad at you. I just need to know what happened."

"Oh Bella, I'm so sorry. I never meant for it to be like this. You know I would never do this against your wishes. I'm the worst kind of monster, I'm…." I was getting angrier with each word that escaped his mouth so I pushed him to get him to stop but forgetting my new found power I ended up pushing him to the ground. At this point though I didn't really care and I stood over him glaring at him.

"Stop…damn it Edward stop this now. God help me if I will live through an eternity of you bemoaning this decision. I will leave before I listen to another word of it, do you understand me?" I was now inches from his face, screaming at him. Somewhere the back of my mind registered the audience gathered in the doorway but I was beyond caring.

"But..Bella," he held up his hands, trying to explain.

"NO..no but Bella's, no woe is me, enough of it. Guess what, it happened. I should be the one who is upset, but I'm not. I want to know why you did it. Without apologies, without regrets, just tell me why. Do you think you could handle that simple task?"

He looked stunned. No other word could even come close to describing it.

"Yes. I can handle that Bella. It is the least I can do," I moved away from him and sat on the bed again. He slowly pushed himself off the floor, never moving his eyes away from mine.

I patted the bed next to me. I still wanted him near me even though I was upset with him. Regardless of what was going on I could never handle having him far away from me.

He eyed me warily as he approached me. I could tell Jasper was fighting his instinct by not interfering. I did not feel out of control though. Just anger, that was all I could feel.

"Bella," he took a deep sigh and it took everything I had to not push him right off the bed. Forcing myself to take a deep breath I readied myself to hear his story. "I brought you home from chemotherapy and you smelled so different. It was you but it wasn't. It made my mouth burn, not with desire but with repulsion." He grabbed my hand in an attempt to soften the blow of what he was saying to me. "I had never wanted so badly to run away but you needed me. Then I became desperate," I could tell this was the hard part for him and I squeezed his hand. He smiled faintly at me. "I found that if I inhaled deeply at your pulse points I could smell the real you, it was still there," he held my wrist up to his nose, inhaling and then placing a gentle kiss. "I'm not sure at what point it turned to something more. One second you were sleeping and the next you were screaming. At first I thought it was the pain of chemotherapy and then you wouldn't stop screaming. You recoiled from me. For the first time in your life you were afraid of me and it killed me." He looked down at our hands, still entwined and squeezed my hand fiercely. "When Carlisle and Esme walked in that is when I realized what I had done. I was mortified with myself. All I wanted to do was take the pain away. To stop the pain, I can never stand to see you hurting."

He just hung his head down. I know that if I forced him to continue it would kill him. What could I say? I couldn't be mad. I understood his intentions were never this. He would never condemn me to this lifestyle without giving me a choice. I had to say something before he was too far gone to ever recover. Being careful with my words I attempted to answer.

"Thank you," his head snapped up in shock. I let go of his hand and before he could think the worst I grabbed his face with both my hands. Forcing him to look at me and no where else. "Thank you for telling me everything. I understand and I know how hard it must have been for you," he tried to look down but I wouldn't let him. "Edward it kills me to see you hurting and I know you feel the same. These past few weeks have been very hard on you. You have never been helpless when it came to me and I left you no other option. So thank you, thank you for letting me do this my way. Granted in the end this wasn't exactly the way I had envisioned it ending but I don't think you did this intentionally. I'm sorry, it must have been hard to see me in pain and feel responsible."

He looked…I couldn't quite place it. I had never seen Edward look at me this way. It was like I was dazzling him.

Suddenly his lips were on mine, soft and pliable. Warm and wet beneath mine. It was like nothing I had ever felt before. It was Edward but it wasn't. His arms wrapped around me, he pulled me closer and I never wanted him to let me go. I kissed him back, pouring all my love into it, hoping to convey to him everything that he meant to me.

I'm not sure how long we sat there, lips connected to one another. Without the need to breathe there was nothing to stop us. When we stopped he pulled my head to his shoulder fiercely, burying his face in my hair.

"I never thought it would be possibly to love you more than I already did Bella," he pulled back, looking into my eyes. "But I do, I love you, more than I will be able to show you. You are my everything Bella. I always knew that but I never realized how much until I almost lost you. Each breathe you take gives me life, everything you are is what keeps me going, you are the reason for my existence."

The look on his face was so tender, so loving and I suddenly contemplated that we would be together forever, nothing could take us apart and if I could have cried I would have. My life felt so full, so complete and I could never regret anything that gave me this amount of happiness. I wanted to sit in his arms forever but my throat began to burn, it was slow at first but rapidly became all consuming.

"Edward," he looked up at me and then instantly knew.

"Bella, let's go, now," he pulled me up and led me outside. We didn't stop to speak with the others, I could think of nothing but the hunger and thirst that was clawing at my throat.

We got outside and he began to run, looking back and encouraging me to follow. I moved first one foot and then the other, enjoying my newfound coordination. Soon I couldn't stop myself, the freedom was exhilarating. The ground, the trees, my surroundings flew past me. What should have been a blur was clear to me though, down to every needle on a pine tree. It was hard to not stop and just stare in amazement at the things that were now so clear around me. Suddenly a scent filled the air, it was wonderful and it made venom flow into my mouth. That was a new flavor itself. It was sweet, almost floral. I licked my lips, savoring the taste that was there.

I quickly found the source of the smell and watched as Edward demonstrated what I should do. He sensed my hesitation and brought me a deer of my own to eat. I sucked greedily, blood running down my face. The warmth filled me and made me hum with new energy. I began to run again revealing in the feeling of it. Edward was quickly beside me and we ran and ran.

We stopped when we reached a clearing overlooking a lake. I sat down and watched him as he sat next to me. He was amazing, beautiful, and breathtaking and he was mine. He sat down and pulled me closer to him. The strength that he used with me now was astounding. It made me realize how much he had to hold back all these years together. We just sat there, together for hours. Watching the sun go down and it was one of the best times of our life together to date.

As I watched the sun drift away suddenly I remembered. All this goodness had to come at a price and that price was my family. I panicked, I couldn't bring myself to say the words but Edward noticed the look in my eyes.

"Bella, what's wrong?" He rubbed his hands along my face, trying to calm me down. "It will get easier, I'll be here for you," he kissed my temple, moving his lips up and down my face.

"No, it's not that, it's my family," the look on his face said it all. "They think I'm dead don't they?"

"Bella, we had to tell them something, they kept calling, wondering how you were doing. We could only put them off for so long. Carlisle told them you experienced complications from the chemotherapy and passed away quietly in your sleep. The funeral service is in two days."

I nodded not knowing what to say. How could I face my entire life without my family now? It was something I had never truly contemplated before, too lost in my desire to be with Edward forever. Now I had what I had always wanted and that would have to be enough. As I looked at Edward, his face creased with worry as he stared down at me I realized that never mind the cost he would always be worth any sacrifice I had to make. He was my future and anything that kept him in my life for eternity was not something I could regret.

"We should head back, I'm sure the family would like to talk to you," I nodded as he held his hand to me and we began to run back hand in hand. As we got closer to the house I began to worry. What if they didn't like vampire Bella, what if I became wild and threatened them, what if…

"Don't worry love, you know them already, nothing is different. Well, except for the fact that Emmett wants to give you a rather large hug, but he has wanted to do that for years now. Just beware; he gets a bit overexcited sometimes."

I nodded and held on to him tightly as I went to meet my family for the first time as a vampire.

So she isn't too upset with him. She could understand why he did it even when he doesn't. More coming soon and we actually don't have too much longer left with this story. Thank you again for all the support with the story.