Author's Note: Ok, there's one more chapter and an epilogue left after this one. Thank you guys so much for reading this whole epic thing; I really appreciate it.

Nice reviews are better than chocolate, unless maybe you're licking that chocolate off someone.

Thirty One

The week was too short and I started to resent not just the clock in general, but how it counted time more slowly when Edward wasn't around and more quickly when he was.

He took me to the airport before dawn on Sunday morning so I wouldn't miss my flight even though I told him it wouldn't be the end of the world if I did; that's why substitute teachers were so wonderful. He kissed me goodbye near security and waited until I was on my way to the gate before he left.

I tried to sleep on the plane, but found it impossible.

Edward and I had made plans.

Just thinking about it made my palms sweat and my heart thump more forcefully. So here it goes – my time in California was officially ending; I was moving. To New York. Was I scared? Terrified. No, actually I don't think that's strong enough. Thinking about it honestly made me want to bolt, but I knew I loved Edward too much to ever truly consider it again.

Look at that - I'm growing.

A plan in my more immediate future was for Alice to pick me up from the airport, so imagine my surprise when I saw Rose and Emmett waiting for me near the exit. I was a little scared, Rose looked pissed, Emmett looked amused. I walked over like a kid that had just been caught doing something wrong. "So, you take off to New York and don't even tell me?" She stood with her arms crossed over her chest.

I swallowed. "Where's David?"

Emmett answered, "babysitter's. Welcome back, by the way."

Rose cleared her throat to get my attention, obviously not buying my subject change. I sighed. "Sorry, Rose. It was kind of a last minute thing, even Alice didn't know until I was at the airport."

She huffed, "you do the most romantic thing I've ever heard of and I didn't even know about it."

"I'm romantic," Emmett said defensively.

"I know you are," Rose said without looking. "So? Do you have good news or should I buy some liquor?"

"It's good news," I tried to smile through my nerves.

I didn't have to go to baggage claim, so they took me back to my apartment while I relayed, not entirely by choice, all the particulars of my trip. I told them about the first night, skipping the more graphic details, and how well Edward had taken it – no running for the hills or anything. I talked about making a miniature Thanksgiving dinner mostly because I knew Edward would be able to eat the leftovers for quite a while. I said that I'd seen a couple of the possible locations for Alice's store and it was while we were all walking into my apartment that Rose finally stopped me.

"Ok, so that's all great and everything, but get to the news part."

Emmett agreed and made himself comfortable on the couch. I sat next to him and Rose sat on my other side; I had the distinct sensation of being surrounded. Emmett slung an arm over the back of the couch and looked at me with bright eyes like he was expecting gossip.

"You have to promise you'll let me tell Alice myself," I looked at them both and they said yes. I knew telling her wouldn't be too difficult, she was moving too after all. It was this part I was afraid of. "Ok, so we talked about it and decided…" I did good dramatic pause, but I wasn't trying to tease them. If I announced it, it would make the move all the more real. "I'm moving to New York." I said it. I said it and the world didn't end; in fact, nothing bad happened at all and for the first time I was actually…excited.

Emmett smiled widely and put a hand on my shoulder, partly squeezing and partly shaking me. "I knew you had it in you!"

Rose leaned forward, her eyes wide. I looked at her and bit my lip, waiting for the explosion. She took a minute to compose herself. "Ok, I'm going to need to talk to Edward again -,"

"What? Why?"

"It's her process," Emmett answered.

"Well, first – when are you leaving?"

"He's going to come out here for two weeks during Christmas to help me get things ready. We're leaving after that."

"Are you moving in with him?"

"Yeah." I noticed Emmett grinning at my answer.

"Are you still going to teach?"

"After I get situated, I will." She pursed her lips and nodded slightly. "Can we be done with the third degree now?"

"I suppose, but let me add that I can't believe you're going to leave me with just Emmett for grown up company."

"I take offense to that," Emmett said, but I could see he wasn't all that offended.

"I still want to talk to Edward though."

"Can it wait? He's probably sleeping; we had to get up at 4 this morning." The thought of a surprise wake up call to be interrogated by Rose was something I wouldn't wish on an if I could stop her from questioning Edward, even if I was only delaying the inevitable, I'd consider it a job well done.

Rose asked for a few more details before Emmett decided it was quitting time. I hugged Rose goodbye and as she was walking back to her car, Emmett squeezed my shoulder. "You're going to miss me."

I smiled, "you're probably right. Is that your way of asking for an invitation to visit?"

"Yes."

"Consider yourselves invited," he hugged me and said I had officially been granted permission to leave.

Once they were gone I checked my cell phone, knowing I'd have at least one message from an impatient Alice. I had three. "Hey, just making sure you're still alive. Rose insisted on picking you up so she could find out what happened first since she was the last to know about your little trip. Call me!"

I listened to the second one – "hey, I want to know what happened too, you know! Call me when you get this."

They were getting more urgent and I know it was probably not a normal reaction, but it made me laugh. "Isabella Swan, are you ignoring your best friend? That's it, I'm coming over." I deleted the messages and called her back. She was yelling, but not at me. "-ing jackass! What the hell is wrong with you? Oh, Bella, hi!" Her mood shift was startling.

I grinned, "are you yelling at strangers, again?"

"Yes, it's one of the prerequisites for driving on the freeway. Hold on, let me put the ear thing on, I don't want to get a ticket or something." Alice was notorious for her road rage which, despite her stature, was quite intimidating. "Ok, I don't want any details until I get there, but give me the basics; I'm about five or ten minutes away."

I was trying to be nonchalant, "it went well."

She squealed excitedly into the phone and I heard clapping which made me wonder what she was using to steer. "You're moving to New York! I knew it!"

My mouth opened part way. How does she do that? "Uh -,"

"Well? Am I right?" I could practically hear her bouncing in her seat.

"You're right." I held the phone away from my ear; she operated on a higher frequency than most people.

"Ok," she calmed herself. "I'm just about there. Are you hungry? I'm starving. Come outside, let's get some food."

Some people might find her bossy, but I thought she was just right. And I really was pretty hungry.

She waved at me as she passed by to parallel park next to someone's driveway; when she was done, she hopped out and jogged across the street. "Mexican?"

I agreed after I figured out she was talking about the little hole in the wall food place she loved to go to. We walked the few blocks while she asked the same questions Rose had and by the time we walked into the little restaurant, my stomach was growling. We ordered some food to-go and took it down to the beach. I told her about my walk with Edward in Gramercy Park and how he asked me to stay and I admitted to how terrified I'd been of whole situation. She just smiled and said I would be ok in a way that made me believe her even though she said it between bites of a gigantic burrito. She also lined up a couple of places to take Edward while he was here during Christmas; he'd never been away from the east coast.

We talked for the better part of the day about everything, the things we had to do before we left, the things we were most excited about, the random things we'd miss. Pacific sunsets for me, driving for Alice – she was selling her car before she moved. She said she probably wouldn't need it and that it brought out a side of her she didn't want Jasper to see.

After a while, our conversation turned to idle gossip – who Alice had met in the last few weeks, who was nice and who wasn't, who had bad plastic surgery, the gold diggers, the underestimated, and the ones with the biggest egos. Before I knew it, the sun was going down. Alice and I sat in similar positions, with our legs stretched out; we leaned back with our hands in the sand. The horizon was just starting to tint from deep gold to layers of burnt orange, fading to a dusky blue at the top.

"You don't have to be scared." Alice stretched her legs, pointing her toes for a moment.

I thought about it while I watched the colors change. "I don't think I am anymore."

And I really wasn't.