AN: PHEW. It's FINALLY DONE!!!!!! Believe it or not, this fun (kind of fluffy) last chapter was really tough for me to write. Not sure if it's because I'm sad to leave TDIG behind forever or because Bella and Edward didn't want me to finish their story either, but in any case, it's finished. That's right--no more TDIG updates EVAH (*tear*).

If you want to see the Hotel Santa Caterina--and this is not to be missed, bbs, check out my profile for the link!

Thanks SO MUCH to my beta CallistoLexx, my cheerleader Debussy-This and my best fanboy, TheEdwardEmmett, who still wanted to get Edward slapped around. THE BLASPHEMY!

And thanks also to everyone who supported the story and reviewed and favorited. There are no words I can find to sufficiently express my gratitude.

BPOV

I watched my boyfriend across the airport international terminal as he talked to his brother and tried desperately not to feel anxious. Taking a deep breath, I repeated to myself that it didn't matter that his brothers were both happily married to my best friends and that I was desperate to add us to that group.

I'd spent the last couple of months trying to hide my real feelings of envy as my best friends prepared for their weddings. Rose's wedding had been a beautiful and elegant but small affair. Alice's wedding on the other hand . . .well. . .that was what Edward was talking to Jasper about right now.

Apparently after finding out that Alice was pregnant, they'd decided to elope in Las Vegas and so while Edward and I were getting ready to fly to Italy for our first vacation together, Jasper and Alice had already left, before Rose and Emmett's wedding reception had even ended.

I considered for a split second that maybe Alice's accidental plan of getting pregnant and then married would be an appropriate solution to my problem. But I dismissed it not only because the last thing I wanted to do was trap Edward but also because Jasper and Alice had already been engaged when she'd gotten pregnant.

I was the most un-engaged person I knew. Boo hiss.

Edward had been raving about how much he wanted to go to Italy since we'd first started dating, and before that even, if Emmett and Jasper were to be believed, so when I'd suggested that we take our first vacation together there, he'd loved the idea. Since Edward never did anything halfway, he'd dived headlong into the chore of planning the vacation. I had enough experience with Alice to know that it was just better to smile and nod, which is precisely what I did with Edward. He was intimately familiar with any number of travel guides, with the layout of our hotel, with the available travel options—while on the other hand, sometimes it felt like I was just along for the ride.

It wasn't that I didn't care about the trip. I did, it was just that the entire trip planning experience had been superseded by wedding planning and whenever the conversation turned to impending nuptials (which it had frequently), everything faded but a sick feeling that while I wanted nothing more than to spend the right of our lives together, Edward didn't feel the same way.

Finally, I'd confided my fear to Alice and Rosalie, who had scoffed and done their best to convince me that Edward was indeed crazy with love for me and that of course he would be proposing, but I saw the doubt lurking in their eyes. They weren't sure and naturally this only doubled my own secret misery.

Desolately, I glanced back at Edward, who was laughing and smiling as he spoke to Jasper, and I wondered if he was so happy that his brother was married, why wouldn't he want to be married himself? There was some part of me that recognized I was overreacting, but that part had been long since buried by talk of satin and lace and matching engraved goblets. When everyone around you is so sure that they've found the love of their lives, it causes some examination of your own. I'd done the math and I knew Edward was what I wanted and there were no words to express how much I yearned for him to realize it too.

Edward closed his cell phone, his conversation with Jasper obviously over, and walked back over to where our carryon bags were piled up next to me.

I was wrong; Edward hadn't just been smiling, he was beaming. I wanted to throw something at him for being so eternally clueless.

"Jasper and Alice are married," Edward exclaimed, looking a lot more thrilled than someone in his position had a right to be.

I arranged a happy expression on my face and said all the necessary congratulatory words and tried to believe inside that I really meant what I was saying. I didn't want to be so eaten by jealousy and envy that I couldn't be happy for my friends when they deserved it.

"You look . . .odd," Edward observed as he sat down and wrapped his arm around my shoulders, pulling me closer.

For a split second, I considered voicing my annoyance at the whole situation, but as I glanced around the rather full waiting area, I reconsidered.

Edward was so happy about this trip and the last thing I wanted to do was bitch at him about his lack of commitment. I hated those girls and even more; I hated the thought that I was becoming just like one of them. So I leaned into Edward's embrace and closed my eyes, trying to forget about all my worries and fears. Soon we'd be in Italy and I'd be distracted. Edward said he had just enough activities planned—with plenty of time, he'd smirked at me, to just laze around in bed.

This was the first vacation I'd taken in who knew how long, and I thought as I glanced at Edward, I was going with an amazing incredible man who did love me.

I should be thrilled. Hell, I was thrilled.

Twenty four hours later, as we walked into the Italian sunshine, I was desperately trying to remember through a haze of airplanes and airports why exactly I'd been so thrilled to agree to travel halfway across the world. Blearily wiping my tired eyes, I groaned as the white hot bright sun hit me. All I wanted was to crawl into bed and stay there forever.

And then before I could open my mouth to tell Edward this, he stopped, grabbed my hand and turned towards me. "Benvenuto in Italia, bella Bella," he spoke with a flourish, so obviously proud of learning a simple Italian phrase that all the anger and frustration and annoyance I'd experienced during the trip just faded away, leaving a blinding searing happiness that eclipsed even the sunshine overhead.

I threw my arms around Edward's neck and pressed my lips to his. I'd made a decision in that second—if Edward couldn't propose to me, I'd just propose to him instead.

We hadn't had what anyone would term a conventional courtship, and I had no problem with continuing that trend. I'd just have to pick the right moment and bring it up. Considering we were in ultra-romantic Italy, finding the perfect time to propose probably wouldn't be all that difficult.

"How much more Italian do you know?" I asked Edward, picking up my luggage and following him as we walked towards a line of taxis.

"Um, not much," he confessed, giving me a wry smile. "When I talk to the driver, prepare to be amused."

"Oh I will be," I assured him with glee.

"That's my girl," Edward smiled at me, relief clouding his features. "You've been acting strange for weeks now. But your smile's back."

I didn't want to tell him the reason why I'd been so blue lately, so I just smiled again, wider. We approached the nearest taxi and Edward leaned in the front passenger window, and I watched with definite amusement as he tried to communicate in his undoubtedly shaky Italian that we wanted to go to Positano on the Amalfi Coast.

Finally, we were settled in the cab, and I had a definite moment of relief when the driver looked relatively normal. I'd heard so many horror stories about foreign drivers—but this was a cute old man who looked like he couldn't go fast if his life depended on it.

Unfortunately, looks were deceiving and the sweet old man's driving would have put Danica Patrick to shame. Edward and I gripped each other and the worn seats of the little Citreon as we hurtled down cliffs with breathtaking views of the Mediterranean. If I hadn't been fucking terrified, I would have been breathless at the beauty of the scenery. As it was, I was just breathless with fear.

Forty five minutes later, knees still a bit wobbly, I exited the cab o' death and my breath caught as I looked at the hotel the man had brought us to.

The Hotel Santa Caterina was glorious, a veritable garden of paradise sitting on a cliff overlooking a crystal blue ocean.

"This is the hotel," I stammered at Edward, who just looked at me through his sunglasses lenses, a smirk twisting his lips. Clearly he was enjoying my shock.

"We talked about it before," Edward reasoned, "I told you what it would be like."

"Yeah, but there were no pictures," I argued, in absolute awe of where we were.

Edward walked inside the lobby like he was born to do this—lounge around, purposeless, in incredible foreign hotels. Me, on the other hand, crept in like I was afraid that someone was going to discover who I was and throw me out any second.

"Reservations for Cullen," he told the woman behind the desk authoritatively. I'd only heard him take this tone when he was conducting business and it never failed to turn me on. In charge Edward was something not to be missed—or taken advantage of. I was tired, maybe, but not that tired.

Besides there was sure to be a bed waiting for us and I had no issue with using it.

I was so busy daydreaming all the ways we were going to use the bed when I caught the tail end of what the woman behind the desk was saying. . ."the honeymoon suite is all ready for you, signore."

The honeymoon suite?

"Uh, Edward?" I spoke up, interrupting whatever business he and the concierge were concluding.

"What is it, Bella?" he asked, immediately coming over to me, and noting, I could tell, the confused expression on my face.

"Did I just hear honeymoon suite?" I hissed at him.

I'd never once seen Edward blush in the year we'd been together, but today he did. He turned bright red and then back to normal almost instantly, but I saw it and it was enough to give me that little extra boost of confidence in a five star luxury hotel lobby.

"Please explain what is going on," I insisted as he hesitated. "Did you tell them we were married?"

He blushed again, and I almost wanted to squeal with laughter at the bizarre sight of Edward turning puce, but the lobby was way too solemn and classy and beautiful for me to act so silly. "I had to, Bels, or else they wouldn't give us the honeymoon suite and trust me, you'll love it."

I crossed my arms over my chest. "I cannot believe you," I said rather bluntly. "We're not even engaged." And really that was what frosted me most of all. We weren't even fucking engaged and Edward had the nerve to tell people that we were already married.

"No, we're not," he replied quietly and there was a different and serious tone in his voice now. I wondered what it meant but before I could ask, the concierge motioned him over to finish his paperwork.

I waited in silence as Edward signed another paper and was given the keys to our room. Or our suite, I corrected myself.

When he walked over to me again, he asked quietly, "Do you want to see the suite or do you want me to ask for another?"

I opened my mouth to demand that he get another—after all, we weren't married. We had no right to the honeymoon suite, but there was something so solemn and determined and hopeful in his eyes that in the end, I couldn't do it. And I was a little curious to see what a honeymoon suite in a hotel like this would look like. Incredible, no doubt.

Incredible didn't even come to describing it. The moment I set foot in the suite—actually it was more like a secluded cottage, totally separate from the main hotel—I knew that there was no way I could say no to this. I had never seen anything as visually stunning as this, and I said as much to Edward as I walked from room to room.

"So I take it you want to stay here then," he observed, more than a little smugly. And really I couldn't blame him. This place was unbelievable and as a result, he had the right to be a proud of himself.

"I wish Alice could see this," I said reverently as I stared at the ocean from the wrought iron garden patio.

"High praise indeed," Edward said, coming up from behind me and wrapping his arms around my waist, resting his chin on my shoulder.

"She would love it."

"She's actually the one who recommended it," Edward confessed. "I couldn't decide and so I asked her to help."

I was too contented in that moment to be even the slightest bit annoyed. Besides, a good boyfriend always knew when to consult his girl's friends for advice.

Vacations, presents and engagement rings were all things that needed friend approval. I wished, a bit wistfully, that Edward had asked for Alice's help in the latter category versus the former.

I told myself that it was okay that I'd decided to propose to Edward—perhaps not the most romantic way but all that mattered was that Edward and I would never be separated. I couldn't bear the thought of us not being together. We belonged like this and I had to make certain that he acknowledged it too.

"Come on, let's go to bed. I'm exhausted." Edward grasped my hand, pulling me towards the bedroom, and I smiled as I shut the doors of the patio behind me and closed the curtains. Edward knew me well enough to know he never had to ask me to go to bed twice.

Our first night in Italy was the first night in as long as I could remember that we were too tired for sex—and no matter how we both protested we wanted each other we fell asleep almost immediately and slept the remainder of the day and all the way through the night.

I woke up the next morning feeling incredibly well-rested and more than ready to get out of bed and see more of the incredible place we were in, but apparently Edward had other ideas.

"Edward," I whined—but only a little because mostly I wanted him to keep going. "There's so much to see. It feels like a waste to spend it in bed."

"There is so much to see," he smirked as he stripped my t-shirt off me, "and I've told you again and again, there's no purpose in you wearing clothes to bed. They're just going to come off."

"Oh, yeah, that's right. I think I might remember you saying that once or twice," I agreed breathlessly as his hands slid up my bare skin.

"I think I'm going to have to teach you a lesson right here, right now. No more clothes. Ever."

I loved the idea of a lesson, and in the moment before I became too absorbed in the pleasure of Edward's hands on my skin and his mouth on mine, I wondered if he really meant ever or if it had just been something he said during the heat of the moment.

And then I couldn't think at all.

Three hours later, I finally managed to drag myself out of bed, and that was only because Edward was momentarily distracted by his buzzing Blackberry. I'm sure if he'd noticed I was leaving, he would have pulled me back for yet another round.

But I was thoroughly sated with sex and more than ready to explore this amazing place we'd traveled to. More sex could wait—at least for a little while.

I dodged Edward's arm as it shot out and tried to drag me back to bed. "Later!" I laughed teasingly as I swung my hips to avoid him.

I pulled open the curtains and let out the breath I hadn't even known I was holding. The view was incomparable. I'd never, in all my twenty five years, seen anything like it. The water was a clear, jewel-like blue, as far as the eye could see, with tiny boats dotting it. The sky was nearly the same color was the water with not a cloud in sight.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Edward said, coming up behind me and wrapping his arms around my waist. "Shall I order us some breakfast?"

"Can we eat on the patio?" I asked, suddenly eager to explore, but more importantly, eager to tell Edward what was on my mind. And what could possibly be more romantic than a breakfast for two, on a wrought iron garden patio, overlooking the Mediterranean ocean? It would be the perfect moment to propose and I didn't want to wait a second longer than I had to—I just couldn't wait to make Edward mine forever.

EPOV

I couldn't wait to make Bella mine forever.

I'd nearly died having to wait until we were in Italy to propose. For weeks before we left, I almost caught myself blurting it out all the time. It was as if the words had to be said and my heart didn't want to wait a second longer to say them.

But I counseled myself that to wait for Italy would be better. I didn't exactly expect Bella to say no, but how could anyone say no, when faced with the incomparable romance of where we were? By proposing in Italy, I told myself, I was guaranteeing a lifetime with Bella forever and a proposal that she'd remember forever, through the good times and the bad.

While Bella went outside to stand on the patio, clad only in her t-shirt, I slipped my hand inside my suitcase into the secret pocket where I was keeping the ring. Pulling out the platinum diamond solitaire, I slipped it into the pocket of the shorts I'd quickly pulled on and went about ordering breakfast from room service.

I'd thought about waiting until an incredibly romantic candlelit dinner overlooking the bay, but I couldn't wait a second longer. Now that we were in Italy, every time seemed like the perfect time to propose, and I decided that the sooner I did it the better our vacation would be.

The hotel staff was incredibly fast, and before I knew it, we were seated at an elegant little table on our own veranda being served breakfast. The waiter finally disappeared, leaving us to our coffee and eggs and I tried to focus on what was on my plate, but suddenly my tongue felt thick in my mouth. I couldn't swallow and I couldn't eat and I found myself beginning to sweat.

Bella, of course, was completely oblivious. In fact, she seemed so happy this morning that she nearly seemed to glow with it. I'd wondered in the weeks leading up to the trip if she was as excited as I was to come here, but with our arrival, all my doubts had melted away.

Then she looked up from her pancakes and I saw a look in her eyes that I'd never seen before. Something so incredibly tender and loving that in that moment, I desperately wanted to give her the ring and say the words I'd been longing to, but still, they stuck in my throat.

Never in my life had I been a choker, but it seemed that I was making up for lost time now. Before I could possibly get up the guts—or the balls—to propose to the girlfriend I was madly in love with, she spoke first.

"Edward, I'm so happy to be here with you. I never want this to end." She sighed with pleasure as she glanced around her, then back at me. She reached for my hand and my empty and useless fork dropped and clattered on the plate. "And it will never end," she said, never voice never wavering, her eyes never leaving me, "if you say you'll marry me."

I dropped her hand like it was a hot potato. "Marry you?" I exclaimed incredulously. "Marry you?"

Immediately her face fell and a bright and precious light in her eyes was extinguished—just like my own hopes. I'd thought of a million things I wanted to say when I proposed, but never in a million years had I ever dreamed that Bella would propose to me. And now I was left scrambling, worse than the eggs on my plate, trying to find a way to incorporate all those things I wanted to say with an answer that didn't leave her with tears brimming, like they were now.

"No, no, no," I repeated, grabbing for Bella's hand again. "That's not what I meant. That came out wrong."

"No, you don't want to marry me?" Bella choked out and I could see I was losing her fast. I had to save this or die trying in the attempt. If Bella left me, I might as well just throw myself off this balcony. I was nothing without her by my side.

She was on her feet then and I jumped up as well, ready to grab her and shake some sense into her, if I had to. It was then I remembered the ring in my pocket, and then, unlike before when I'd wanted them to, all the words I'd spend time thinking of came rushing out.

I dropped to one knee and she gasped. "Bella, no. Yes, of course I'll marry you. In fact, I'm dying to marry you, you silly girl. There's nothing on earth I love more than you and I can't even fathom anyone I'd rather spend the rest of my life with." I reached in my pocket and pulled out the ring. "I was going to ask you myself. I was actually just trying to work up the courage when you asked me," I finished sheepishly.

The cloud over Bella's features broke and she smiled hesitatingly and reached for the ring. "It's beautiful," she whispered as she gazed into its mirrored depths. Then she looked down at me, realization dawning in the form of an enormous smile. "You really were going to ask, me, weren't you?" she demanded.

I nodded again, wondering if perhaps this form of a proposal might be even more memorable than one I'd originally planned. Certainly it was unique.

"You did look like you were about to barf," she mused as she slid it on her hand. Nothing had ever looked so right.

"I really was," I said, getting to my feet and pulling her close. "I was suddenly terrified you'd turn me down. Clearly, I was totally off the mark there."

Bella rested her head on my shoulder. "The only explanation is we were both temporarily insane. I had myself convinced you didn't want to marry me at all and that's why you hadn't proposed."

"And this whole time, it was what we both wanted," I laughed rather ruefully. "The good news is that we were at least on the same page."

"Yes, but I already knew that. We always have been," Bella murmured softly into my ear, "and I think it's safe to say we always will be."

THE END

You knew I was going to write another AN. . .I can't help myself. Actually there is some HUGE upcoming news that I can't wait to share with you guys but that has to stay on the DL for just a few weeks longer. No, it doesn't involve more chapters of TDIG or even a sequel, but it DOES have to do with TDIG. So stay posted!