A/N: Just a note to get you going. This is a big chapter in many many ways. That's all I'm saying.....review after you pick your jaw up off the floor : )

"I have landed! Bring on the chicks!" Emmett yelled as we exited the airport into the humid Miami weather.

"You better hope I don't tell Rose that you said that, she'd kick your ass." I started fanning myself. Going from the mostly crisp, cool Northeast to hot and stuffy Miami was quite a change.

Edward walked out carrying our bags and set them down on the pavement, looking around. "Didn't Tanya say they'd be sending someone to pick us up?"

"I thought so." Jasper pulled out his cell phone. "Hello Tanya….Yes we've just landed. We're standing outside of the terminal now….Alright. See you in a minute."

"See you in a minute?" I asked. "Is Tanya picking us up?"

Edward cleared his throat and looked down.

"Apparently." He stood up on his tiptoes looking over the crowd. "There she is."

I turned around and followed the direction of his gaze.

It was like in the movies where the whole world starts moving in slow motion when a beautiful woman walks in the room. The crowds parted and the wind kicked up just then, blowing her perfect strawberry blonde hair back. I didn't miss how every single guy she passed gaped at her raw beauty long after she'd walked by. I wanted to vomit.

"Jasper." She smiled and reached up to give him a kiss on both cheeks.

"Emmett." Emmett shook her hand and bent down to give her a peck on the cheek.

She hesitated before moving onto me and Edward. My hand reached for Edward's a moment before her eyes glanced towards us.

"Edward. Nice to see you again."

He took her hand and kissed it quickly. "You too Tanya." Bitch. "May I introduce Bella." He pulled his hand from mine and placed it on the small of my back, inching me forward.

I was in no condition to be introduced to someone this beautiful. I'd just spent three hours sleeping on a plane and woke up with drool sliding down my face. My hair was done in a messy bun, hidden mostly by a baseball cap and I had absolutely no makeup on. I'm surprised she didn't laugh and ask where the hidden camera was.

"Bella," she said sweetly. Too sweetly. Almost in the way that someone would say your name before they told you that you had toilet paper stuck on your shoe. "You're just so different than what I expected." I felt Edward grab hold of my shirt from the back, cautioning me not to kick this bitch's ass. I pulled a little forward and he pulled me a little back. I forced a smile.

"Thank you for inviting us here Tanya. That was very kind of you."

She smiled again and turned away from us. "This way please."

Edward smiled and took my hand, pulling me along. He bent down and whispered in my ear. "Good girl."

Tanya led us to the largest stretch limo I've ever seen in my life. The chauffer loaded our luggage into the back as we crawled in. Tanya sat in the back, motioning to Edward to sit next to her. I pulled him forcefully down next to me.

"I'll just sit here I think." His voice squeaked a little.

"So how is my good friend Aro?" Tanya began once the driver had turned on the engine.

"Very well." Jasper said smiling. Bullshit. We wouldn't be down here if Aro was very well.

"Actually," I started. "He'd be a lot better if we could actually run our business up in the city."

I felt Edward inhale quickly next to me and glance at Tanya from under his eyelashes.

She smiled. "All in good time Bella. Just enjoy yourselves tonight. We'll discuss business tomorrow at the gala."

I sat back in the chair and sighed loudly. Edward put his arm around my shoulder. I took note of the glaring stare of death I got from Tanya at his gesture.

The limo took us to our hotel. It looked a lot like the penthouse in New York, except it had a lot of neon pink and was called "The Pink Flamingo."

Jasper started getting out of the car. "Thank you Tanya. We'll see you tomorrow night then?"

"Don't be ridiculous. I want to make sure your accommodations are acceptable." She opened her car door and got out, snapping at the bell boy standing by the front door. "These go to the suite on the top floor." She gestured to the bags and handed him what looked like a hundred dollar bill. Show off.

She walked confidently into the hotel and was greeted by practically every person who walked by her.

"Yes I'm here to check in my dear friends. The reservation is for Denali." The woman at the front desk paused for a moment, obviously intimidated, before typing away at her computer.

"Oh yes. Denali. The suite on the top floor. Here are your keys. Your own personal elevator is down this hallway." She gestured to a doorway on her right.

"Thank you. And please make sure they are taken care of. Put anything on my tab."

"Yes Miss Denali. Of course."

We followed Tanya down the hallway, up the elevator that was big enough to fit an elephant, and into our luxurious room.

"Emmett's things here," she nodded at the first door down the hallway and the bellhop dropped off Emmett's Adidas bag.

"Jasper." She paused at the next door.

"And…Edward." She stopped at the last door of the hallway.

"Bella I put you on the other side of the suite. I thought you might like to be separated from the boys for a little bit." She nodded back down the hallway. That was bullshit. She was just trying to keep me away from Edward.

"Actually," I grabbed my bags from the bellhop. "I'll be staying in Edward's room." I stormed into it, without a farewell, and left all of them standing in the hallway.

"She's definitely a little firecracker," Tanya said. "Have a lovely evening." I peeked outside into the hall. Her eyes had lingered on Edward more than I liked.

He smirked at me as he closed our bedroom door.

"Defensive much?"

"She was practically eye-fucking you with me standing right there. Of course I'm defensive." I crossed my arms in front of me.

Edward took another step towards me.

"See? It's not easy being jealous. Maybe you won't be so hard on me about the grocery store incident now." His hand brushed against my arm. "And plus…" he leaned in closer. "That was really.." He clenched his eyes tight for a moment, "really sexy."

"Yeah?" I backed up until the back of my legs hit the bed.

He bent down to my neck and spoke into my skin. "Yeah." He placed a wet kiss on my skin. I grabbed the back of his neck and pulled us both down on the bed. He hovered above me and brought his lips to mine as his finger drifted slowly up my leg and hitched on the belt buckle of my jeans. I wrapped my legs around his waist, pulling him closer to me. Edward sat up on the bed, pulling me up onto his lap. He forced my head sideways so he could kiss my neck. I could already feel the sweat dripping down my back. It was hot enough just sitting in the Miami weather, but this just intensified the heat.

"It's so hot," I whispered as his tongue grazed across my collarbone.

"Maybe you should take your clothes off…" He laughed.

My body froze as I glanced towards the nightstand. There, written in extremely feminine writing was single piece of paper the size of a business card. See you later tonight. My hand reached out and grabbed it. A key clanged to the top of the nightstand.

"What the fuck is this?"

Edward stopped pulling my bra strap down my arm and looked over.

"I don't know." He took the piece of paper from my hand and I stretched on my side to reach out for the key.

"Is this a key to her place?!"

Edward turned defensive. "I don't know. I didn't ask for it!"

"Unbelievable. No wonder she didn't want me staying in here. I'd see her little love note."

"Hey…" he whispered. He placed his finger under my chin and tilted my enraged face up to his. "It doesn't matter now does it?"

I started to say something but his mouth was on mine again as he took the key from my hand. I heard it clink on the wall behind us.

A pound on the door nearly made me fall off the bed.

"Stop having sex! We're going out!" Emmett yelled.

I laughed and kinked an eyebrow. "Wanna join?"

"Only if Edward leaves!" Emmett screamed.

Edward and I collapsed on the bed laughing.

"You know if he was anyone else I would have beat his ass for that."

"Well I for one have to take a shower, want to join me?" I got up and started towards our very own bathroom that was attached to the room.

"I don't know if I really need one." Edward lifted his arm and smelled.

I lifted my shirt over my head. "Let me rephrase that." I threw my shirt at him. "Come take a shower with me…" I laughed and ran into the bathroom to turn on the shower.

After a minute or two I felt him step in behind me. He wrapped his arms around my waist to turn me around and push me against the bathroom wall. He planted his arms on either side of me, not allowing me to escape him. Not that I wanted to anyway.

"I need to tell you something Bella…" His face was serious.

"What is it?" My finger ran along his jaw, catching the droplets of water streaming down his face.

He looked down and shook his head. This wasn't good. He was really starting to worry me.

"Edward?" I grabbed his face in my hands and forced his eyes up. "What is it? You can tell me anything."

Then he looked me straight in the eye, strands of his sopping wet hair matting to his forehead. "I love you." His mouth turned up slightly on one side, forming my very favorite smile of his.

In that moment, I knew it too. I loved him more than I'd loved anyone or anything in my entire life and I didn't care anymore. I didn't care that I was supposed to be putting him in prison, or my job, or my dad. Maybe this was Jake's way of saving my life, even though I couldn't save his. He led me to Edward, my personal miracle in a tight leather jacket.

"I love you." I pressed my forehead to his. "God I love you…" I whispered.

We'd been in that shower for almost a half hour just holding each other when Emmett started pounding on the door.

""If you aren't out of that shower in 5 minutes I'm coming in there!"

Edward smiled and kissed my forehead before stepping out and wrapping a towel around his perfect body. I finished showering and stepped out in three minutes flat.

I swear the air was so warm my hair was dried and frizzy before I was even finished getting dressed. I braided the front into a loose French braid to tie up some of the strays and let the rest fall wavy down my back.

"Emmett…what are you wearing? It's not 1985," I said as I walked out into the living room.

"It's Miami," he said as he pulled at his popped collar. "I'm going Miami Vice style. Don't hate."

Edward smiled and walked over to me, taking my hand in his. "You look beautiful." He tugged lightly at the fabric of my long sundress.

"Thanks."

"You do look really beautiful Bells. All the guys are going to be so jealous that we're hanging out with you," Jasper said. It was nice to see the sweet side of him. Not that he wasn't a nice guy but he was definitely shyer than Edward and Emmett.

"Agreed," Emmett yelled. "Let's roll."

Edward and I walked hand in hand down the street a few paces behind Emmett and Jasper. The streets were overflowing with people, it was amazing. We found this cute little restaurant and bar that was right on the beach called Pirate Joe's. There was even a talking parrot by our table. Emmett got it to say "Fuck" and "Penis" before getting dirty looks from the waitress.

"Well guys, should we head back? It's getting late and we have a big day tomorrow…" Jasper stretched his arms over his head.

My eyes searched for Edward's as his hand found mine under the table.

"Actually I think we're going to go for a walk on the beach first…" Edward said.

"Yep." I nodded, not breaking eye contact with him. "On the beach."

"Okay fine. We'll see you tomorrow then."

Edward led me out onto the beach and we started down, away from the lights of the restaurant. The sun was just setting below the horizon.

We didn't say a word until we had walked all the way down to the pier and were on our way back.

"We have to tell Aro," Edward said.

"Why?"

"Because I don't want to have to hide it anymore. I want to be able to be with you without wondering if it'll get back to him. I want to be able to build a life with you…and marry you…and have kids with you someday. We can't do that if we're always hiding."

My heart fluttered when he said that. I knew we were nowhere near being ready for that yet, but it made me happy that someday we might be.

"Will he be mad?"

"I don't know. Maybe." He shrugged his shoulders. "If he's really that pissed, we'll just leave. I don't think he'd like hunt us down or anything. I don't think it'd be worth it for him, but who knows."

That wasn't very reassuring, but he was right. If we were serious about us, and we were, then we'd have to tell him. Because this feeling in my chest wasn't going away and I didn't want it to.

Edward tried to lighten the mood by attempting to drag me into the cold waves. He threw me over his shoulder and went knee deep before he finally complied with my screams for him to put me down. He did. Right in the middle of the water. I reached up and pulled him down into the water with me.

"Now I'm going to have to shower again…" I complained.

"I'll take care of you, don't worry…" The thought of Edward giving me a sponge bath ran chills down my spine, and it had nothing to do with the temperature of the water.

"Can we go now?" I said eagerly.

I slept till noon the next day since Edward had kept me up all night "taking care of me." We'd definitely be continuing with the sponge bath routine once we got home.

Edward finally dragged my butt out of bed and forced me to go to the beach for the rest of the day. He and Emmett played catch while Jasper and I built a fucking awesome sandcastle. All the kids were jealous.

"So I never told you congratulations…" I smirked as I pushed some sand into our castle.

"Alice…" He shook his head. "I told her to keep it quiet until we got back. I wanted to talk to Aro about it."

"Don't worry I won't tell. It'll be our secret."

"Bella I know I never say it, but I'm really happy for you two. I mean look how happy he is…" He gestured over to Edward, who was doubled over in laughter. "I have you to thank for that."

"Oh I don't know if I can take all the credit…"

"You can. It's you Bella. You brought him back to life."

"We brought each other back. That's the way it's supposed to be."

"Hey guys we better get going. We have to be at the boat in a couple of hours." I peered over the beach. It was starting to clear out and the sun was beginning its descend towards the water.

I dressed a little nicer for the occasion. It was a gala, whatever the hell that meant. It sounded important. The guys all wore tuxes, and damn did Edward look good. We arrived at the dock right on time and were greeted by a man who told us the party was onboard in the Johnson room, and then gave a detailed and confusing set of directions that I paid no attention to. I was too distracted by Edward's face glowing in the moonlight.

"Crap I forgot my wallet," Emmett said, reaching in his pockets. "I'm going to run back to the hotel. I'll be back in a jiffy." He smiled and took off jogging.

Edward pulled me towards the boat. It was all lit up and looked more like the Titanic to me than a simple boat.

"Hey Jazz do you think you can make it to the party on your own?" I tugged on Edward's collar.

Jasper sighed. "Yes. Go play. Be there in a half hour, we need to do business."

"Yes Dad," Edward laughed as he followed me down a long corridor. I peeked into the first room I could find and was pleased to find it was empty. As soon as the door was closed I slammed Edward against the wall and kissed him.

"I should tell you I love you more often…" He said against my mouth.

"You really should." My hand felt at his pants.

"I love you….I love you…I love you…"

I felt the earth move. And it wasn't figuratively. The boat must have pushed off from the dock, but I barely noticed. My thoughts were on Edward and his hand that was slowly rising up my dress.

"We only have twenty more minutes, we should use our time wisely…" I knelt down in front of him and started unbuckling his pants.

All of the sudden my head smacked against the wall as my body was jarred by a jolt. I didn't even have time to comprehend the loud boom that accompanied it.

"What the fuck was that?" I said reaching up to where my head had hit the wall.

"I don't know. Are you okay?" Edward pulled me up off the ground.

I pulled my hand down and saw red.

"If bleeding from the head is okay then yes I'm okay."

"Are you dizzy?" Edward turned me around and looked at my head. When he pulled his hands back they have spots of red all over them. He rummaged through the cupboards and found a towel to press it against my wound. "It's not too bad. Just keep holding it there."

I reached up and held the towel there with one hand. Edward opened the door and peered out the hallway before grabbing my other hand and pulling me out. As we turned the corner to follow where Jasper went we were met with a cloud of smoke.

"Oh my God. What happened?" I said as Edward whipped me back around the corner.

"I don't know. We have to get out of here." He pulled me towards a stairwell we'd passed on our way to the room. After climbing a few flights of steps we came to a door that said deck.

"Stay here," he whispered. He pulled a gun out of his jacket pocket and opened the door. I didn't even know he had a gun on him. How'd I miss that?

He reappeared a moment later and told me to come out. I looked back at the boat and saw more smoke billowing from it. This was definitely trouble.

"Listen to me, I have to go get Jasper. As crazy as it sounds, I need you to jump. We're not even 100 yards from the dock okay." He pulled my dress over my head. "Take your shoes off."

I bent down and slipped out of them.

"Jump Bella. I'll be right there."

I was scared to leave him. Who knows what had happened or who had caused it?

"I'm scared for you…" I whispered.

He took my face in his hands. "Don't worry babe. I'll be fine." He planted a soft kiss on my lips. "Go."

I turned and stepped over the railing, looking down into the water below. With one last look back at Edward, I leaped into the icy cold water. I now fully understood why he'd insisted I take my shoes and dress off. It was hard enough to swim in the dark, I didn't need those things weighing me down. Once I made it to shore I sat curled up on the dock, trying to keep warm. The smoke from the boat just kept getting bigger and bigger. I swore I could see some flames spouting out in some places. I heard the ship grumble and then with a loud boom and flash it split completely in half. A huge fireball erupted into the sky.

I jumped up and pulled my hands to my mouth, screaming.

"Edward!" I doubled over. "Edward!" I started to jump back into the water, but someone's strong arm wrapped around my waist and pulled me back.

"Oh my God Bella what happened?" Emmett looked out over the water.

"I…I don't know." I could barely speak through my hysterical tears. "Jasper and us got separated and then we heard this loud boom and there was smoke and Edward told me to jump. He went back to get Jasper." I buried my face in my hands. "Oh my God!"

A crowd of people had started gathering around, pointing at the fireball where the ship used to be.

"Here put this on and stay here!" Emmett handed me his jacket to cover my half naked body and jumped into the water. I sat and rocked back and forth, crying in pain. "Please don't let him die…please, please…" I prayed.

"Here! Give me his arm!" I looked up to see Emmett pulling a lifeless Jasper out of the water. Edward jumped up after him.

I dropped Emmett's jacket and jumped into Edward's arms.

"Edward I…I thought…I thought you were…" I planted him with kisses.

"Edward he's not breathing!" Emmett yelled as he stood over Jasper's body. I've never seen him so terrified in my entire life.

Edward bent down and started administering CPR. I knelt down beside him and watched, absolutely helpless.

"Edward…" Emmett locked eyes with Edward as he pounded on Jasper's chest.

"No Emmett."

"Edward he's going to die! Do it!" Now Emmett was angry. I didn't understand why or what he wanted Edward to do.

Edward hesitated and looked down at Jasper's body. I grabbed Jazz's hand and kissed it.

"Fine." Edward looked quickly at me with regret in his eyes and reached for his cell phone.

"This is Officer Edward Cullen. I need a bus down at the marina now!"