Author's note: We had to see a little more private E/B time before we wrap things up. One more chapter and then our epi…if I can just get it sorted… Hope you enjoy it. Big thanks to my beta AgoodWITCH and my WC ladies! Now on with the show…

Chapter 22

I woke up with a sigh in Edward's arms, feeling excited all over again for the future that lay ahead of us. I was pleasantly sore as I stretched a little, having quite thoroughly celebrated with Edward once we got back and then a second time before we finally passed out.

Things went far better than we could have hoped after our little talk during the close of the concert. By the time we took off in search of the Julliard representative, the last student was just finishing her violin solo. We found Jan, the Julliard scout, and his wife Mischa sitting toward the back of the auditorium, they smiled obligingly as we asked them if we could talk and followed us back to the dressing room we had talked in during the preshow make-out session.

They both watched with amused eyes before Mischa reached over and took Jan's hand. When she spoke she had the soft hint of an eastern European accent, but I didn't recognize it. "Oh Yahn, zey remind me of uz when we were young. Do you zee it?"

The tall blonde man who actually reminded me quite a bit of Carlisle smiled adoringly at his wife and patted her hand with his other. "Yes, my love, I do see it. You see, Mischa and I met when I went back to Germany to visit my father. He stayed behind when my Mother and I moved the America when I was a young boy. I studied for a year there to spend time with him and learn from the masters there. Mischa and I fell in love immediately. I did not want to leave her behind, but had to for a short time. It did not take very long to attain her visas to come so we could be married, but it seemed like an eternity. We have not been separated since. We even both work at Julliard, I in the music department where Edward will be attending, and Mischa in the dance department."

I smiled at the comment of Edward attending. Edward tensed beside me, telling me he hadn't missed it either.

"So does that mean that you accept my apology and will allow me to start in the fall?"

Jan's smile faltered slightly. "There is still more you must do. Normally you would have to wait until next fall since you did not send in a new application by December first, however, the fact that you have previously completed all aspects of the application process with the exception of the audition means you must jump through a few more hoops. I do believe we will be able to skirt the rules slightly. You need to go online and update your application and perhaps recondition the essay portion to fit your new experience. Your professor has already submitted his letter of recommendation as will I, but you must undergo one last official audition to solidify your place. I will arrange it as soon as you are able, and I highly suggest you use the piece from tonight. You need to submit the sheet music for it as well as any additional background information and the theory notions you used to compose it. Will all of this be possible?"

Edward was silent and frozen next to me until I elbowed him and he sputtered with nerves before nodding slowly. "I believe so, sir. I…thank you."

Jan smiled politely. "No need to thank me. It's your talent and it will all be up to you, all I can do is give you my recommendation."

Edward nodded, reaching out to shake his hand before thanking him again and then immediately turned to me, wrapping his arms around me and hugging me tightly to him, his nose buried in my face as he murmured 'thank you' over and over. I sighed, hugged him back just as tightly, waving to the married couple as they rose, and left us alone in the room.

After a long time, Edward finally pulled back only far enough to capture my lips, one hand holding the small of my back to keep me close while the other drifted up to tangle in my hair. His kiss became insistent and almost delirious. While I wouldn't mind the memory of a dressing room romp, I had a feeling it would reflect poorly upon him if we got caught, so instead I suggested heading back to the dorm.

We quickly gathered his things, Edward chattering in nervous excitement about all the things he needed to do in the next week on top of classes to prepare for his Julliard acceptance. I just smiled and followed, taking the things he handed me along the way.

He stopped to thank his professor on our way out and at my suggestion called Emmett to let him in on the good news. I could hear my brother's loud whooping cheers from where I was walking beside Edward, making me laugh. It didn't take long before the whoop died out and Edward's happy expression was replaced with a serious one.

"We discussed all of that, Emmett. Bella is going to apply to several schools in New York and come with me. Columbia University has one of the best Law programs in the country and is her first choice. We'll make it work."

I could hear the serious tone again before Edward sighed. "Emmett, I don't know how to make this any clearer than I already have. Bella is it for me. There's not going to be any 'if we break up' or 'if things don't work out.' You need to really accept this, bro. Someday I'm going to be both your step brother and your brother-in-law. End of story."

My mouth grew dry and my heart pounded at Edward's declaration. I always knew that was where we were headed some day, but to hear him say it, and not only that but say it so calmly and certainly just made it that much more real and convinced me that we were making the right decision to go to New York together. Not only is this pursuing our future careers, but it would also give us a much needed chance to grow as a couple without the constant questions and scrutiny. We were already pretty much as close as two people can be, but I had a feeling that being a foreign city with nobody but each other to lean on would probably make that bond even stronger.

The boys continued to talk, but beyond Edward accepting Emmett's apology, I didn't hear much of the rest of the conversation, as I was too wrapped up in my own head. By the time we reached my empty room, I was so worked up about being together in New York, I practically jumped poor Edward, but he didn't seem to mind in the least.

I loved slowly peeling him out of his tux before pushing him onto the little beanbag love seat and praising his accomplishments, first with my mouth, and then with my body as I rode him to oblivion. When we were done, he couldn't do much more than pout and make a slurred comment about having to get accepted to Julliard more often.

Once we recovered a little, we crawled into bed where Edward decided it was his turn to worship me as his muse. This time was slow and passionate, filled with soft kisses and locked eyes as we reached completion together before falling asleep in a pile of limbs on my small bed.

I shifted a little, trying to free my now completely asleep leg from under Edward's when he shifted next to me, rolling to free my leg, while simultaneously capturing my waist with his arm and burrowing his nose into my hair. With a contented sigh, he went relaxed again, his arm very heavy on my waist.

I chuckled under my breath and just laid there, listening to the steady sound of his deep breathing for another half an hour before the sound of a key in the lock had me scrambling for the blankets to make sure we were covered as I yelled for Alice to wait. Alice, however, didn't hear a thing as she blasted her iPod so loud, I could hear the tune as she entered.

I checked again to make sure Edward was covered before Alice froze, her eyes taking in the mess of clothes on the floor that was usually cleaned up before she came back before they glanced up toward my bunk. Her hands flew to cover her eyes as she let out a screech that startled Edward, leading to his sitting up and almost revealing himself to her.

She screamed again and turned her back. "Oh my God! I'm so sorry! Normally you guys are in class right now. I'm so, so, sorry! I'll just get my bag and go! Oh geez!"

I couldn't help but chuckle as she flew around the room to get her things before leaving the room with a slam of the door. It wasn't until after she was gone that I remembered that it was a school day and we were missing classes. Edward, however, wasn't so okay with the situation.

He flew down the ladder, his assets on display, making me nibble my lip as he cursed and threw his clothes around looking for his underwear.

"Damn it! I'm struggling in Milton's class. I really couldn't afford to miss this class."

I felt bad for him, but it has hard to be too sympathetic while getting the nice little show. I sighed a little in joy that he was all mine.

"Don't worry about it, Edward. I talked to Jasper earlier this week. He passed that class with flying colors last semester and said he could help you and Alice study. Alice has the afternoon section, but I doubt the lectures are that different, I'm sure you can copy her notes. You'll be fine."

He gave me a light hearted scowl as he stared up at me, still completely naked in my dorm room. "What exactly makes you all nonchalant about this, Miss 4.0?"

I smirked and let go of my sheet as I rolled to the side, letting it fall away to reveal my own little show.

"Well, after a night like last night, thinking of living with you in New York, and watching you stand in my room buck naked, Humanities 102 is the last thing on my mind."

Edward's eyes locked on my chest before glancing lower and then back again, his body visibly reacting to me, before flitting to my face. I smirked and shrugged.

"You're already a half an hour late; you might as well make good use of the time and that wonderful little problem you have standing out there."

His eyes grew dark and narrowed before he prowled across the room and up the ladder with dark, intense intent. As soon as he reached my legs, he grabbed my ankles and turned me flat on my back before covering me with himself like a blanket, his lips finding mine only briefly before moving to claim my waiting nipple.

He moved with leonine grace as he traced my body with his hands and tongue, gazing up at me most of the time with the most panty wetting expression I'd ever seen. It was this strange combination of possession and desire that made my body swoon. He worked me with his fingers as his tongue teased my skin. He moved away directing me without words until I was shifted on my hand and knees, his hands gripping my hips as he leaned over me kissing from my neck and down to my shoulderblades. He kissed from one side to the other before following my spine to the small of my back and then back up again while one hand moved to tease between my legs while the other pinched my exposed nipple as I gasped and arched my back.

I began begging for him to be inside me, but he refused, continuing to tease me. I began to lament unleashing the monster as he teased me to the point where the pleasure was almost pain until he leaned in again to nibble my ear.

He entered me at the same moment that he whispered into my ear, "You are mine, Bella Swan. Mine and mine alone."

He punctuated his words with thrusts before repositioning and leaning in on the other side. "Nobody else will ever touch you again. Nobody else will ever taste you again. And nobody but me will ever be inside you like this again."

He pulled out almost completely before sliding back in. "You don't have a ring on your finger yet, but make no mistake, you are taken…for the rest of your days you are spoken for."

He kissed my back again, his movements slow and sweet as he softened his thrusts, his hands changing from demanding to worshipful. Eventually he made it back up to my face where he encouraged me to turn toward him, kissing my lips as shifted me and pulled my back against his chest pulling us both up together. His kisses were passionate and insistent, but never rough as one hand covered my heart and the other wrapped my waist, helping me raise and lower slightly over him.

His lips moved to kiss across my shoulder and back up my neck before they found my ear again. "And in exchange, I promise to love and worship you with all of me, every day until my last breath."

I moaned through little tears as I reached back for his head again, bringing him in for another kiss as my hands burrowed in his hair before I removed his hands and shifted to face him, sliding back onto him immediately. He wrapped me up again and kissed me deeply, as I shifted myself on top of him. I held his head between my hands as I came, promising him that I was only his, he followed a fraction of a second later before we both collapsed still wrapped together on the bed, the frame groaning, making us both freeze for fear of the whole loft coming down before we started laughing.

Neither one of us made it to our second class of the day either and only managed to move down and be dressed about half an hour before Alice returned. She was so excited when we told her about Julliard and New York she screamed and danced until she remembered that it would mean we wouldn't be able to be roomies next year like we had planned. She was still happy for us though.

The next five weeks were a bit of a blur. I was only about a week away from the deadline for Fall applications and rushed to send in to Columbia, NYU, Berkley whose appeal was an accelerated three year bachelor program, St. John who had a renowned pre-law and law program, and Fordham. Emmett wasn't handling things perfect, but he was doing pretty good. He agreed to let us talk to Mom and Pop about New York when we went home after finals.

Edward had been busy too. He accomplished everything except for his audition within the first week like me. We worked side by side many late nights that week, working hard to get our ducks in a row. All that was left now was his audition, which was two days before finals. Poor Edward was a nervous wreck that whole week. It was a wonder he got any studying done at all. He pulled off a flawless audition, not that he would call it that, but I heard the exclamations of the judges afterward…he was SO in!

Finals went well, if not in a blur of sleepless nights and stress. We packed between finals, getting ready for that final moveout. When we moved in back in the fall, I never dreamed that I would only be spending one year at the University of Washington, much less being WITH Edward and talking about moving across country with him the following fall. It was strange how fate worked sometimes and the plans you made turn out to be nothing more than plans that twist and turn with the tide of life.

We waited an extra day to move out with permission from Dad's friend in high places. The campus was empty the last night we all spent in the dorms. Jasper and Alice had left on move out day along with everyone else, so basically, it was a few RA's, a few summer school students, and us. Emmett, Rose, Edward, and I all sat around Edward's room floor and chatted over pizza, talking about how odd it would be next year being so far apart.

Emmett stared down at his last uneaten piece of pizza before looking up at me with sad eyes. "I'm sorry about how all of this went down. It was weird at first, but seeing you two now, it really makes more sense. I'm going to miss the hell out of both of you, but you're going to be fine in New York. Even before you were officially together, I think I would have known you'd end up moving out there together. You take care of each other and look out for each other, and that makes me feel better about this whole thing. Mom and Dad are gonna flip, but I think they'll see its right soon. You two just be careful, and I'm buying you a little can of wasp spray."

"Wasp Spray?" We all asked in unison.

Emmett nodded, dead serious. "Yeah, I got an email saying that it's your best alternative with Mace being illegal and it does a better job too. One hit in the eyes with that shit and you could crawl and still get away from a fucker no problem."

I chuckled shaking my head. "Bubby, you gotta stop believe everything you read in emails. You're going to get yourself arrested and sued like that, Emmett. Besides, pepper spray is legal there as long as you buy it in state and fill out paperwork. I'm not walking around without some kind of protection on hand."

Emmett's eyes softened as he looked at me. "Now that I'm really gonna miss."

I cocked my head and he laughed. "You calling me Bubby."

I bit my lip and scooted over to hug around his waist, resting my head over his heart. "You're always going to be my big Bubby, Emmett, and there is such a thing as phone calls, and airplanes. It's not like you'll never talk to me or see me."

Emmett sighed squeezing me around the shoulder. "Yeah, but that's just not the same."

I sighed and hugged him tighter. "I know, Em. I know."

The next morning was chaos as we tried to figure out how to shove all of our crap plus extra back into the same sized uhaul we'd used at the beginning of the year. Once it was all loaded, we returned home the same way we came, Edward and me in the back seat of Pop's Mercedes while Em drove the Uhaul, only this time, Edward and I held hands and leaned together, my head resting on his shoulder.

We were about halfway there when Pop looked into the rearview mirror with a twinkle in his eyes. "So are you ever planning on telling us the big news or are you going to wait until the fall and just spring it on us then?"

Edward and I both tensed as Mom and Pop laughed in the front seat. "U Dub's star musical arts student gets snatched up by Julliard and you don't think my friends on the staff are going to call and congratulate me? Please son, give me some credit!"

We were both quiet as he examined us before rolling his eyes again. "Come on…share some details. What is the next step?"

I sighed before sitting up, gripping Edward's hand tighter. "Me hopefully getting accepted to one of the five New York universities I applied to, for a start."

I held my breath waiting for the yelling to commence. Instead, Mom and Pop shared a look and a sad sigh before Pop continued. "We expected as much. We will need to talk about all of this a little more in depth. We really aren't completely convinced you're ready to be all the way across the country, Bella. You have a great opportunity here in Washington. We don't want you to throw away such a gift. Do you know how many students would give their left arm for a free ride including room and board? It just doesn't seem prudent for you to make the move too."

"I can't go without her," Edward practically whispered into the car as he held on more tightly.

Mom glanced over the seat with watery eyes and a soft smile. "We know you feel that way, Edward. Like we said…we'll talk about it."

I leaned back over and rested my head on Edward's shoulder and listened to the soft music of Pop's Simon and Garfunkel CD for the rest of the trip, not knowing exactly what we would discover once our talk with the parents began.