Disclaimer: All things Twilight belong to the brilliant Stephenie Meyer.

Hey all! I missed you! Sorry about the long wait for this update. Things are insane in real life right now. Just a few more weeks and they'll start slowing down.

Chapter 24

I walk into a small candlelit room that illuminates each of the twenty eligible bachelor's framed photos. The cameras are rolling, but stop before the producers walk in. They quickly tell me which men they want me to keep and the one's I can happily send home. It's not too bad, I assumed I'd have to keep a few of the these and was thankful that they didn't veto any that I wanted to keep, though they said I was making it pretty obvious which one I was ultimately interested in. I placated them by telling them that I had to show enough interest in him to warrant giving him the first impression peach. Thankfully they didn't argue any further with that logic.

They promptly leave and the camera's roll once more as I walk around the room slowly gazing at each of the pictures, voicing my inner thoughts for all of America to hear what I thought about each man. My mind is already made up, but I have to play along for a little bit longer for the families at home to know that I appreciate certain aspects about their loved ones.

I walk confidently out to the elimination room that is beautifully decorated as well, with soft colors of neutrals and creams, a very rustic country feel with a romantic twist. I look to my left and see a large glass bowl filled with the luscious peaches.

Jasper walks out beside me and at this moment I wish Tanya was by his side, but she's probably on her way back home by now, having fulfilled her cousin and relationship guru duties. It's all up to me now, to use my common sense and women's intuition to know the players from the genuine.

As Jasper smiles his kind smile my way, I know I have another friend here as well. I'm suddenly incredibly thankful for him.

"Gentlemen, Bella, it's time to begin the Peach Ceremony. When you're ready." He motions toward the bowl of peaches and steps back into the shadows.

I take a deep dramatic breath playing it up for the cameras, that I'm about to make such a difficult decision, though this might be the easiest of the whole show.

I grab a peach and smile at the boys. "I just want to thank you all so much for coming all of this way for little ole' me. It means the world to me. I've really enjoyed getting to know a little bit more about y'all and I'm hoping that my one true love is in this room tonight. With that said-"

I scan the room once more and smile widely for all of the men. I notice the creepers in the room with their cocky smirks firmly in place and unfortunately I have to keep a few, but thankful for the ones that I'll soon be sending packing.

My eyes lock with Mr. Dimples and he adorably flashes them my way. I can't help but smile back. "Emmett, would you accept this peach?"

He practically runs down the steps and over to me, enveloping me in a big bear hug and spins me around the room.

As he carefully places me down he says, "I'd love to accept your peach." I giggle and he gets back in line.

I pick up the next peach and offer it to one of the men that I begrudgingly have to keep. "James. James will you accept this peach." He swings his greasy ponytail around as he smirks at all of the men before making his way to me to take his peach and walks back to his place in line.

I try not to shudder as I continue on, passing out the peaches to the awaiting men. I keep Paul, Peter, Benjamin, Eleazar, a shy guy named Liam, some lanky man with a beard named Sam, and the last one, I want to throw up thinking about keeping this guy around. He's sure to give me trouble, which is what the producers wanted when they insisted I keep him and James around.

Jasper steps up and announces that it's the final peach as I carefully balance it in my hands, rubbing over the smooth fuzz for comfort.

I scan the room once more, noticing that squeaky Jake has tears in his eyes and I feel bad that I can't keep him, but he just doesn't do it for me at all. I lock eyes with Edward and he offers me a shy smile in which I return.

I close my eyes as I say, "Aro. Aro, will you accept this peach."

And let the creepy times begin as he saunters toward me like I'm his helpless prey.

A/N: Thanks for reading. I'm so sorry for the long wait, but I made it a little longer for you guys. Hope you enjoyed it.