A/N: My thanks for staying with this story, for favoriting and reviewing.

My undying thanks to Katmom, for opening a can of beta whoop-ass on this chapter. It's been a long time coming.

Disclaimer: All rights and characters are owned by Stephenie Meyer. We're just along for the ride. No copyright infringement is intended.


Chapter 6 – Waiting

Bella lay reclined on the pillows, her warm hands holding my face, her beautiful brown eyes looking into mine. We belonged to each other as husband and wife, and she wanted me forever. The feelings that flooded through me were indescribable. Once again, she had transformed me; instead of a being of stone, I was a being of light and radiance. With a sigh, I lowered my lips to hers.

Bella would want her last human memory to be that of me biting her; to know that I wanted her enough to change her myself. From the moment I first met her, I fought this very act, and out of reflex, giving in felt slightly wrong. I wished I had taken the time to mentally prepare myself tonight, because it would have been safer to just inject the venom into the IV port. Most of the evening I had spent ruminating about what I was about to do to Bella's soul; I had been too distracted by that activity to consider the risk to her body.

She curled a hand around the back of my neck and her silken lips slid over mine. The scent of her filled my nostrils and I tensed my arms to fight the urge to crush her to me as desire arced through my body. After our honeymoon, my body had become even more tuned to hers, and it thrummed in harmony like an instrument under her hands. I had to do it now, before the urge to possess her overwhelmed me. Without breaking the kiss, I reached for the remote control as quickly as I could, taking barely a millisecond to activate the flow of the general anesthetic. Kissing my way past her cheek and down to her collarbone, her dress was in the way, so I pushed it aside. As gently as I could, I bit the side of her neck, being careful to avoid the jugular vein and the carotid artery.

Dear God! The taste of her blood exploded in my senses, one hundred times greater than the first day I had scented her, as if not just my mouth, but my entire body tasted the flavors and nuances in her blood. Strawberries, freesia, honeysuckle and jasmine were among the various essences my fevered mind tried to categorize, but all the sensations swirled away in a maelstrom of raw hunger. It was not this sweet when I had stopped James' poison from changing her. The monster that had lain dormant in me woke up and roared. I had denied it for so long, and her blood was ambrosia; its bouquet completely bowled me over. The demon begged me to drink – just one swallow. If I stopped now, it would be gone forever, lost in the change. But if I took one swallow, I couldn't stop. Before, her blood had been tainted with morphine and James' venom. Now, there was still morphine but it was cleaner, tasting more of sweet Bella, and it called to me, lovely and seductive. I closed my eyes tightly, trying to muster the strength to let go, but I couldn't – I didn't want to. With the hint of her blood whispering over my palate, I hovered on the verge of drawing on the wound. The taste was just heavenly.

Bella gasped and the sound distracted me from the demands of the monster. An image of her body in my arms came to me – drained, lifeless, an empty husk devoid of her spark, eyes blank and cold, never again to shimmer with her love for me. Immediately that image flashed to black as a void filled my unseeing eyes. The void of my existence without her if I killed her. I saw myself floating above the universe, suspended at the edge of blackness, no stars, no suns, nothing but the empty drifting and searing pain. A hole exploded in my chest and I shuddered, a violent effort that rippled through my whole frame and helped me to pull my mouth away. Slowly I could feel my reason return, and I gradually regained control of myself. I moved above her, panting slightly – I had come too close to the edge.

"Thank you, Edward, I love you," Bella whispered. Fortunately, if she noticed my struggle, she didn't say anything and I wasn't about to tell her how close I had come to fulfilling the fate destiny had given her when she first crossed my path in biology class.

The bite was still open, so I licked the edges, letting the venom seal the wound. The taste sent another shiver through me, but this time I was able to keep control of myself. I swallowed the trace of her blood that lingered in my mouth and licked my lips – taking care not to leave any that she could smell – then kissed her briefly. "I love you, my Bella," I answered. "I'll be waiting for you on the other side. Sleep well, love."

I sought Bella's lips again, loath to miss a single moment. Perhaps I had become something of a masochist, and the pleasure of kissing her wasn't complete without the pain of bloodlust burning my throat. All too soon, her lips stopped entertaining mine and her eyelids fluttered shut. I kissed her one final time, hoping she was still aware enough to feel it, then sat back and stroked her hair. After a while I gave the inside of her arm a little pinch, to see if she was under. She didn't move.

I had many things to attend to, but for the moment, I savored the serene tableau one last time and put off administering the rest of the venom. Like so many nights before, I lay next to her, listening to her soft breathing, her gently beating heart, and watching the slow rise and fall of her chest. Some humans enjoyed the soothing sounds of the forest at night, with crickets chirping. Others liked the low roar of the rushing surf. Although not human, for me the most peaceful, soothing background was the sounds of my sleeping wife – heartbeat keeping steady time, breathing soft and airy as her chest rose and fell. This particular music had accompanied my nights for so long, the thought that it would soon be different touched me with melancholy. I had always thought Bella was perfect as she was. Only in her own mind was she lacking in any way.

Wife. That word floated through my mind and distracted me for a moment. I, who had never thought to find my match, never thought I needed one, was married. And married to this slender girl who held my heart between her two little hands. To see her quiet smile and laughing eyes and know that she was happy…that was my nirvana. I drew a gentle finger across the delicate skin of her cheek, closing my eyes as the familiar electric tingle sent a shiver across my shoulders.

That sensation drew a sigh from me. I loved the warmth and softness of her skin, and it would take some time to adjust to the changes that were coming. With her mind closed to me, Bella's physical reactions helped me to ascertain her thoughts and feelings – her easy blushes would tell me of her anger or embarrassment and her heartbeat would flutter like a hummingbird's when she was agitated. Sometimes, when we had a tender moment, her heart would literally skip a beat. Bella's eyes had also been a favorite of mine; those deep pools of melted chocolate had been my primary window to her mind. Without these cues, and without access to her thoughts, I would be rendered as insensitive a clod as Mike Newton. I only hoped that she would remain as artless and open in her facial expressions as before.

And of course, how could I forget the scent of her blood? The part of her that had so devastatingly drawn me to her in the first place – albeit for a more deadly reason. I wondered, if her blood had never sung for me, would I have been as hopelessly attracted to her? Most likely not. Other human females blended together into a faceless crowd to me. They held no more interest for me than a flock of sheep held for a sheepdog. Most definitely her scent had bound me to her.

However, it had been her mental silence that had first intrigued me, and made her stand out from the crowd. What workings of her brain rendered her a mental mute to me? I could only hope the transformation might change that and let me finally hear her voice.

Yet, perhaps I didn't want that after all. Even perfectly compatible lovers needed privacy from time to time. And though I tried to respect my family, I couldn't turn the mind-reading off. Knowing Bella as I did now, it would be better if this aspect of her did not change. She was a very reserved person and as gratifying as it would be to finally hear her thoughts, she would be uncomfortable if her thoughts were not her own. So if that remained, I could accept it.

One coming change was not a physical one – like me, Bella would no longer sleep. There would be no more opportunity to listen to the sounds of her slumber, or her unguarded thoughts when she talked in her sleep. I definitely would miss those. If she had never spoken my name the first night I had visited her, I may never have known her feelings lay in that direction. At that point in time, I had not yet intruded and still could have gathered the strength needed to leave her to a normal, human life. The moment she spoke my name from whatever dreamscape she was in, my strength vanished and my reason faded.

Other qualities of Bella's the transformation should not touch, but apprehension made me unsure. I treasured the sound of her voice, whether low and husky when we were together, or sharp and strident when I had angered her. The way her laugh rolled out of her chest like a burbling stream and tickled my ears, I would not like to lose. Her characteristics of being so good and caring, shy and yet brave at the same time were things that were buried in her psyche and should not be touched by the change. Yet I worried. All of these qualities big and small fit together to make the jewel that was my Bella. Like old friends, I had grown fond of them all and was a little saddened that some of them would be going away.

Some changes I welcomed. The mere scent of her still triggered the instinct to kill. I had long since conditioned myself to control the impulses, but that did not prevent the involuntary reactions like the venom flowing in my mouth and the thirst burning in my throat. Tonight had been a close call. Over our many months together, I had conditioned myself to the scent of her blood. When we fought the newborns I was able to bind a cut on her hand without succumbing to its lure, but there was no way that I could condition myself to the taste of it. To be able to be together without having to fight the killing response would be a welcome change.

Ah, but to be able to touch her without fear of killing her! That would be the greatest relief of all. Out of necessity, Bella and I did not have as intensely physical a relationship as Emmett and Rosalie. Our honeymoon accident was a perfect illustration of the razor's edge we had to walk in order to be together. We were so fortunate; it could have been much, much worse. No, that aspect I would not miss. For the longest time I longed to caress her slender shoulders, to embrace her with all the wild emotion she had awakened in me. And while I had learned how to safely kiss her, I was never truly able to lose myself in the moment. Her delicate, silky skin was one of the things I loved about her, but her fragile nature was a source of constant worry. I was sure she would also be relieved for the end of my overprotective reactions, as I tended to hover out of concern for dangers real and imagined. When she was made of more durable stuff, the need for these concerns would be gone. I would have to find another hobby.

Now that changing Bella would soon be a fait accompli, a larger world of possibilities began to occur to me. They seemed fairly mundane after the life-threatening events that had touched our lives in the last two years, but the thought of mundane things was welcome. She had spoken of attending Dartmouth after her newborn period. I had never attended college with a companion, always alone except for my brothers or sisters, if they were attending the same institution. High school had always been incredibly tedious; there was nothing at the high school level we did not know, and the social aspects of high school that entertained the children were lost on us. Yet these past two years in school with Bella had almost flown by, and I began thinking eagerly of attending school with her. If she was considering a degree in English literature, I supposed I could try as well. I considered myself fairly well read, but had never gone further than that. Now that I considered it, every possible activity took on a new shine as long as I could be by her side.

World travel had also paled in eighty years, and it had been a long time since I had done a world tour. Now that we had discussed traveling for our second honeymoon, I found myself eagerly wanting to take Bella to Paris, to walk the halls of The Louvre and dance with her in the ballrooms of Versailles. A visit to the Taj Mahal was trickier with the amount of sun in India, but the monsoon season should give decent cloud cover. I had also enjoyed the Scottish Highlands, which had a similar climate and terrain to Forks. The possibilities were endless, and I smiled as I contemplated the places we would go and the things we would do.

Carlisle knocked on the door and entered the room to check on Bella, the habit of making his rounds at the hospital too ingrained to ignore. He saw my face and smiled. "It's good to see you happy."

"For once the future seems brighter," I agreed. "For all the agonizing and effort I spent fighting with all of you over changing her, now that it is here..." I shrugged. "A great weight has been lifted from me and I can finally look at the positives in life."

Esme was right, he thought. "I knew this would work out for the better," he remarked.

"No, you didn't." I laughed. "You hoped it would work out, but at the time you didn't see how it could."

"That's true," he replied, with a wry grin. "Regardless, it's good to see you happy." He checked the level of Bella's IV and left the room.

I glanced over at one of my shelves where I displayed some keepsakes. Alice had framed some photographs from the wedding for me. Next to the bottle cap was one of Bella and I dancing – her dark curls cascading down her back in contrast with the white, satin gown. My pale skin was stark against the dark tuxedo jacket. I compared her skin to mine, and found we were almost the same shade of pale, except for her cheeks which were kissed by a hint of pink. The warmth in her face as she smiled up at me made my breath catch in my throat. I looked down at her sleeping face and stroked a finger along her cheek. As always, the touch of her skin sent an electric thrill into my hand and up my arm.

If only we had taken more pictures together, or I had taken more of her. I would have liked to preserve more images of her as she was when she first captured my heart. In one of her albums was the one taken of us at her eighteenth birthday party, but she didn't like to be reminded of that evening. I was glad she thought to have the waitress take our picture tonight.

The pictures reminded me of Bella's suggestion to remove the breakables; essentially to child-proof the room. I smirked at the thought – no child would ever be like this one – and rose from the bed to get boxes from the garage. We always had moving boxes on hand in case we needed to move out quickly.

Alice heard me open my door and was there in a second. "Did you…"

"Yes. She's sleeping now." I looked back through the doorway and was struck by the image of Bella lying on the bed. With the candles arranged around the room casting a golden glow over her, she looked almost to be lying in state. Like Sleeping Beauty or Snow White waiting to be awakened by true love's kiss. I was a little nervous and couldn't help asking. "Alice, are we doing everything right? Will she be okay?"

Alice looked away for a moment. "She'll be fine." She gave me a satisfied, rather smug grin. In her thoughts was the image I had seen so many times – Alice and Bella, arm in arm, Bella's eyes blazing red.

"Can you…stay with her for a moment? I don't want her to be alone." Irrationally, I felt like Bella would like to have company throughout the process, even though intellectually I knew she was sedated.

Alice raised her eyebrows at me and gave me a long-suffering shake of her head. What am I going to do with you? she thought as she moved to the bedside.

"Thanks, Alice." I headed for the garage. When I returned with boxes, Alice was sitting in Bella's rocking chair, watching Bella and slowly rocking. The image reminded me of an expectant mother. She looked at me curiously. What's all this?

"Child-proofing," I answered, and she giggled.

I moved quickly, not knowing how long before the venom in Bella's neck would begin to spread. Alice got up and began helping me pack. She started on the CDs and other music. One by one I blew out the candles and put them aside to cool. The wedding pictures and other keepsakes I wrapped carefully and stored in a separate shoebox.

"Thanks for framing the pictures, Alice." I gazed for a long while at the image of Bella and me dancing, before storing it away. "I wish I had more pictures of her."

"I thought you might like it." She smirked at me. "Just remember to take more pictures now."

Normally, we didn't need pictures because our memories were just as good. However, if Bella's experience were the same as mine, the memories of her human life would become less distinct and I wanted to preserve them for her if possible.

I picked up Bella's necklace from the surgical tray and stored it in the jewelry box with my mother's jewelry. Finally, I disconnected my stereo and carried it into Carlisle's office. When my shelves were empty, Alice went back to her room.

I had stalled long enough. Returning to the equipment at Bella's bedside, I picked up a syringe of venom and inserted it into the medication administration port on Bella's IV tube. The venom had taken some time to collect, and had involved a peculiar operation – I had borrowed one of Bella's shirts. Enough of her scent clung to it to incite the flow of venom in my mouth so that we could collect it. Even so, it took a while to gather 200cc of venom. The dosage was a sheer guess but it was far more than the amount delivered in five bites, as Carlisle had done to me. We had to dilute the venom to make it flow easily so the resulting volume was even more.

I depressed the plunger to administer the venom, and the liquid imparted a yellowish tinge to the saline solution that moved quickly through the tubing. Eventually it was gone and the saline ran clear again. The general anesthetic continued its constant, steady flow. Replacing the spent syringe of venom with a full one, I dispensed it, and repeated the process for the remaining three.

Finished administering the venom, I lay back down on the bed and settled in to wait. It was not so different from when I would watch her sleep in her bedroom at Charlie's house. Bella's thick tresses flowed across the pillow like a chestnut torrent. Her skin was still the mouthwatering cream and roses that I loved. I suppose we could have changed her out of the blue dress she had worn to our last human date, but she looked so lovely lying there I didn't want to disturb the image.

The clock on my desk showed 1 a.m. – about one hour after I had put her under. I closed my eyes, inhaled deeply and cleared my thoughts, as I usually did when settling in for a wait. Nothing reached me except the scent of Bella, the sound of her slow breathing and her low but steady heartbeat.

Sometime later, I was roused by a change in Bella's heart rate, a little faster, a little stronger than before. I opened my eyes. Her eyes were still closed but her breathing was coming fast and shallow. A small moan escaped her lips.

I felt the hackles rise on the back of my neck. "Carlisle!" I called sharply. It had been decades since I had witnessed a transformation – Emmett's – but we were going about it much differently this time.

Bella moaned again. If I didn't know better it could have been any other night when she had a bad dream, but her moans continued, getting louder with the passing minutes. She began to shift restlessly on the bed. It looked as if she would wake at any second so I moved to the side of the bed to steady her arm with the IV.

Carlisle appeared, a slight frown marring his normally serene face. "She's coming out of it so soon," he spoke, worriedly. Quickly he increased the drip rate of the sedative. It was what I had thought might happen, but I still hoped it wasn't too late for the medication to have an effect.

Bella's heart rate and breathing continued to climb. A faint sheen of perspiration broke out on her forehead which I wiped away. Her skin felt like a furnace to me. I lay my cold hand on her forehead, her cheeks, her neck, trying to cool her off. I knew the effort was futile because things were going to get worse.

Bella opened her eyes. They were still deep brown, but contracted in pain. Her eyes sought mine. "God…burning…Edward." Her sweet voice came between pants.

I could feel the panic starting to set in. I didn't sweat or get a rush of adrenaline but my breathing was involuntarily speeding up. There was a feeling in the bottom of my stomach like acid was burning a hole in it. "I know, love. Carlisle's here." I didn't know what else to tell her, except to reassure her.

Suddenly Bella's back arched and she screamed.

"Dear God," I heard myself say. "Carlisle, morphine!" I snapped without thinking, but he was beside the IV delivery system already. "Bella honey, I'm sorry!" I cried.

Carlisle spared me a quick glance, while adjusting things. "The morphine drip has been constant, and the sedative is useless now. I…I think it's already too late for more morphine."

Bella's scream cut off but her face remained a rictus of pain, her eyes tight shut, breath coming in quick rasps. It felt like a knife was twisting in my guts – as bad as when Jane was torturing me under Volterra. Bella was suffering and I had done this to her. I froze in place. My mind froze, as well. I knew I had some medical knowledge, but just didn't know where it was. All I could see was the pain etched in every fiber of her body.

No, I had to be here for her. I had to function. I shook my head violently and took a series of deep breaths. Bella's scent set off the burning in my throat and the pain gave me enough focus to clear my head of the initial panic.

I looked at Carlisle. "What can we do?" I asked.

Carlisle frowned. "If medication won't work..." He spread his hands. "Lamaze? What do we have to lose?"

Frantic, I recalled the Lamaze techniques I had learned ages ago. With the drugs not having any effect, we would have to try something else. I fear I did not pay that much attention during the training classes, thinking I would never have a need to help a partner through childbirth, or would never teach a Lamaze class. At this inappropriate time, some of the instructor's comments came to me. "We don't know if Lamaze really works, but it at least gives the mind something to think about besides the pain." If she wasn't already dead by now, I would happily hunt her down and kill her.

I took Bella's hand in mine. "Bella, can you feel my hand?" A quick nod, though her eyes did not open. "Alright, focus on my hand, honey. Focus on the cold." Her breathing still came in quick pants, so I didn't need to change that.

"Okay…hah…hah…" she puffed.

"Great, you're doing fine, love." Keep them calm, keep their mind on something else, lots of encouragement. We were also supposed to keep the mother hydrated because of all the work her muscles were doing but I didn't think that applied in this case. Her muscles were changing, not working.

Bella opened her eyes, lifted a hand and pushed it weakly against my chest. "You…go," she urged me.

I shook my head. "I'm not leaving you."

She grimaced as another wave hit her. "Not…like…this…" she panted.

I clenched my teeth until the wave subsided, then soothed her hair back from her face. "Hush, Bella, don't be brave for me. It's all right. Come on, squeeze my hand." She seemed to glare at me, or it could have been the pain furrowing her brow, but she stopped trying to get me to leave. I didn't like to see her in pain but I had to do what I could for her.

We stayed this way for I don't know how long. The only sounds in the room were those of Bella breathing quick and sharp, or me murmuring whatever came into my head that sounded positive. I lost track of my surroundings, lost track of time, so focused on her was I. All the while doing anything I could think of to divert her from the pain, rubbing her back to try to relax her, and feeling absolutely useless because there was nothing I could really do about it; it was all up to her. Expecting fathers in the delivery room the world over must feel like this – totally helpless.

More and more often a cry of pain would escape her and every muscle in her body would tense and tremble like palsy. I clenched my jaw as each scream struck me through the core, and whispered I was sorry. Her hand squeezed mine during each paroxysm. Was it my imagination or was each constriction getting stronger?

I looked up as Carlisle was removing the IV needle from Bella's arm. "It's not doing any good anymore. The change is moving faster than I've ever seen it, and I'd rather not leave the needle in when her arm crystallizes around it."

I realized I had forgotten about him while trying to minister to Bella. "How long?" I asked.

"It's been about thirty hours," he answered. His face was fairly placid, and I tried to take comfort in the fact that he had witnessed several transformations and was not overly perturbed right now.

Time was not moving at a normal pace today. I had the impression we had been here for days already. "Is everybody else home?" I asked.

He nodded. "They've poked their heads in from time to time, but you've been too occupied to notice."

"E-Edward?" Bella's voice was hoarse.

"Yes, love?"

"Am…I still…" Another spasm interrupted her. "Still…soft…and warm?"

"Shh, save your strength." I didn't have the IV to fuss with so I shifted her until she was cradled in my lap, my back against the headboard. I put a hand on her forehead. "You're quite warm. And we've been over this before. I will always love you whether you're soft and warm or not. We belong together."

"'Kay," she muttered, and drew in a long, shaky breath.

"Breathe, Bella," I directed, and she went back to taking short breaths.

I had Carlisle open the drapes so we could see outside, but the overcast masked the sky so it could have been morning or evening. Alice came in and took Bella's other hand. "It's going to be fine," she reassured me. "She'll be fine."

"Bella, would you like some music?" I asked. That was another thing I remembered from Lamaze. Soothing music sometimes helped. She shrugged, breath still coming quickly. I queried Alice with my eyes and she nodded. "Okay, Alice will stay with you." I moved Bella from my lap to the bed, got up and quickly retrieved my stereo from Carlisle's office and hooked it up.

I found the CD of my music that I had made for Bella and loaded it; it was one of her favorites. She gave a quick smile as she recognized the opening notes, then another wave of pain took her. When it passed her brow was slightly more relaxed than before, and I felt a hint of satisfaction that I could make her even minutely more comfortable.

Some time toward the afternoon, I noticed a slight sheen starting to take over the cream and roses color of her skin. Now it was more and more cream and moved slowly like a time lapse film of a drying lake bed. I looked into her eyes and they were no longer deep brown; they were light orange. I reached up to wipe the perspiration away as I had been doing, and found none.

The afternoon wore on, and night slowly fell, turning my window into a giant mirror. I asked Alice to close the drapes, not wanting to look at two images of Bella's suffering. Was it the second or third time night had fallen? I could not remember, and just hoped it would be over soon.

A sudden pain in my hand brought my attention back in time to see another wave of agony ripple through Bella's body. Her skin sparkled now, totally crystalline. Knowing she would soon have the strength to break my fingers, I removed her grip from my hand, and folded her hand into a little fist which I held in mine. Some of the angles in her face seemed to have softened a little, but her nose, cheeks and eyebrows were the same as before, only a bit paler. The few freckles on her cheeks were fading. A brief smile broke through my worry; she was still my Bella.

Suddenly her heart rate accelerated, beating like a trip hammer. She arched her back worse than before and thrashed her arms and legs. I struggled to hold her, something I had never had trouble with before. Already, she was stronger than ever.

"Edward!"

My name was a horrid scream ripped from the depths of her soul. I looked into her crimson eyes and froze. The look in her eyes was so hopeless, like she had nothing left. The suffering in them so deep, so intense that the pit of my stomach fell through and I had no more words of encouragement. No more thoughts except that she should not suffer. The guilt in my chest burned like acid. "Carlisle!" I yelled in panic. "Is she all right? How much longer?"

Carlisle's calm voice came to me as I could not wrench my eyes from Bella's face, "She's fine, Edward. Can you hear her heart fly? It's very strong. Not much longer now."

Alice gripped my shoulder firmly. "Jasper, can you come here, please?" she called.

Jasper came into the room, and quickly assessed the emotional state in the room. "I think Edward needs a little help," Alice spoke.

Jasper nodded. Slowly, my panic subsided and I felt ashamed that they had seen it. I turned back to Bella and soothed her hair back from her face, murmuring encouragement. At my words her expression also calmed down, but she still panted heavily. Her face still showed her pain but the unreasoning fear and despair were eased.

"Thank you, Jasper." I breathed in relief. Alice let go of me but she was muttering at me under her breath. "Sorry, Alice," I said, sheepishly.

She shook her head and sighed at me. Honestly, you are so mental around her! For some reason her thoughts were rather faint to me, but I could still make out the words.

I could only nod, because she was right.

Bella's heart broke into a blur, sounding like machine gun, a hummingbird, as her teeth ground together and she twisted in my arms. No human heart could beat this quickly and still survive. It held that note for a long crescendo that seemed to last for minutes that stretched into hours…then silence. It stopped and she collapsed backwards into me. The absence of the thrumming of her heart was almost deafening, and she panted slowly with her eyes closed. It was finished.

I sagged against the headboard in relief; it had been a long ordeal. Gently smoothing the tousled hair back from Bella's face, I relaxed the muscle control I always exerted when touching her and stroked her cheek. Her skin, while silky smooth, was ice pale and firm to my touch – no longer the ephemeral silk over glass that I feared I would destroy. It still held some of her residual heat but was slowly starting to cool. I pulled her close in the first real embrace I had ever given her. A hint of the floral scent from her blood still remained, but it was faint enough for me to easily ignore.

I looked up with a wide smile into the faces of my family who had gathered in my room.

"She's perfect!" I cried.

= = CR = = CR = =


To be continued...

A/N: There you are. I really enjoy being in Edward's head, don't you? That's one thing you won't see me do, mark a chapter "BPOV" or "EPOV." If I can't make it apparent who is speaking without coming right out and telling you, I'm not doing my craft well. Love to hear what you think!