A/N: Oh my heavens, here we are at last. Thank you for choosing to spend your time with this story. I'll be quiet now, and let you finish. See you at the bottom!
Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns all rights and characters of the Twilight franchise. But she lets us play with her toys and for that we're forever grateful. No copyright infringement is intended.
Epilogue – Taking Flight
Edward sat behind the wheel, effortlessly pushing the rental car to its limits. The vehicle topped a slight rise on the mostly deserted highway, and from that vantage the lights of Paris spread out before us, sparkling like a sea of fireflies. One of the most civilized cities in the world, it was a little odd to return to this setting after what we had been doing tonight – hunting and killing wild game with our bare hands and teeth. If they only knew, what would the cultured Parisians think?
The nighttime climate of the Seine watershed and surrounding countryside remained warm and clear as a waxing moon cast its gentle glow on the still slumbering city. Paris in July was occasionally quite hot but just as we didn't feel the cold of Alaska, neither did we feel the heat of summer in France. It was a good thing that many tourists from the east covered up against the sun, so we didn't stand out as I thought we might. We were just another pale couple in large hats, long sleeves, gloves, and sunglasses.
Ten days had passed since my last hunt, and it was quite a different environment from what I had grown accustomed to in Forks. Instead of right out the back door, the closest forest able to support large game was many hours' drive from where we lived. And while we scented a plethora of wildlife, there was a scarcity of large predators in the Tarn Canyon, Gorges du Tarn in French, in the southern mountains of France. We found many deer tracks, but I was lucky enough to come across a wild boar, which still thrived in the French forests. It was fast and fearsome, in a single-minded sort of way, but lacked the size and armament to be as much challenge as a grizzly. My first taste of 'pork.' I found it to be better tasting than deer blood, but not as good as bear.
As we exited the expressway and drove through the boulevards to the Second Arrondissement, the streets were quiet, but not empty. This was Paris after all, a city that never truly slept. It made a good home for vampires because we were able to walk among the humans at night without suspicion. They were denizens of the dark just as we were. In a city this large I felt sure there would be others of our kind living here; but they wouldn't be vegetarians so we didn't try to seek them out.
In no time, we arrived back at the Hotel Saint-Michel. As I stepped out of the car and Edward handed the keys to the valet, I looked up and paused to admire the splendid architecture; the crenels, columns, gables, graceful windows and wrought iron balconies all came together in a vision of grandeur. It was fancier than any place I'd ever stayed on vacation.
We had a suite in the hotel, so open and airy it seemed there was more room here than my house in Phoenix. At first I was a little hesitant to stay in such an opulent place. The entire room was done in a traditional French neoclassical style and I felt a little out of place here. On our first night I had asked Edward why he had chosen this hotel. He put his arms around me and affected a lofty accent.
"Welcome to the Cinderella portion of our tour. Your presence has been humbly requested at the ball," he had said looking down his nose at me. Then he'd grinned and spoken normally. "Care to dance?"
I had laughed and shook my head, but didn't resist while he placed one hand at my waist, and held my hand out to the side. As he led me into a waltz, it was difficult to tell him 'no' while I was laughing. I had to admit, he was right about the dancing. I wasn't quite as hopeless as before, and it felt nice whirling around the room in his arms. But just so he didn't forget, I had made sure to step on his toes once or twice. The ten days since then had been quite the romantic, whirlwind tour.
The walls of the elevator were sheathed in mirrors, and I couldn't help examining my reflection as we rose to the ninth floor. I took off my sunglasses and checked my eyes. The only visible indicator of how much human blood was left in me, the irises had slowly shifted from the brilliant crimson of a newborn. After eleven months they were almost, but not quite, golden-yellow. A slight hint of orange remained. Maybe in a few months, I'd be able to skip the sunglasses completely.
My hair wasn't too bad and remained tucked behind my ears by two hair clips, falling across my shoulders and down my back. For once I hadn't been rolling around on the ground with my prey, so I didn't find any dirt or leaves in it. My normally pale lips and cheeks had a slight flush to them from the recent blood meal, but that would soon fade to their unblemished state.
Edward's fingers twined themselves with mine and his voice brought me out of my self-examination. "Do you like what you see?" he asked.
I gave him a quick smile. "Yeah, pretty much. I don't look so haggard standing next to you anymore."
He snorted. "You worry about that too much. You always did."
"Hey, I'm a girl. It's what we do."
Edward rolled his eyes at that.
By the time we returned to our suite, the morning sun was beginning to hint at dawn, painting the cityscape in purples and blues. I went to take a shower to clean off all traces of our hunt. I was getting better at hunting, but the boar had been new prey for me. When I pounced, it had managed to snag one pant leg before I killed it, so I now owned a torn pair of pants as a souvenir. It would drive Alice crazy but I planned to cut them off and use them as shorts.
After I finished toweling myself off, I pulled on one of the hotel's fluffy, terry robes. As I sat at the small bench before the dressing table brushing my hair, Edward came up behind me and lifted my necklace from the dressing table.
"Would you like to put this on?" he asked. I smiled at him in the mirror, stopped brushing and gathered my hair so he could slip the chain around my neck. It was a replacement for the necklace Jane had destroyed. When he had presented this to me in May, he said I was re-awakening the creative side of his brain. Another testament to Edward's craftsmanship, he had sculpted the charm out of a solid silver ingot. Not a heart of stone this time, but a lion of silver. On one side was superimposed a lamb in bas relief, sleeping next to the lion. On the lion's other side, a lioness lay nuzzling her cheek against the side of her mate's neck. After briefly caressing the polished metal with a fingertip, I turned the charm so it lay against the hollow of my throat with the lioness facing out. Edward took the brush from me and continued brushing where I left off. I half-closed my eyes, enjoying the sensation of his fingers running through my hair and the occasional touch of his hands against my neck.
While he was working on my hair, I decided the time was right to give him the surprise I had been saving for him. When he had eased all the knots out, he gave my hair one final stroke of the brush and leaned forward to kiss the nape of my neck. I suppressed a happy shiver and smiled. "Thanks, Edward."
I took the brush from him, stood, and put my hands on his waist to gently push him down onto the little bench in front of the dressing table. "Wait here. I have a little something for you."
His puzzled expression told me I was being just the right amount of mysterious. I went to the dresser and pulled the small velvet pouch from its hiding place in one of the drawers. Placing the little pouch in his waiting hands, I sat down next to him.
With an amused look, Edward pulled open the drawstrings and dropped it into his palm. His eyes widened a fraction at the sterling silver wrist band. The outside of the band was graven all around with a Celtic-style interlaced knot. He ran an exploratory fingertip around it, then turned it to look at the inside surface, which was polished smooth.
"Deuxcœurs, un âme seule," Edward muttered the inscription with a perfect accent, and fell silent, slowly nodding his head, his forehead held a hint of a furrow.
"Did I get it wrong?" My brows knitted together with my dismay. My French was pretty sketchy so I had checked with Alice. I had wanted "two hearts, one soul" engraved on the inside of the wrist band. If she told me the wrong translation I would be pretty ticked off at her.
"Mm? No, no, it's perfect." Edward roused himself from his thoughts. "In fact, it's exquisite. I was just thinking that this is the first adornment that you've ever given me, aside from the wedding ring you slipped on my finger."
My heart rose into my throat a little as I watched his reaction intently. "Do you like it? I was hoping to give you some kind of remembrance of me."
Edward glanced at my face and quickly placed the silver band on his left wrist. It looked pretty good against his pale skin. "You know I don't need this to remember you," he said as he put his arms around me. "But I agree. You are my soul."
I smiled my relief as I kissed him. But after only one or two long, slow kisses, I heard my phone ring in my purse. Edward made a disgruntled noise in his throat as I pulled back. But before I could move, he released me and moved swiftly to where my purse sat on the sofa table in the entryway. With the phone still ringing he returned, and held it out to me with a half-smile on his face. "It's Alice."
I rose from the bench to receive it, answered it and turned on the speaker phone. "Hi, Alice. How're things in Forks?"
"Pretty good, actually," her tinkling voice answered. "I didn't hear news of a massacre on a trans-Atlantic flight. I told you it would be fine."
I made a face. I was nervous about the fourteen-hour plane ride from Seattle to Paris, but it had passed uneventfully, thanks to Kate's ointment. We sat in business class, with the scent of humans wafting all around us. I could almost feel the essence of human, heavy on the air, even though I couldn't smell them through the ointment. As an eleven-month old newborn, I was better able to control my bloodlust now. I hadn't had another rage episode since the battle with the Volturi, but I still had that hypersensitivity to blood. We tested my control before deciding to travel – wandering through a mall in Seattle without temptation. I was able to use less of the ointment, but wasn't comfortable enough to go without it. The fear of having an accident never completely left my mind. If Emmett and Jasper could slip up, even though they were so much older than me, I wasn't about to take a chance.
"So what do you think of Paris?" Alice continued.
"It's amazing! So beautiful here! We climbed to the top of the Eiffel Tower and the Notre Dame. We visited the palace at Versailles and took a moonlight boat ride on the Seine. We even went on a tour of the Catacombs."
"Meet anybody we know?"
I paused at that. "Do some of us live down there?" I asked in surprise. I hadn't thought about that aspect when we took the tour. I hadn't even gotten the creeps; being incredibly strong and nigh indestructible went a long way to bolstering one's confidence.
"The catacombs are vast and very old. It's not that unusual. The immortal that transformed Carlisle lived in the sewers of London, remember?"
"Oh, that's right. Well no, we didn't see anybody. If they saw us, I bet they'd be surprised to see us walking with the humans."
"Maybe they just didn't want to share." Alice giggled. "Did you come back with everybody in the tour?"
I rolled my eyes at that. I was getting used to the family's gallows humor. "I think so," I said. "We were with a pretty small group. Somebody would have noticed if one of their companions was missing."
"True, they'd look for someone alone," Alice remarked. "They may not have heard that the Volturi are gone, so they'd still keep things quiet."
Alice's comment brought me back to the new reality we lived in. It had been eight months since we had defeated the Volturi in battle. We never had to worry about them sitting in judgment of us or trying to kill us again. They also weren't around to enforce their edict to maintain secrecy, but the family and I were too accustomed to keeping things quiet. I didn't think I'd ever be able to tell humans what I was, for fear of their reaction.
"Anything about the two Guardsmen who escaped?" Edward asked, voicing the one last concern we had regarding the ancient vampire government.
"Nope. But Eleazar thinks that with Aro, Caius, and Marcus dead, and no more Chelsea, they'll go back to normal vampire habits pretty soon. Maybe even become nomads again."
"Good," said Edward. "I'd rather not have to keep looking over my shoulder while we're on their continent."
"How is everybody?" I wondered. "Are Emmett and the girls walking again?"
"They're on their feet now. Still not one-hundred percent, but you don't get your head torn off, get lit on fire, and go waltzing along like nothing happened. I told you to try not to worry, didn't I?"
"Yeah, but we didn't know for sure," I retorted. "If Emmett hadn't said anything, you wouldn't have known either."
That had actually been a fairly momentous event. After the memorial service, we had stayed out of sight, taking care of Emmett, Rosalie and Tanya. Edward had heard some random thoughts that he said were Emmett's, but weeks had passed without any other signs of improvement that the rest of us could see. Spirits in the house were flagging again, as we weren't sure if anything more than that would happen. Random thoughts were better than nothing, but if they stayed in an immobile, vegetative state, that would be almost as bad as death.
One day, as I sat reading aloud, I thought I'd heard a faint wheeze. I looked at our brother and sisters, and gave a little gasp – Emmett's lips were slightly parted, and as I watched, they slowly closed, and opened again.
"Edward! Carlisle! Emmett's moving!" I had called. I didn't want to leave, in case I was imagining things or would miss something else. I heard the sound of footsteps rushing up the stairs, and Emmett's eyes seemed to move slightly behind his lids as if dreaming. But that was all. Everybody quickly entered the attic.
"His lips are moving," I whispered.
Esme and Carlisle quickly knelt at Emmett's bedside. For some reason, Edward had a slight tightening about his mouth that I couldn't understand, and it worried me.
"Emmett, can you hear me?" Esme asked as she looked down hopefully at him.
And like the whisper of a moth's wing, came a little sound, "B…Bel…"
All eyes turned to me, and I drew closer to the bedside. "I'm here, Emmett. Can you hear us?"
"St…st…"
We waited on pins and needles as his lips painfully mouthed around the words.
"St..sto..p…" He pronounced the 'p' so very faintly.
"Stop? Stop what?" I asked.
Edward suddenly bent double then collapsed on the floor, sputtering with laughter.
Alice turned on him. "I swear, Edward, what's wrong with you?"
"He wants Bella to stop reading! It's killing him!" Edward said between snorts of hilarity.
The family stood in incredulous silence, broken only by Edward's laughter.
"Killing him? What are you reading?" Jasper reached down and picked up my book. "Pride and Prejudice? No wonder! He hates this stuff!"
The tension in the room dissolved into laughter. Eleazar reached down and hauled Edward to his feet, chuckling as he did it. Kate grinned broadly and moved across the room to check on the girls. Even Carlisle hung his head while laughing, and Esme held her hands over her mouth as her shoulders shook.
I was slightly offended at first, but it was hard to stay that way in light of Emmett's positive signs of life. My dander went away as I caught the good humor of the family. I threw back at them, "Hey, don't judge, the classics had enough power to bring him back from the dead! Imagine if I'd read Macbeth!"
"He would've risen from his grave to throttle you," Alice snickered.
After that it was much more encouraging. The family members took turns reading things that our patients would like more. Jasper read the sports pages to Emmett. Alice read some fashion magazines and issues of Car and Driver to Rosalie. Kate read a book in her native language to Tanya. But from that point on, the mood was lifted. They were going to be all right. Slowly, the girls began to show signs of improvement as well. Carlisle couldn't tell me why Emmett had shown faster progress than the girls. Jasper and Edward teased me that only torture by Jane Austen could have made him claw his way back to life so much sooner.
But heal they did. Shortly after he spoke, Emmett opened his eyes. He could obviously hear and see now. His voice was still very rough, and he had difficulty speaking. But I suppose if your voice box had been damaged like his, things would sound different, too. He still didn't have full control over his body though, and we had to prop him up to a sitting position. But at least he was able to drink on his own without a feeding tube. Tanya and Rosalie also finally opened their eyes, and we were able to move them all to their own bedrooms. The break-lines had faded to the point that you had to know where they were, to see the infinitesimal scars. All in all, it looked like they were out of the woods.
Thoughts of our recovering siblings reminded me of the one last patient. When I had left Jacob in his garage, I hadn't gone back, hoping to finally give him that space that Leah and I talked about.
"How's Jacob doing?" I asked.
"He's lucky he's a werewolf," Alice remarked. "Carlisle said if he were normal he'd be paralyzed for life. Instead, it took a while, but his spinal cord regenerated. He has feeling and movement in his legs now. Eventually he'll be walking again."
I smiled at the news; Jacob would be whole again. "That's good to hear. Did he get the package I sent?"
The 'package' was a full set of tools, an engine hoist, a good quality jack and jack stands. Everything the backyard mechanic might need. I figured if he wasn't going to be able to lift an engine like he could before, this would help him out. And now that he would eventually recover completely, he ought to put it to good use.
"He was almost going to send it back!" Alice grumbled. "Damn fool was mumbling about not taking charity. But then I guess his friend talked some sense into him. He's going to hang out a shingle and give fixing cars for a living a try."
"Good, he can give John Dowling some competition." I gave a quiet sigh of relief; apparently Leah was beginning to have more influence with him, and I was happy that he was moving on. A wistful smile flickered across my face, but I let it pass. Things were going to be all right.
"Any news about my mom and dad?"
"Charlie's doing better. He finally started going fishing again. Of course, it took Billy bringing home a huge salmon to remind him of what he'd been missing." Alice laughed.
I laughed with her. "Heaven forbid Billy should have all the fun."
"Baseball season is still going, so your mother and Phil are in Florida. But after the season ends, your mother convinced Phil to go to a dance camp with her."
"At least she's not jumping out of a plane this time." I smiled my relief at Edward. A lot of relief. That was one of the more painful things to watch while we were in hiding – the difficult mourning process of my parents. They might not ever be completely all right, and it had taken some time, but it looked like everybody was starting to move on with their lives.
"Alice, was there a reason you called?" Edward, I noticed, sometimes had an edge of frustration in his expression when talking to people on the phone; he wasn't close enough to hear their thoughts, and couldn't see their expressions to divine what they were feeling. "We're planning to go to the Louvre in a few hours."
"Yes, there was. Now that Tanya's moving again, the cousins are going to take her home," Alice began. "Carlisle and Esme were thinking of moving back to Ithaca, so Esme can finish the house there. They're wondering what your plans are. Will you be traveling for much longer?"
"What? Can't you tell?" I affected a shocked voice.
Alice snorted. "From Edward, yes. But your decisions affect his, so it's only prudent to get it from both of you."
"Yeah, I know, I'm just teasing." I chuckled briefly. "It depends on what Edward has planned. He's been very mysterious about our itinerary."
"Alice," Edward growled. "I'm not going to be happy if you spoil the surprise."
"I'm doing Bella a favor. She hates surprises, remember?"
I smiled up at Edward. "He knows what kind of surprises I like. He's been doing pretty well all trip long."
"That's all well and good, but Esme needs to know whether to enroll you in school with the rest of us. If the honeymoon's going to last for a while, that's fine. We just need to know so we can plan accordingly. And I think she misses you guys."
Edward lifted a hand to brush my hair back over my shoulder. "What would you like to do, love?"
"Do we have a lot of stops left on this trip?"
Edward cocked his head and gave me his half-smile. I had to catch my breath for a moment while I focused on his words. "I have the entire world to show you. A whole world of experiences waiting, and I promise not to drop any unpleasant surprises on you."
"That sounds like a very long trip."
"Is that bad?"
"Not as long as I'm with you." I leaned over and kissed him.
Alice cleared her throat. "Hey, guys? Can you save it for later? What do I tell Esme?"
Edward and I looked at each other, his topaz eyes to my orange ones. He shrugged one shoulder. "I leave it to you, sweetheart. I'm happy either way. We can save things for a third honeymoon, if we need to."
I pursed my lips and thought for a while. I was totally happy traveling with Edward, and he seemed to be enjoying himself as well. He had told me how monotonous life had gotten for him, but I had yet to experience anything like that. In fact, the first couple months of my new life had been a little too exciting. Downright stressful if you ask me.
What did I want of the future? Obviously, to be with Edward, but also to do some kind of good. That meant school. I felt better about myself – I'd made it across the Atlantic without wanting to kill anybody (although I did breathe a word of thanks to Kate all through the trip). One day – soon I hoped – I would be able to stand in a room full of people without the ointment and they wouldn't be the wiser. They might wonder about my pale skin, but that wasn't anything unusual.
I looked at Edward, and thought about how I saw myself in relation to him. Before, he was more like a god and I was a mere mortal he had come to earth to dally with. My time with him was limited and before long he would return to whatever heaven he had come from. I had to do everything that I could to steal whatever time I was allowed with him. Now, I no longer felt that yawning gulf stretching between our stations in life. Literally, as well as figuratively, I had fought my way through trials to belong by his side. Physically we were equals and I had reveled in that thought since the funeral. The nagging doubt that I didn't deserve to share the same space with him was thankfully gone.
Only in one place could I find any kind of dissatisfaction. Edward was still so much more knowledgeable than me, after decades of schooling. He'd never been unkind or condescending to me about it, but it was something left on my to-do list. And it would be nice to see if I could get into Dartmouth totally on my own.
Holding Edward's eyes with mine, I directed my voice to the phone. "Tell Esme we'll be coming home before school starts."
Edward nodded. "End of August," he said.
"All right," Alice replied. "By the way, have you stopped by Printemps yet?"
"Um, not yet. What is it?"
Alice gave a sigh of exasperation. "Bella, what am I going to do about you? You're in the fashion Mecca of the world. Show a little respect."
I had to roll my eyes at that. One thing the transformation had completely bypassed was my sense of fashion. But that didn't stop Alice from trying. "I'll add it to the list. Should we bring something back for you?"
"Never mind. Edward would be no help and it's something you have to experience the right way. I'll just have to bring you there myself someday."
"All right, that's a promise."
"Good!" Alice said, slightly mollified. "Well then, we'll see you in a month or so."
"Bye, Alice!" We spoke in unison, but she had already hung up.
After I put my phone away, I turned and noticed Edward gazing at me, rather intently again, his head tilted slightly to one side.
"So where are we going?" I asked.
He set his lips in a hard line and glowered down at me. "I wanted it to be a surprise."
I slumped my shoulders, cast my eyes downward and whispered in my most helpless voice, "Please? Please?"
Edward gave a long suffering sigh, and opened his mouth to speak. Unfortunately I couldn't keep a straight face and burst out giggling.
"Oh you—" he grinned, and gave me a gentle push. I could have easily stopped his hands, but I let his push bounce me onto the bed.
Edward set his fists akimbo. "If you must know, we could easily spend a month here in Paris. But I thought we might take a month in England and a month in Germany before we go home. You did still want to see Heathcliff and Cathy's moors, don't you?"
"You know, you really don't have to show me the whole world in one trip," I said, still smiling.
Edward cocked his head and gave me his lopsided grin. "I guess I'm a little over eager to show you the wonders of the world. Between Phoenix and Forks, you've led a rather sheltered life."
"Well, slow down a bit, cowboy. We'll get to it. We've got all the time in the world. I love traveling with you, but we have other priorities that need attention, too. Do you mind going back to school?"
He shook his head quickly. "Not me. Everything's better when I do it with you." He fell silent, studying my face again as he settled down next to me.
"What are you wondering about now?" I asked, raising an amused eyebrow.
"Are you sure this is what you want, love?" Edward asked. "I know Esme likes having the family together but we don't have to go back so soon if you truly don't want to. Emmett and Rosalie lived apart for ten years before they settled back in with us. You don't have to do this out of a sense of duty."
I gave him a little smile and shake of my head. "I'm not doing it out of duty. Trust me." I relaxed and began to pull my field in. I'd gotten pretty good at this by now, and didn't need to fully close my eyes anymore. But before I could follow through, Edward leaned closer and stopped me with a finger on my lips. As if that would shush my mental voice. But I did stop, curious as to what he was thinking.
"I've decided…you don't have to do that for me anymore," he said with a warm, gentle smile. "You've been giving me your thoughts for the last eight months, and in the beginning, it was such a relief to finally hear your 'voice.' But after a while, I began thinking. I rely on my gift so much because most people don't tell you what they really mean. It was distrust of their words that made me lean on it; but your thoughts have been in your face for as long as I've known you. And after watching and listening to you these many months, if there's anyone that I know I can trust, it's you. You're my wife. Love, I don't need your thoughts to trust what you say."
I didn't know what to say for a long time. That fundamental silence is what drew him to me in the first place, and had been with us so long that it was a part of who we were. I'd thought that by sharing my thoughts with him, I was relieving him of that last impediment between us. But here he was, accepting that obstacle, no, he embraced it. Once again, I wondered what I had done in my life to deserve this man.
"What? No questions?" he teased in his honey-smooth voice.
I shook my head slowly, and I could feel my voice getting thick as I tried to frame what I felt in words. But there were no words to describe the onrush of warmth and tenderness I felt for him. Finally I gave up, reached for his hands, and pulled in my field. Edward gasped and his eyes widened for a moment as the wave of emotion I felt – as tall as the pine trees in Forks but as sweet as the fragrance of the wildflowers in our meadow – swept over and through him. He smiled down at me and sighed, twining his arms around my back and pulling me close. Then he reached up and lay one hand along my cheek, the other around the small of my back, his golden eyes very soft.
"Have I told you how very much I love you?" he asked.
"Once or twice," I said, the corners of my lips quivering slightly.
"I can't show you the way you just showed me, so I'll just have to settle for using words. Or showing you in my way," he said, as he bent down and claimed my lips.
"You don't mind if I share those thoughts and feelings with you, do you?" I whispered as he kissed my ear, nibbling on the earlobe softly.
"Anytime you like," he murmured as he kissed his way down my neck. He found my favorite spot at the base of my neck and shoulder, sending shivers down the backs of my legs.
"Wait," I said breathlessly. "Weren't we going to visit the Louvre?" But my arms weren't letting go, and if anything I pulled us even closer together.
"We are," he said after a string of soft, but long and serious kisses. "But the Louvre doesn't open for a few hours yet. And as you said before, we have all the time in the world."
"That sounds good to me." I smiled against his gently moving lips, then gave up and turned my attention to more important matters.
- Fini -
And that's all he wrote...
A/N: Once again, I thank katmom, for working her magic with my words, for taking me under her wing, for sometimes making me realize what-was-I-smoking-when-I-wrote-that (but she said it in a nice way), and introducing me to books outside of fandom. Thank you, thank you so much. I've also leaned heavily on Sherryola, who's read WAY more fic than I have - for her guidance and sense of canon Twilight. For a person trying to replace Breaking Dawn, her input has been invaluable. Ladies, please stand up and take a bow. applause! I feel so blessed to have been able to work with you!
However, they're not the only people I've been fortunate enough to meet or work with:
KzintiKiller, my big bro in fandom. Without him, I never would have posted this, and it would have languished forever on my hard drive. You rule, dude! Qapla!
TwilightMomOfTwo was my first beta, and she introduced me to just how bad my grammar and logic was - and how much better it could be. Her snarky comments were always good for a laugh! Thank you, TMOT! I enjoyed working with you!
Noble Korhedron and ContentedTwiCow also pre-read for me, and helped to improve the story a lot. Withany and Thats-So-Alex helped talk me out of flouncing the whole affair, when I found some serious flaws in characterization. They talked me off the ledge, and I put my big-boy underpants on and got down to some serious re-writing. Thank you, my friends, for your help and your support!
And out of the blue, ysar was so gracious to create a banner for Cygnus Rising. It's lovely and I can't thank her enough for creating a face for Cygnus. Cheers! *raises glass*
And of course, YOU, gentle reader. Without you, what is the point of writing? I'd like to thank each and every one of you for taking this journey with me. There are so many fic to choose from out there, I'm humbled that you chose to read mine. Thank you so very, very much. Until we meet again...
