*Renesmee's POV: Her Birthday: Around 7 p.m.*

Today is my 18th birthday! Okay, technically I'm 7, but, whatever. Usually, my birthday would be a happy day for me, but this one is not. Why? Because, Alec is leaving tomorrow. It's been two days since our picnic and ever since he kissed me, I've known that when he leaves, I'll be feeling the greatest pain I've ever felt.

We haven't talked about what will happen when he leaves. As a matter of fact, we haven't really talked at all since our date. I'm hoping that the only reason he's trying to avoid me is because he feels the same way and he's trying to reduce the amount of pain he feels. Or maybe, he's just playing me and he doesn't really love me and that's why he's ignoring me. God, why is love so confusing?

As we speak, Alice is helping me get ready for my party. Practically everyone is here for it. Everyone that came to our aid seven years ago except the Romanians are going to be there. Apparently the Romanians aren't partiers, but, whatever. That's their loss. Alec and Felix are even going to be there but, they're not here right now. Right now, they are all the way across the state calling Aro to tell him their verdict. They wanted to be out of earshot to make sure we didn't eavesdrop. They will tell us what they said when they return. We're all on edge. Everything over the last couple months have gone pretty well. I don't think they would have any reason to think that I'm a threat, but we're all worried anyway.

"Oh Renesmee, you look so beautiful!" my Aunt Alice said, pulling me out of my daydream. She put me in a skin-tight navy blue dress, black stilettos, and a necklace and earring set made of real diamonds. I don't usually have a big ego, but I have to say, I do look pretty good. I wonder if Alec will notice.

"Thank you Aunt Alice." Just then, there was a knock at the door.

"Who is it?" Alice replied.

"It's Edward, may I come in?"

Alice looked at me to reply. "Sure Dad, come on in."

When he opened the door and saw me, he stopped right in his tracks. Once he recovered himself, he came over to me and took me by the shoulders.

"Renesmee, you look absolutely beautiful."

I smiled at him and blushed, a trait I inherited from my mother. "Thank you Dad."

"You're welcome. Now, you both need to come downstairs. Alec and Felix have returned.

We all shared a worrying glance and then headed downstairs together. When everyone saw me, the tension in the room eased up just a little bit. Everyone gave me a big smile and a warm, happy look. When I looked at Alec, his eyes were glued to me. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe he does really love me. Either that or he's just appreciating a pretty girl in a hot dress but, either way, I don't really care at the moment. Once Alec recovered himself, he tore his eyes away from mine and addressed the room.

"As you all know, Felix and I have been observing Renesmee over the past couple of months. After thorough observation and careful consideration, we have determined that Renesmee is not a threat to our kind. She understands our laws and she, in our view, seems very harmless and trustworthy with our secret. This is the verdict we have given to Aro and he extends to you all his deepest condolences for any inconvenience our presence here has caused. You are all free to live here as you wish."

The room erupted in applause and cheers. While everyone was hugging me, the only thing I could do was look at Alec. He had a small smirk on his face, which told me that he was happy that I was allowed to live. I gave him a small smile back and then, he winked at me, which caused me to blush.

After the congratulations were out of the way, we moved on to opening presents. Most everyone got me the typical birthday gift, clothes, jewelry, and money. But when I got to Alec and Felix's gift, which was shocking in itself because I didn't expect them to get me anything, I was surprised. When I opened the little box, there was a passport inside with my name on it.

"We know how you've always wanted to travel, so we thought that this might be something useful to have." Felix had a huge grin on his face and Alec looked like he'd be blushing if he could.

"Thank you guys. This means a lot to me." Felix pulled me in for a huge bear hug that made me giggle. When I hugged Alec, sparks flew, like they always do when we're near each other. When we pulled away, I gave him a small, sad smile to try to hide the pain I felt.

Throughout the evening, I danced with many of the guests, including Felix, who is surprisingly a very good dancer. After my dance with Felix, Alec approached me, looking dashing in the suit he must have bought just for this occasion.

"Renesmee, may I have this dance?"

"Of course."

Just as we started dancing, Kenny Rogers and Sheena Easton's duet version of "We've Got Tonight" began playing. As we began dancing around the room, I gathered the courage to ask him what had been bothering me all evening.

"Alec, why have you been ignoring the past couple days?" As the words came out of my mouth, he looked like he was in pain.

"I've been trying to keep my distance from you because I can't bear to think about the pain I'll feel when I leave tomorrow." So I was right!

"Alec, I feel the same way, but I miss you. A lot."

"I know. I'm sorry."

"So, what do we do?"

"Well, we've got tonight. I suggest we make it last."

"Okay."

I took his hand and we snuck out of the party and went to my parent's cabin about a mile away from the main house. We entered my bedroom and when we looked into each other's eyes, I instantly knew what we both wanted. We laid down on my bed and made love to the soft, distant sound of the song that spoke what we were both feeling perfectly.

Author's Note

First of all, before anyone gets confused, I have changed my pen name from Mrs. Alec Volturi 15 to Oncer15. Just so you all know, this is still me and my story, I just changed my pen name.

Second of all, I want to apologize to all of my readers for my absurdly long absence. When I first started writing fan fiction, I promised myself that I wouldn't be that writer that starts a story and then just seems to abandon it and not finish it, no offense to anyone out there. But, as it turns out, I did become that person. I got so busy with high school, applying to college, and everything else I've had to do over the past year that my stories became unimportant by comparison. I never meant to abandon my story and leave you all hanging and for that, I am deeply sorry.

The other reason that I haven't updated this story in a while is that I kind of lost my muse. After the last Twilight movie came out and some of the hype over the series died down, I honestly became less interested in the series, and therefore, less interested in this story. However, I recently went back and re-read this story and realized that it's at a pretty good start. I also re-read all of the reviews that some of you wrote for this story praising it and asking for an update. Thanks to all of you lovely reviewers, my interest in this story has been renewed.

I also apologize that this chapter is a tad short and not very well written. After all of the time I've made you all wait, I desperately wanted to post something up for you because all of you that have stuck with me this long deserve it. I also apologize that the first chapter you read after my long absence is very sad, at least, to me it is.

I promise that I will try to finish this story before I go off to college at the end of the summer and that I will try to update reasonably. Once again, I apologize for my inexcusably long absence. I never meant for that to happen, but life got in the way.

Finally, just as a safety net, I do not own The Twilight Saga or the song "We've Got Tonight". All rights to both of these works go to their respective owners.