Bella Swan stared blankly at the invitation on the refrigerator door and a jolt of excitement shot through her body. It was a foreign feeling, but her body seemed to welcome it happily. She wrapped her arms around herself, a small rare smile playing across her face. She always knew Alice and Jasper would end up together, they had too, they were perfect for one another. She turned towards her father, who was sitting at the kitchen table and the smile on her face startled him slightly. "Have you RSVPed to the wedding yet?"

If Charlie was not surprised before, he was in complete shock now. His eyes connected with his daughter's and what he saw there made a smile break across his face. "Why Bells, think we should go?"

Bella slid a chair out and sat across from her father, her face pensive, but the happiness was still there. "Yeah Dad, I really do."

Once again, Charlie reached his hand out toward Bella, and this time, she didn't jerk away from him.

A few days later, Alice Cullen, paced back and forth in front of the Swan's front door, wringing her hands together. It had been quite some time since she had been to this house, she had given up on Bella a year ago, but when she got the Swan's RSVP, she knew what she had to do. Setting her shoulders straight, she stood tall, and knocked loudly on the door.

Charlie had finally gone back to work today, after near constant nagging from Bella. She had long grown tired of his hovering. She hated how he expected her to her fall at any moment. When she had first come to live with Charlie, that was something she loved most about him, he didn't hover. But recently, it was like he never left, like he wanted to spend every waking moment by her side, and even though she loved her father with everything in her, she just couldn't handle it anymore. Bella heard the timid knock on the door and was immediately unsure if she should answer it or not. She wasn't the type for company, not anymore.

Alice picked at her fingernails, twirled her hair, did anything she could possibly do while she waited at the door, her stomach aching with nerves. She sent up a prayer begging for someone to be home, and the door opened.

The two girls stared wide-eyed at each other for a while before Alice broke the silence "Do I have the wrong house?" She leaned back, reading the numbers on the house. She'd been here a million times in her life, so there was no way that she had gone to the wrong home. "The Swan's still live here right?"

Bella blinked slowly, he eyes roaming up and down the girl standing in front of her, her hands absentmindedly smoothing her hair. "Don't be silly, Alice." Bella's voice was low, her cheeks flushing red. This is why she didn't like to leave the house. She didn't like to be looked at like this. "It's me."

Alice watched as the woman turned and walked through the house, dropping her body down on the couch. The home was furnished the same, the walls lined with pictures of Bella throughout the years, but Alice just could not wrap her head around this being Bella. "You going to stand there all day, Pixie, or are you going to come in?" Alice's jaw was slack, this woman looked nothing like the Bella that she knew, this woman looked nothing like the woman Bella should be, she looked more like a child. But with the mention of her old nickname, she knew that it had to be her.

Alice sat on the old sofa, one that held great memories for the two; slumber parties, movie nights, that one party where Bella caught Alice practically on top of Jasper and distracted Edward for the rest of the night so that she could finish what she started. She stared blankly at Bella, unsure of what to say now that she had gotten past the front door. She hadn't really expected to get this far. "I'm so sorry, Bella." Alice's voice was quieter than Bella's usually was, her eyes trained on her lap. "I shouldn't have been angry with you. Edward made his choices, you made yours." Her eyes were brimming with unshed tears, not only for the loss of her brother, but for the loss of her best friend. "You have always been my best friend. You know that. We promised that no matter what happened between you and Edward, that we'd always be friends." Her voice was barely a whisper now, cracking when the memories got too hard, sobs threated to break out. "I never should have let you two go."

Bella hurt all over. Her head throbbed, her legs felt weak, her heart beat rapidly against her chest. Edward. Bella hadn't said or heard his name in 4 years, and hearing his littler sister talk about him was killing her. Bella, for once, didn't avoid looking at someone, and now that she was allowing herself, she was really looking. Alice had changed so much over the years. Her figure had filled out, changing her from a girl to a woman. Her once short, spiked, brown hair was longer, sitting just below her shoulders. She looked like the woman Bella so desperately wished she could be.

"I don't know what I'm doing." Bella's eyes pulled away from her friend's hair and their eyes connected. She swallowed hard, noting the familiar emerald green color. Alice and Edward's eyes were heart breakingly similar. "I know we've drifted, I know I've made so many mistakes." Alice reached for Bella's hands, and Bella tried not to pull away out of habit. "I know this is last minute, but I want, no I need you to be my maid of honor."

Bella's mind reeled, and then came to a complete halt. She had no idea what to say. This is the life she had always wanted. Since the day the two girls had met, this had been their plan. Bella would be Alice's maid of honor, Alice would be hers. The thought of Bella's own marriage made her a little upset, but she pushed the thought away, she'd never marry, she knew that. "God, yes."

Alice launched herself at her friend, arms circling around Bella's entire body, and for the first time, she felt how fragile the girl was, noticed how thin she had become, noticed the abnormal pale pink color to her skin. Her head lay on Bella's shoulder and tears ran freely from her eyes. She noticed the dullness of the girl's hair, the short cut, noticed that she didn't quite smell like Bella. She chose to make no comment. Maybe Bella was sick again. Her immune system was never great, and the flu was going around again.

"I hate Forks, Alice, I hate it." Bella sniffed, wiping her nose with another tissue, they were really piling up. "This is why I'm always sick!" Alice snickered and propped her feet up on the coffee table, sipping from her water bottle.

"Maybe if you were sneaking out at night to hang out with Eddie in the woods you wouldn't have practically caught pneumonia." Alice had her lips puckered up and was making obnoxious kissing sounds.

"Shut up Alice!" Bella smacked her best friend with a pillow and sighed quietly. "If only I could be cured of all this."

"There's a dress fitting tomorrow." Alice beamed, Bella's thin hands inside her own. "Please say you'll be there." Bella was silent; trying to figure out just how many people would be there. "It's just mom and I. Please come." Bella could hear Alice's pleading tone, feel the anxiety rolling off of the girl, and couldn't resist. If it was the last thing she was to do on this earth, she would make Alice happy. She nodded her consent and they smiled together, hugging, one thinking about a wonderful future between the two of them, the other thinking about a future she'd never see.

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