The average girl with the scariest experience of her life now under her belt sat just six months later in a room she never thought she'd be in. It was the home of her boyfriend, surrounded by those she loved and trusted with her own life. Soon, she would be graduating high school and getting what she had wanted since she started dating the love of her life. She thought he was, because he was the only love she had ever known. There was only one major problem, he was a vampire.

Now, she pleaded with the Cullen family to change her, asking for a vote in her favor to be one of them. Edward, however, wanted to keep her human much longer.

"I'm sorry, Bella." The patriarch Cullen disagreed, the rest of his coven agreeing with what she wanted. "Alice has had visions that this will go badly for you if we turn you before you have learned all that is necessary to survive amongst us." He shook his blonde head, the other's nodding behind him, except for Jasper. The newest addition to the Cullen family besides herself was a silent one, the only one she felt somewhat uneasy around. She thought for a moment that he was about to politely disagree, but he said nothing. Bella frowned at that.

"But Carlisle..." She pleaded, releasing Edward's hand she had been holding so tightly. "...what else is there to know? I'm sure with all of you helping me that I'll be able to resist hurting anyone." Her eyes were wide and she decided to ignore the eye roll from Rosalie behind the father Cullen.

"Until Edward is ready to show you all, then that's where we stand, Bella. It's too dangerous for even ourselves to do otherwise." Carlisle ended the discussion and turned on one heel, taking his wife by the arm up the stairs and the remaining vampires besides Edward followed. There was an awkward strain in the room, like some big secret was being held from her, yet Bella couldn't even conceive of what it was. She looked to her immortal love, whose face was diverted from her in an avoidance fashion.

"Edward..." She said his name so he'd look at her, yet he still did not. "...I don't understand what else there is. I know your family only feeds on human's. I know what happens during the change and what can happen to me after." Sighing, she took his arm. "Tell me all I need to know. I want to be with you." Her eyes were fixated on his knowingly, when Edward decided to meet her dark hues. Begging wasn't really Bella's style, so when she did, it was certain she meant business. Before her best friend went missing, she wasn't so assertive. She ran from men like Edward Cullen, she kept quiet when she should have spoke. Now, she was a far cry from the girl who never knew how short this life really was. . With the loss of Jake, she learned to seize the moment.

The cold fingers of her partner made their way up her side, delicately caressing the curves over her thin-cut green long-sleeve. "You will know all of me, Bella Swan." He promised, his eyes as icy as his skin. "I love you, more than anything. I'd do anything to keep you." If only she knew how true those words really were, she'd no doubt hate him for it. "At first it was your blood that spoke to me, but now it is only your heart."

She wrapped his arms around him and held onto him, not knowing he was pulling a black box from his pocket, till he had gently pushed her back. "I bought you a gift..." He said with a small smirk, opening the black jewelry box to reveal a stunning yellow-diamond necklace.

If Bella could form a gasp, she would have. Instead, she only gaped, taking a nervous step back at the glorious gift. "Edward, I can't accept this." She stared at the sparkling diamonds, one hand held over her fluttering heart. A gift like this promised something, something that she feared would lead to a very serious occasion in the near future. A thing she hoped to not experience for a long while.

"Stop worrying." He laughed lightly as he took it out of the box. "And just accept it as a gift to prove my unwavering love for you." With that, he went behind her and presented it admiringly while he laid it upon her fair skin. Clasping it securely behind her neck, he ran his possessive fingers over it. His hand was innocent at first, brushing back her loose chestnut locks to frame one side of her face and leave her bare nape exposed. Reaching his hand further down towards her cleavage, he could hear the quiet thrumming of her human heart, growing louder as he reached lower. They started to explore, when he felt her tense. He stopped momentarily, wondering if she would once again object. When she didn't, he started to reach under her low-cut shirt, when she grabbed his wrist.

"Don't." She argued, exhaling while clutching onto his intrusive hand. After all this time Bella couldn't come with the terms of her fear and the trauma of what had happened to her in Seattle. Even with the one she felt she loved, she couldn't trust in enough not to hurt her. Anything intimate would be just as painful, or bring back the tormented memory, setting her further back into the sheltered mindset.

Edward's hand retreated slowly, his annoyance not as obvious as he really felt. "My mistake." Backing off a few steps, Edward turned and left her. Bella knew that Edward was losing patience for her prudish ways and the thought of him leaving her was more than she could bear.

"Bella!" She turned to see Alice calling her from the hallway, as she rushed in to greet her with that ever-present smile. "I'm going to speed this process along, because I want you to truly be my sister." Taking her hand, she lead her into her room and urged her to sit at the end of her bed. She waited for Alice to explain what she had in store, half-dreading and half-excited. "Our family owns a condo in Seattle, where we have most of our financial dealings." Smiling still, Alice showed her a picture of the small palace that overlooked the city. "We'll be going for the summer, right after graduation."

Bella stared at the amazing photograph, that was no doubt showing off how well Alice decorated other places outside of the Cullen home. "It's beautiful." She complimented, trying to sound happy about the vacation. Seattle was a city that held only the worst memories for Bella, it was where she got attacked and where Jake had disappeared right after she woke in the hospital. No one had heard from Jake since after her father had asked her to get her things. Her hotel room and things had been ransacked, the only thing missing from her belongings was her diary. No traces of Jake were found, but the cops said it had looked like there was an altercation between several people. Bella sighed, hating that the case was still open and forgotten, with no traces of her best friend to be found anywhere.

Knowingly, Alice placed her hand on her shoulder, the smile only in her eyes now. "It'll be alright, Bella. We will be with you and you'll get to know more about the business ventures of the Cullens and meet some of our associates. It will be fun too. I'll show you all my favorite hot spots."

"What is this?" Edward stormed into Alice's lavender accented room, a dark force surrounded by bright girly colors. It would have been amusing, hadn't he been so terrifying. Snatching the photograph, he glared at his smirking sister. "I never agreed to this!" His eyes were murderous on his sister, yet Alice seemed unaffected.

Bella, however, had never seen this side to Edward and carefully watched the scary side of her boyfriend.

"Oh, brother." Alice sighed and put her arm around Bella, bringing her into the frame. "If Bella's going to be one of us, she's gotta learn how we got our money! This is a huge part of who we are!"

Edward looked off when he saw the look on Bella's face, his anger seething beneath the surface of his rock-hard skin. When he brought his ocher eyes back to her, they seemed to be a looking glass to the tormented argument he had raging on within himself. He calmed, but it was obvious to all that he was still displeased with what Alice had done. "Very well then, Alice." Glaring at his sister one moment before taking his mate's hand, he lead Bella out of the room and into his.

"I apologize for that, Bella." He seemed back to normal and Bella's unease subsided with the change in his energy. "I just don't like when Alice takes control of our life together." His eyes had trouble meeting hers, while he brought her to sit on the bed he had bought just for her to stay in.

Edward kissed her forehead delicately for a prolonged period of time, as if to wish her goodnight solely on the action. "Goodnight, my love. Sweet dreams." With that, he exited and left Bella to change and get to her night's sleep.

The Cullen entered his sister's room, where she was already waiting for him. It didn't even take the psychic that she was to know that he'd be here now, giving her hell. "Do you have any idea what you've done?" Edward said in a raised whisper, paranoid that Bella would hear the argument. "What if she is repulsed by what we do? What if she recognizes him?" Pacing nervously, he ran his hand through his bronze hair, coming up with a thousand different scenarios on how this could go poorly in his favor.

"It'll be alright, Edward." Alice said calmly as Jasper entered the room from behind him.

"If it were up to me, she'd be changed already, so she'd have no choice in a protest." Jasper spoke in his best tongue, as he always did, as he joined his wife's side. "This is foolish, yes, but Carlisle won't allow us to turn Bella till she knows all of our family's secrets."

Edward sighed, facing his adoptive siblings with a face that looked less than pleased. "I guess we have no choice then. Although..." He gritted his teeth, his fists clenching at his sides as he continued. "...I do not want her anywhere near him. You understand me? At any cost, we keep them away from one another."

Jasper and Alice nodded, agreeing without hesitation.