A/N: This chapter has been edited from its original version. Mature Content warning is still in effect. Full version is available at STARS library, along with any other chapters that are missing or altered.

Chapter 22:

Somewhere in the periphery of my mind, I know the warm lips behind my ear are not a dream, nor is the long, toned body pressed against my back. Fingers ghost over my shoulder and down my arm. I'm pulled closer, held tighter. Still, I sleep blissfully on.

Safe, secure, adored.

There are more kisses, subtle touches. I don't think they're meant to wake me. But the strong hand that slips over my hip and onto my belly does just that, creating an uncomfortable amount of pressure on my apparently full bladder.

I inhale quickly and groan. Not from pain. But because I don't want to wake up, or explode.

I grab Edward's hand quickly and pull it up the valley of my breasts. Our fingers slip together and it causes the very new piece of jewelry on my hand to turn a little. I smile and Edward hums, his lips finding my shoulder.

His kisses are slow and lazy. Then they're gone and I feel him bury his face in my hair and breathe deeply. He exhales slowly, making me wonder if he's caught in that place between sleep and consciousness, like I'd been moments ago.

"Are you awake?" I whisper.

He inhales my hair again and sighs. "Barely."

I turn in his arms, just enough so we can see each other. His eyes open slowly.

I smile softly and watch him watching me. He smiles back and then closes his eyes again before pressing our lips together. I part my mouth, allowing him to suck lightly on my bottom lip before pulling away. I hum contentedly and follow after him, seeking out one more kiss. I have the good sense not to deepen this one and expose either of us to morning breath.

There's also the tiny matter of needing the bathroom.

Edward pouts when I tell him I have to get up. "Don't stay away long."

I giggle as I slip from his arms. "I'll try not to."

Finding my discarded bathrobe in a pile on the floor, I throw it on and cross the room quickly. Once my most pressing issue is taken care of, I stand in front of the vanity, marveling at the girl staring back at me.

In the blissful aftermath of last night, her eyes shine, and her face is full of color instead of being pale and drawn. Her lips are permanently turned up, and it's hard to look at her without wanting to squeal. If it weren't for the ring sparkling beneath the soap suds as I wash my hands, I might not even believe any of it was real.

Blowing out a breath to steady myself, I pick up my hairbrush. I brush the tangles out of my hair while flashes of the previous day's events fill my mind.

The sight of Edward's brown shoes in the back of the SUV. The feel of that first kiss after so long. Telling him that I'm having his child. The acceptance and love in his eyes as he told me he wanted me, no matter what. Falling asleep in his arms. Falling apart in his arms. Being put back together.

My hairbrush clacks against the vanity as I put it down. I close my eyes as images overwhelm me. Candles. Ultrasound pictures. Edward on bended knee. Me, saying yes.

Everything that came after.

My cheeks flush with the memory of our bodies coming together, expressing things that words never could: Gratitude; his eyes as he entered me. Worship; his touch as he moved with me. Devotion; his voice as he roughly whispered an endless string of "I love yous".

A knock on the door startles me, alerting me to the fact I've been daydreaming for quite a while. I splash some cold water on my face and rinse my mouth quickly before opening the door.

Edward—his flannel pants on inside-out—stands on the other side looking sleepy and concerned.

"Are you sick?"

I shake my head, amused and touched. "No. Just lost in thought."

He frowns slightly and takes my hand. "What are you thinking about?"

"You." My face heats immediately. "And this." I hold up my left hand.

Pulling me to him, he wraps me in his embrace. "I was thinking about you, too. And that." He lifts my hand and kisses the knuckle above my ring.

"It's very shiny under the lights in there," I tell him. And I'm grinning like a loon. "Just so you know."

He smiles, also a little loony. "Is that so?"

I nod.

"Are you done in there?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Back to bed?"

"I'd like that," I say, "but I should eat before it gets much later. You go ahead, I'll be right there."

Surprisingly, he doesn't argue with me. Though, he does kiss me again before letting me go and trudging back to the bed. He collapses into it with a sigh.

I shake my head in amusement and make my way to the so-called kitchenette. It's surprisingly well-stocked. Alice has obviously been shopping for me, or she had someone else do it before we arrived yesterday. I'll have to remember to thank her, I think as I heat some water in the microwave.

When I return to bed with a cup of tea and a small bowl of instant oatmeal, Edward is already passed out again, his breathing slow and steady. I sit on the edge and watch him while I eat.

Just like the first time I saw him sleeping, he's on his stomach, shirtless with his head half buried beneath his pillow. He has one arm under it and one thrown over it. He looks much the same as he did then, apart from the light-pink hue of new skin and scar tissue under his arm pit and on the back of his shoulder.

I swallow a bite of oatmeal and then have to put it down. I pick up my tea and try not to allow the guilt and remorse that haunted me the past two months take hold again. Edward is right. That's all done now, washed away.

He's here. I'm here. We're alive, happy, and moving forward.

That's what I tell myself... what Edward would tell me. But it's still hard.

It's hard when I think about what could have happened. What he almost gave up for me. It's hard when I think of what he's giving up for me now and what we're giving up on behalf of our unborn child.

Family. Heritage. History. Stability.

We'll all have to live with the scars, and not just the physical ones.

Finishing my tea, I place the cup on the nightstand next to my abandoned breakfast. I'll probably regret not eating more later, but for now I just want to be close to him again. I need to quiet the thoughts in my head and the ache in my heart.

As though sensing me, Edward rolls onto his side and pops out from under the pillow.

"Hey," he rasps.

I smile and slide under the covers. "Hey."

"Get something to eat?" he whispers.

"Yeah."

I scoot over and into his open arms, kissing his shoulder when I'm settled. I trace the tender skin with my finger and kiss it again.

I want to say that I'm sorry. I want to ask if it hurts him still, but I don't want to get any more emotional on him than I already have. But like always, he reads me so well.

"It doesn't hurt," he says softly. "I got lucky."

I run my fingers over it again. "Lucky?"

"Yes, lucky. Very lucky."

He pulls me closer and tilts his head down. I raise my chin and our lips meet in a series of soft, sweet kisses. I have to resist the urge to deepen them—to push on his shoulder and roll him on to his back and shed my robe once again.

"Are you tired?" he whispers huskily against my mouth.

"A little," I answer, my breath coming faster. "Are you?"

"Exhausted, but not so much that I don't want to be close to you."

"Close is good. I like close."

I feel his lips twitch in amusement as he continues kissing me, teasing my bottom lip with his tongue. Smiling, I accept him with enthusiasm and tease him in return.

My robe stays on—just barely—as fatigue wins this round and we fall asleep again, tangled together and blissfully content.

~(~)~

A day later, I've barely left the bed. Besides having our reunion and engagement to celebrate, Edward and I both seem to have sleep to catch up on. We've slept a lot. But the peace and quiet doesn't last forever.

Sometime in the afternoon, the bed dips beside me and Edward's warm breath ghosts over my mouth. I don't know when it was he left my side, but I don't really care either. I lift my chin and am rewarded with the feel of his soft lips against mine. I sigh as he parts his mouth and slides his hands into my hair.

We kiss tenderly, but eagerly, until a loud knock sounds at the door. Confused at the intrusion, I blink up at Edward while he lets out a sound somewhere between a laugh and a lament.

"I tried to get her to come back tomorrow, or at least after you woke up on your own, but she says it can't wait any longer."

I wrinkle my nose. "Alice?"

He nods. "Yes. She's quite insistent."

I roll my eyes. "Alice is always insistent. It's her way."

He laughs and sits back, allowing me room to stretch and untangle myself from the sheets. As I become more aware of my surroundings, I realize that he must have been up for a while before Alice arrived. Not only is he wearing fresh clothes, but his hair is damp, and he smells like clean boy.

"How long have you been up?"

"Not long. I only got in the shower after Alice came knocking the first time. You looked so peaceful, though. I didn't wake you."

"Do you know what she wants?" I ask as another knock and verbal warning echo through the door.

Edward shouts for her to give us five minutes.

"I guess she's brought dinner and paperwork. There were still a couple things I was supposed to sign the other day but didn't get to after you were rushed out of the courthouse in an ambulance. And… she says there are some things we have to decide and agree upon together."

My stomach flip-flops a little. "Together…"

He grins sheepishly and takes my hand in his, toying meaningfully with the ring on my finger. "Together."

My eyes begin to water. "I don't know what I did to deserve you, but I can't… I don't… I wish…" Words fail me.

His forehead touches mine. "Shh… I know. Me, too."

I nod and hold him close to me, but the moment is cut short by Alice calling through the door and threatening to use her key to get in.

Edward and I both groan.

"She has a key?"

"God, I hope not. And seriously… that was the shortest five minutes in history."

I giggle. "I guess we better not test her then."

"No, I suppose not."

He moves away from me, standing so I can make an actual attempt to get out of the bed. As soon as I'm on my feet, he pulls me close to him and snakes his hands around my waist.

"Why don't you grab some clothes and head to the bathroom to get dressed? I'll let Deputy Doorbanger in."

I snort a laugh as he smiles at me in amusement.

He kisses my forehead and lets me go. Before I can even shut the bathroom door, though, I hear Alice groaning about how long we took. I roll my eyes, but hurry to make myself presentable anyway.

When I emerge from the bathroom a few minutes later, Alice is already seated and in the process of laying out a plethora of legal documents on the coffee table. She pauses when I make my over and looks up at me, one eyebrow arching as she takes me in.

"Long night, I take it?"

I stop in place. "Do I look that bad?"

She laughs and shakes her head. "No, you look that good. Congratulations, by the way. I hear they're in order."

I feel my face flame and look down, turning my ring around on my finger. "Yeah. Thanks."

"You're welcome. Now, come sit down. We have a lot to decide today and plenty to discuss."

I glance over at Edward, noticing he appears unfazed by Alice's announcement. He simply beckons me to join him on the sofa, where he immediately wraps an arm around me and places a kiss in my hair.

Alice grins at us and then picks up a stack of papers, tapping them against the table to straighten them.

"All right then," she begins. "Are you two ready for this? A new start? New life? New names?"

I must look like a deer in headlights, but unsurprisingly Edward's response is immediate and lacks any hint of doubt or uncertainty.

"I think we're past ready. Let's get this show on the road."

~(~)~

It's just after midnight when Alice finally reaches the end of her long list. A few details of our relocation are still up in the air, but the bulk of the important stuff has been decided. Things like names, potential careers, and places we both might like to live.

As it turns out, Edward and I both like the sun quite a lot, but want tall trees and a small-town atmosphere to raise our child in. Imagine Forks in Florida or Southern California, if you will.

Of course, that was the easy part.

Living with choices we made tonight might be a bit harder, and it all starts to sink in the moment Alice is out the door.

"Holy cow…"

Edward nods his head and leans against the door he just locked behind Alice.

"Yeah, that was… something."

His eyes are a little unsettled, causing me to sit up and slide to the edge of the sofa. I hold a hand out to him.

"Are you okay?"

He blinks a little and makes his way over. "I, uh… yeah, I'm fine. Are you all right?"

I nod as he sits on the coffee table in front of me, taking both my hands in his. I look at our intertwined fingers and try to put my thoughts in order.

"I'm good," I finally answer. "Well, I'm as good as can be expected, I guess. This is a difficult, or rather, an unusual situation."

Edward slides forward until our knees are touching and rubs one thumb across the back of my hand.

"You know, if you think about it… we're just getting married. Then we're going to move into a little house in a little town somewhere and have a baby. Not so unusual."

I smile, feeling my cheeks heat with his words for some strange reason.

"No. Not when you put it that way."

He's quiet for a moment.

"I'm sorry we won't be able to have the kind of wedding you may have wanted."

I shake my head. "I wouldn't have been able to have that anyway. Not without my parents there. Or yours."

"I know, I feel the same way, but are you really okay with the doing it at the courthouse? Because I have no problem calling Alice back here and telling her we want a church and flowers, or hell, tell her to get a damn plane because we want to go to Vegas."

I can't help but smile at that. "That's sweet, but if you're going to do that you should demand they get your parents here at the very least."

He sighs. "Bella, love, you know I'd love them to be there, but I really do think it would be harder on my mom that way. Especially if they found out about the baby."

I swallow thickly. "You're right, of course. You know them best."

"So you're really all right with getting married at the courthouse? Just us."

"Yeah, the courthouse will be fine. As long as we're actually getting married and not being handed a fake marriage certificate with our fake names on it and some random date that they pulled out of a hat."

Edward scoffs. "I can't believe that was even an option. Is nothing sacred anymore?"

"Apparently not."

He leans forward and presses a small kiss to my lips. "Well, it is to me, baby. This is one thing I want to be able to tell the truth about. I don't want some fabricated story when it comes to our marriage. I want the real deal."

The passion in his eyes and sentiment in his words cause my already fluctuating emotions to fly out of control. Tears spill from my eyes before I can stop them.

"Hey… what'd I say?" Edward asks, obviously startled.

I shake my head. "Nothing."

"This doesn't look like nothing."

I blush as he reaches up to gently wipe away the wetness on my cheeks. I hate that I've gone from comforter to the one needing comforted so easily.

"What's wrong, baby?"

I try to wave it off. "I'm just overwhelmed."

"Good overwhelmed, or bad overwhelmed?"

"Good, mostly."

"Mostly?"

"You just make me so happy, and you know how to say all the right things, and…" A shaky breath escapes me. "You're not the least bit intimidated by all this." I gesture indiscriminately around the room.

Edward to half laugh, half sighs. "By 'all this,' I assume you mean the witness protection thing and not the luxurious accommodations we have here."

"Yeah, no, not that. All the other stuff."

He smiles. "Well, I had to check."

"Of course you did."

He chuckles, then moves from the table onto the sofa next to me and pulls me into his arms.

"Look, Bella, I'm not going to lie. I'm a little nervous about some things. Having to start over…. Being able to remember all these details about our new identities…" His voice drops several decibels. "Being a good father."

I snuggle against him. "Really?"

"Yeah. But I think that's pretty standard, isn't it?"

"From what I hear, it is. Even I'm nervous about that part."

"See? So, I'm not worried. We're going to have a good life together."

My eyes start to fill again. "How can you be so certain of things all the time?"

"Because when you know, you know. You know?"

I smile, finding it impossible not to be amused by him. And comforted. "You're an idealist, do you know that?"

He gives me a gentle squeeze. "Yes."

I lift my chin and my lips brush against his neck. "And here I thought math teachers were supposed to be practical."

He lets out a long, low sigh. "Yes, well, it would be very impractical of me to let you get away again."

I hum an agreement and press my mouth to the sensitive spot beneath his ear. His quiet groan is a welcome distraction from the concerns and doubts left behind in the wake of our session with Alice.

I shift my weight and feel him loosen his grip on me so I can sit up, then I climb into his lap, my legs resting on either side of his hips.

"What are you doing?" he asks, looking equal parts bewildered and turned-on.

I smile impishly and press my lips to his. He kisses me briefly, but then pulls away.

"Bella?"

"I'm kissing you, silly. I thought that would be obvious."

A single eyebrow rises in challenge. "A minute ago, you were in tears."

I shrug. "You made me feel better."

He laughs. "Just like that?"

I sigh and cup his face between my palms. "Just like that. It's your gift."

"What is?"

"The ability to put all my fears to rest."

He looks dumbfounded for a moment before bringing my face to his and kissing me gently. "Believe it or not, you do that for me, too."

His words bring on yet another rush of emotion, but I push it away, focusing instead on the incredible shade of his eyes and the way his fingers tangle in my hair just before he brings his mouth to mine.

Our lips caress, first in soft, tender touches. Then in ardent and sensual movements that take my breath away. That ever-present spark between us ignites, as it always has, and kiss by delicious kiss, the anxieties caused by Alice's time with us tonight fall away.

Edward's shirt quickly falls away too, and when it hits the floor, I can't help but sit back and admire him. Even the newest part of him. His strength and positive outlook amaze and enamor me as my fingers trace the line of his scar, followed by my lips. I press them to the new skin softly and it's not long at all before I feel his body start to tremble and heave in response. I can't tell if it's the actual skin that is extra-sensitive, or the sentiment behind my actions that gets to him, but it's clear in either event that he's enjoying it.

His hands knead my back and hips, then move lower as I continue kissing him, shifting my attention to his collarbone and then his neck. I suck and nip along the line of his jaw until he finally can't take it anymore. Pulling me up, he presses me flush against him and attacks my mouth with ferocity.

There's an urgency in his kisses that I've not felt with him before. I pursue it with enthusiasm, not even letting his lips leave mine as he leans me back and lifts me until I'm seated on the edge of the coffee table. My hands grab wildly at him as he removes first my shirt, then my pants, all while keeping his lips firmly attached to some part of my flesh.

When he stands to remove his jeans, we stop only long enough to get the button popped and the zipper down. His mouth is back on mine again even while he shimmies the denim over his hips.

I try to help as much as I can, but he trips while pulling his legs free and nearly crashes on top of me and the coffee table in the process.

"Whoa…"

"Shit."

A crack from beneath us sends us both into hysterics. Edward pulls me to my feet quickly, kicking his pants loose at the same time. We're both still laughing when he sits back down on the sofa and extends his arms out to me.

The moment of brevity passes as his eyes flash at the sight of my naked body in front of him. I feel heat both rise to my cheeks and pool in my abdomen as his expression becomes one of hunger, rather than amusement.

"So beautiful," he says roughly.

My breath quickens as I ease back into his lap, my own smile fading into a puddle of desire as my body aligns with his.

~(~)~

We stay pressed tightly together long after we've both caught our breath. Eventually, when my hips and knees can't take anymore, we get up and make our way to the bathroom where we shower quickly and brush our teeth before heading back to bed.

Once in, I'm barely coherent enough to give a kiss goodnight, let alone have a deep conversation.

Edward, on the other hand…

"Bella?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm going to miss that. Calling you Bella."

I open my eyes to find his green ones staring back at me from his side of the bed. Reaching up to push a damp lock of hair away from his forehead, I force the fatigue away and try to smile.

"At least my new name is pretty close to my name now. Yours isn't even close." He frowns at that, so I add, "But I like it. It was a great choice, and we'll know what it means even if no one else ever does."

He smiles, too. "Yeah, I guess so. As long as you're okay with it."

"I am. What about you? Are you really sure you like my new name?"

"Hey… I get to marry one of my life-long fantasy dream girls. What's not to like?"

I roll my eyes. "Just as long as you don't try to stick to a theme or anything when we start naming our children."

He laughs, then scoots closer to me until we're practically nose to nose, our legs tangled together and his arms slung over my waist. "Children, huh? As in more than one?"

I blanch a little when I realize that I'd actually said that. Where'd that come from? Can we get through the one baby first, please?

Fortunately, he lets me off the hook. "It's okay, sweetheart. Why don't we start with the one we've got and go from there?"

I let out a small, relieved breath and nod. "I think that's a smart plan."

He chuckles and then kisses me softly. "Didn't mean to scare you."

"I know. It's just hard to think that far ahead right now."

"How far ahead are you thinking?"

I feel my eyes getting heavy again. "Honestly?"

"Of course."

"I'm thinking about five to ten minutes from now when I get to go to sleep."

He laughs. "Okay, point taken. Come here."

He rolls to his back and opens his arms to me. I willingly go, snuggling up to him with a smile etched on my face. "I love you, soon-to-be Mr. Collins."

He kisses the top of my head. "I love you, too, soon-to-be Mrs. Collins. Goodnight."

~(~)~