"I'm afraid I have to leave soon." Dr. Cullen said. "My shift begins in half an hour."

"And I think we've covered enough of the serious issues for today. Didn't we?" Esme said softly. A smile never left her lips. She seemed so very happy.

"I would have to agree." Edward said and turned to me. "Would you like to go for a run, love?"

I nodded as I glanced at the others, unsure of their reaction. Surely they would not want me to hog their brother and son. Even though he was my husband. And mate. But none of them seemed to disapprove. Quite the opposite actually. Emmett grinned and wiggled his eyebrows while Alice bounced in her seat.

I stood from Edwards lap and pulled him up with me.

"See you in school." Alice giggled.

Edward tried to scowl at her but his smile broke through the facade. He nodded again and we took off. Our hands entwined as we rushed through the forest. Weaving between the trees. Jumping over roots. The wind was in my hair and pulled at my clothes. Delighted laughter escaped me.

It was fabulous.

I felt free of any pain. With Edward by my side I was flying through the forest. Light as the clouds in the sky. Wild as the ocean itself.

Edward slowly lowered his speed and then stopped.

"Are we there?" I asked, suddenly excited to see where he had led us.

He nodded and pushed through the hedge of ferns and into a meadow. The sweet scent of the wildflowers hung in the clearing. A soft stream burbled near the treeline. A sea of cornflowers standing tall at its edge. And all of it was illuminated only by the moon overhead.

I turned to face Edward who stood motionless and looked at me expectantly. His fair skin glowed in the silver light. The sight of him took my breath away.

"It is a beautiful place." I finally whispered into the silent night, not wanting to break the spell over this place with my loud voice. "Magnificent."

"Welcome to my own little kingdom." He grinned, his golden eyes dancing with mischief.

I chuckled. "Your kingdom, huh?"

"Indeed, my kingdom." he smiled crookedly. "And it became even more beautiful when graced with the presence of my dazzling queen."

"Well, in that case, I decree that the cornflowers shall be our loyal subjects." I laughed as a warm feeling encased my unbeaten heart.

"A wise and beautiful queen you are, love."

"And yet I have no crown."

Edward pursed his lips. His eyebrows drew together until he let go of my hand and walked over to the cumulation of wildflowers. With swift hands he picked a bunch.

"Edward, you are killing my subjects!" I protested. "Stop it."

A smirk played on his face as he returned to me, lowering himself onto the ground. With his legs crossed he began to braid the flowers into a crown. I sat next to him and watched as his long steady fingers worked.

Finally, Edward placed the finished crown on my head. He stepped back to admire his creation and nodded to himself. "There, my queen, your very own crown."

"It's perfect, Edward. Thank you." I reached up to adjust the crown placement and smiled at him.

"Your welcome, love."

"But now it's my turn. Stay put, your majesty." I ordered him and ventured to the edge of the meadow, where the chamomiles stood. The finished crown was a little sloppy but I returned to Edward and placed it on his head with a grand gesture. "Long live the king!" I declared laughing.

He chuckled with me. "Too bad only the flowers and the moon up above have been witnesses to our crowning."

I shrugged. "Who else should be there but the subjects of our little kingdom?"

Edward reached for me and pulled me into his lap. My breath quickened at the sudden intensity of his eyes. The molten gold seemed to smolder.

"May I kiss you?" he asked me. I nodded and met his lips in a sweet, affectionate kiss. The world around us faded away, leaving only the two of us in our secluded kingdom. Time seemed to stand still. I dragged my fingernails over the nape of Edwards neck as his hand cradled the back of my head, his fingers tangling in my hair as he deepened the kiss. We melted into each other's embrace.

Edward lay on his back and pulled me into his tight embrace when the kiss ended. My head rested on his head as we watched the partially clear sky. Only every once in a while was the moon shrouded in clouds.

Edward sighed in contentment and pulled me even closer.

"The moon is beautiful tonight, is it not?" I asked him.

He chuckled. "So, Bella, are you going to tell me about your secret crush on the moon now?"

"You caught me, Edward." I grinned, tracing patterns on his shirt. "I always had a soft spot for her."

"An infatuation you mean."

"Hm, yes, I suppose it is more of an infatuation." I agreed. "Have you ever read the Greek myths?"

"Never."

"Well, Selene is the Greek goddess of the moon. She is often depicted as a radiantly beautiful woman guiding the moon across the night sky in her chariot. The fascinating part, Edward, is that Selene fell deeply in love with a mortal."

Edward pressed a kiss to my hair.

"His name was Endymion and he was a shepherd. She loved him so much that she asked Zeus for a favor."

"What did she ask for?"

"She asked Zeus to grant Endymion eternal youth and eternal sleep so that she can forever be in his dreams."

Edwards' laugh filled the night. "Well, that's certainly a creative way to keep a lover!"

I joined him. "It truly is. And so Endymion sleeps eternally, his dreams forever filled with Selene."

"I can understand her." Edward whispered when we sobered up again.

I lifted my head from his shoulder and looked up at him. "How so, Edward?"

Edward's fingers gently brushed a strand of hair away from my face and I let it fall back onto his chest. "Selene's love defied the boundaries of mortality, just like ours did when Carlisle had just turned me. I had become a vampire, your natural enemy and yet I loved you just as much as I did when I was a human with you. And then you found your way into the same life that had kept me from you. Just like Selene and Endymion, our love was so powerful that it transcended the limitations of our respective natures. It endured through the ages, a beacon of light in the darkness, until we were reunited by fate."

"Why now?"

"I don't know," he whispered. "Only time will tell."

"Maybe Zeus is up there and granted us our reunion. Just like the special gift for Selene and Endymion."

"I'd like to think so." Edward said softly, his fingers tracing patterns on my arm. A shiver ran through my body. "And I will forever be grateful to whatever deity gave you back to me."

I hummed in silent agreement. I was just as indebted to whatever force had reunited us.

The moon creeped over the sky. And I started to dread the inevitable moment where we would have to leave our meadow kingdom and rejoin Edwards family.

"Tell me what you are thinking." Edward watched my face intently. "What is troubling you?"

"We should return, shouldn't we?" I asked into the quiet night.

One of his brows lifted in question. "Why?"

"I fear it was quite rude to leave them all of a sudden just because Dr. Cullen left. We should have stayed, no?" I asked.

"No, love," Edward said softly. "They know that we have missed each other for almost a hundred years and they understand that we want to spend time together."

"But we can't just leave them for the entire night. I am sure they miss your presence. I fear they will start to dislike me if I keep you from them."

"Bella," Edward protested. "There is nothing to worry about. All of them have mates of their own. They understand the need to be alone together. They also know how to spend the time without us productively." He sighed softly and brushed his hand over my cheek. Igniting the sparks that came with each touch between us. "And they are happy for me. The entire time they have known me, all of them have only known a broken version of me. Edward Cullen was a torched soul. Separated from his mate and yet unable to leave this existence because of the promise I made you before Carlisle bit me. You asked me to live. To keep fighting for you. And I promised you that I would not die. And I tried to keep that promise. As well as I could, at least. But even though I was not physically dead I had no true motivation to live. There was nothing but pain and my stubborn determination to fulfill my last promise to you. Even though it tormented me to know that I existed in a world that you no longer lived in."

The despair in his voice was too much for me.

"Shh-" I stroked his shoulders. "I know your pain. But Edward, we have to remember that all the pain was worth it in the end. We are here now. Together. And there is nothing that could pull me from your side ever again."

He looked into my eyes. Searching for something and he seemed to have found it when he nodded reluctantly. "What I was trying to say is, that they are glad that we have found each other again. Jasper said that my feelings have changed so drastically since I saw you again in the cafeteria that he would not recognise me from my emotional profile. According to him there was always this numbness, pain and loneliness accompanying my every feeling. And that has flipped to contentment, joy and gratitude. Even while we spoke of the dark years of separation I was in higher spirits than he had ever felt from me. I found Edward Masen again."

"Oh Edward." I whispered and pulled him into a close embrace. Rubbing circles on his back and pressing my face into his chest. It pained me to know that he had suffered just as much as I had from our separation. There was nothing I could do to sooth away his past pain but hold him tight and remind him that I was with him.

We lay like this, a tangled mess of limbs, until the sun came up behind the trees. A new day began. The first whole day with Edward by my side since 1918.

Edward heaved a deep sigh. "We will have to leave soon." he informed me regretfully.

I drew my eyebrows together.

"Don't worry, love, we will return." Edward told me. "After all, a kingdom needs its queen."

Even though we had spent the entire night in our meadow kingdom it felt like hardly any time had passed. I reluctantly pulled away and let myself be pulled up by Edward. We slowly made our way back to the Cullen house.