AN: Sorry about the delay for the last chapter! I've been hard at work on my new story and also having some major issues uploading this chapter. Here is the last chapter!

The days passed both agonizingly slowly and way too fast. The day of Bella's funeral was the second worst day of my life. Renee was an absolute mess, she could barely walk if not for Phil. Edward was worse to look at, instead of bawling and wailing he was silent and so still that most people didn't even notice him. But I did. He looked dead inside.

He looked how I felt. The day passed by in a blur and I made sure to tell Alice how much I appreciated what she did in arranging the service for me. Besides Alice, I wouldn't have made it through the day without Sue. Sue was my rock. She stayed by my side and did most of the talking when we were approached. The one person that I did not expect to see at the funeral was Jacob Black. But he was there. He walked in pushing his father in his wheelchair.

I was shocked but relieved to see him, I had been worried that he had died and no one was looking for him. He looked lost and confused, both feelings that I understood.

"Charlie, I'm so sorry for your loss." Billy said as Jacob wheeled him over to me.

"Thanks Billy. It's good to see you Jake, though not here. I'm glad you're safe, I was worried about you, kid." I told him as I put my hand on his upper arm.

"I'm sorry I worried you Charlie. If I had known that this would happen I never would have left. I robbed myself of my last few weeks with her." He told me as he hastily wiped a tear from his eye. "I still can't believe this is real." He said quietly.

"Me neither." I said equally as quietly.

People were in and out of the house the first couple of days after the funeral. Renee and Phil stayed in town for a few days and Renee would come by daily to make sure that I was eating and taking my medicine. In this time she asked me for the full story of what happened and I told her. I saved her the worst of it, the details that had me waking up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat. Still, what she knew was enough to give her nightmares of her own. Her only daughter, taken in one of the most brutal ways I could imagine anyone going.

After about two weeks everyone was gone. Most people stopped visiting and I was usually alone. Alone in this house that had become a museum. When people were at the house, I didn't allow them to touch anything that Bella had last touched. Her room stayed sealed except the one time that I allowed Renee to enter it and sit on Bella's bed. Amongst her things. I allowed her to take a few items of Bella's, a blanket she had made her, a few items of clothing, a couple of framed photos and a few stuffed animals. She didn't ask for much.

Sue was the one constant in my life. She came over most days, did her best to get me to participate in conversation, tried to get me to leave the house a few times though I wasn't ready for that yet except to go to physiotherapy, as I had promised Carlisle. She didn't push me, in typical Sue fashion. She let me work things out in my own time and was unendingly patient and kind to me. It was during this time that I really began to fall in love with her. She could love me and care for me in the darkest time of my life, I didn't deserve such an amazing woman.

I had settled into something of a routine since Bella died. Sue would come most days, spend a few hours with me, sometimes spend the night and soothe me when I awoke from my frequent nightmares. Alice would still come weekly with prepared meals and to check on me. Occasionally others would come over like Billy Black, some days he would get a ride from a friend, other times Jake would drive him and come in to join us. He was usually quiet, much more reserved than I had ever known him to be. We were all grieving in our own way.

What I didn't expect was Edward Cullen to show up at my door one September evening with Alices usual delivery of food. The sight of him shocked me and I stood there staring at him for too long.

"Mind if I come in?" He asked quietly with a small sad smile.

"Of course, Edward." I said and put a hand on his shoulder. I was no longer using crutches but I still had a very pronounced limp and walked much slower than I did before. He entered the house and I closed the door behind him. He walked past me and I followed him into the kitchen. He watched me walk in with a small frown on his face.

"How are you doing?" He asked me as he set the casserole dishes on the counter.

"My leg is much better." I told him dodging most of his question, unlike Alice or Carlisle, he didn't pry, just nodded and started loading the food into the freezer.

"How are you doing, Edward?" I asked him. This was the first time I had seen him since the funeral.

He made a soft grunting noise as an answer and he continued loading the dishes into the freezer and I understood. The pain is so awful you can't even pretend and say that you're okay. Because you're the furthest from it you've ever been.

"It's good to see you." I told him softly.

He finished loading the food into the freezer and turned to look at me, "You too, Charlie. I'm glad that you're doing better. I'm sorry I didn't visit sooner." His voice sounded almost dead to my ears. He was still the most polite 17 year old I had ever met, but nothing else about him was the same. He looked and sounded like a hollow shell of the boy I once knew.

"You don't have to apologize, Edward," I said quietly "I know how hard the simplest things are." I sat on a barstool and Edward mirrored Alice's position from that day we had spoken in the kitchen. He didn't answer but I did catch him looking around the house, his gaze landed on the hallway that lead to the staircase.

"Did you want to see her room?" I asked him, assuming that's why he came instead of Alice. He slowly turned to look at me and again I got the feeling that I was looking at a dead man. His gaze was desolate. He shook his head after a moment and then looked down not saying anything.

I was surprised at his answer. I was unsure of where to take the conversation from here as he wasn't helping so I asked him if he wanted to join me in the living room to watch some television. To my immense surprise he looked up at me and nodded slowly after a moment of consideration. I got up from the barstool I was sitting on and lead him to the living room.

Edward POV

I numbly followed Charlie to the living room. He sat on the couch and I sat on the chair across the room from him. He flicked the television on to a basketball game and we watched together in silence. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence, I found. It was actually kind of easy to be around Charlie. I felt like I didn't need to pretend to feel anything other than what I was feeling around him because I knew he was feeling the same way. Or at least as close as a human could to how I was feeling.

I was surprised at my own refusal at the offer to go up to Bella's room. I came here with the intention of asking Charlie if I could sit in her room for a few minutes. But now that I was here I found that I wasn't ready. Not yet. I couldn't bring myself to see her room in all of its normalcy. I didn't think from what I could hear of Charlie's thoughts that he had altered it at all. I knew that when I saw her room my first thought would be that I would see Bella, likely sitting on her bed or at her computer desk. And I knew that that would break me even more. Even just sitting down here I could smell her room from above us. The smell undid me a little more when I entered this house. I hadn't smelled her so clearly since the last day we had spent together. I didn't realize then that that had been the last day that we would ever spend together.

Looking around there were signs of her everywhere. Her Romeo and Juliet novel that had been tucked onto the bookshelf by the TV. The college acceptance letters that had been neatly stacked but not removed from the kitchen counter. The notepad by the phone that remained untouched since Bella last wrote on it.

Dad. It read.

Call Billy, he sounded annoyed. You forgot to return his call yesterday.

There were so many other little things scattered even just around this living room that she rarely used, I couldn't handle entering her room yet. Being here in this room, sitting with her dad. This was enough for today.

I sat with Charlie for an hour before I decided that it was time to return to my family. Being away from them for any length of time made them extremely nervous. This was the first time I had left the house without anyone and I could feel their anxiety. This was honestly only the second time that I had even left the house and it was the first time that I had done so willingly.

oOo

For the first month after the funeral I sat still up in my room just staring out the window. I fully planned on allowing myself to desiccate, to turn into a living statue. My family tried reasoning with me, pleading, yelling at me.

Two weeks ago Alice and Carlisle had come into my room and pleaded with me, like every other time I ignored them and continued to stare out the window in my room. What finally made me come around was Alice. She repeatedly showed me Bella's last plea to her, begging us to take care of Charlie, begging me to take care of myself and not go to the Volturi. When this still didn't work she showed me what she knew would get a reaction from me, she showed me Bella choking on her blood, unable to hold her own head up to clear her throat. Bella calling out in agony when she shifted and slid further onto the tree impaling her. Bella dying. I came undone. I came alive with a gasping wail of despair.

I could feel the shock in Carlisle but he leapt forward immediately and gathered me up into his arms. Alice put a hand on the back of my head and put her mouth next to my ear and spoke.

"Edward I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I couldn't lose you. I had to snap you out of it. I'm sorry, brother." I was lost to whatever else she said as I sobbed a tearless lament, I wailed, I pounded my fist on the floor, splintering the hardwood. Throughout all of this Carlisle and Alice never let go of me. I sensed Esme's presence at the door eventually but she didn't intrude. After about 30 minutes I quieted and Carlisle picked me up. Alice opened the massive floor to ceiling window in my bedroom and Carlisle leaped out of it holding me.

They ran through the woods together, Alice lead the way and Carlisle followed with me in his arms. Jasper followed at a distance. I had closed my eyes and was desperately trying to succumb to the exhaustion that I felt even though I knew this would never happen. I was made aware again when I was sat down in the middle of the forest, Carlisle sat behind me supporting me and Alice brought me a deer with a broken neck that was still alive, just paralyzed. It's eyes roved wildly and it's breath came out in short, stunted gasps of fear and pain. She stabbed her thumb into the deers carotid artery, then held the wound to my lips.

Once my body tasted the blood it went into autopilot. I wanted to continue to starve myself, I wanted to be in as much pain and as miserable as I possibly could be but the primitive side of me took over and I grasped onto the neck of the terrified deer. I put my mouth to the wound and drank, I felt the reassuring touch of my father and my sister while I pulled myself back from the brink of a starvation that wouldn't kill me, just incapacitate. When the deer was drained I dropped its head into my lap and looked down into its lifeless eyes.

My family tried to persuade me to continue to hunt after this. I refused but walked back home on my own feet. When we arrived home I was greeted immediately with a crushing hug from Esme. I was still starving and weak after my month of starvation and this hug hurt me, though I didn't tell her that. I allowed her to lead me to the couch in the living room where she spoke to me not minding that I wasn't responding to her. Telling me how much she loved me, how much they all loved me. How much Bella loved me and how we had to do what Bella wanted us to do. How I had to take care of myself.

oOo

Since this day I still hadn't put much effort into being a functioning member of the family. In fact I'd barely spoken a single sentence since then. But I did leave my room, I did sit with my family. I took a shower, changed my clothes for Alice's sake. And I tried my best to show them that I was still with them and I wasn't going to slip back into that catatonic state again. At least I was trying not to. My family's biggest point of contention with me since I woke up was my continued refusal to eat. I had agreed to hunt once, a week after this day, a week ago from now. I had done the same thing I'd done that last time. Drained a single deer then turned around and returned home.

I couldn't bring myself to eat enough to where I was no longer hungry, my eyes didn't even had a hint of gold these days. I still felt as though I deserved to suffer. I would stay conscious and present, but not comfortable. My family had pleaded that I wasn't taking care of myself, that this isn't what Bella would want. Then maybe she should be here to tell me what she wants. I had thought in anger to myself once after Carlisle had used this argument against me and my stomach turned immediately and I groaned in agony curling over on myself. The fact that I had thought that made me disgusted with myself. It wasn't her fault she was gone. It was mine. I needed to direct my anger against me, not that perfect girl.

I hadn't eaten in the week since that day. It was a massive shock to my family when one morning I told them that I wanted to be the one to bring the food to Charlie this week. When I spoke this aloud everyone froze. I was honestly shocked myself. But I wanted to feel close to her and the only place I felt I could do that was at Charlie Swan's house. I could see Alice searching the future to ensure I had no plans to return to the Volturi. Once she was convinced that it wasn't currently in my plans she looked at Carlisle and slightly nodded her head and everyone backed down though their anxiety was still clear. Jasper tried to convince me to eat before I went into a humans house but I refused and reassured him that I wouldn't hurt Charlie.

I pulled myself out of thoughts of the past and slowly pushed myself to my feet as to not startle him. "Heading out?" Charlie asked me and I nodded. Charlie walked me to the front door before I heard a sudden exclamation in his thoughts. Charlie's thoughts were still as muddled and hard to understand as ever and I felt myself stiffen expecting danger at the sudden spike in intensity of his thoughts.

"Oh!" He said. "I forgot that I have something for you. I just got it back a couple of days ago, I was planning on driving it over to you I just haven't been able to yet." He said as he limped back through the hall to the kitchen. He reached into a white cardboard box and pulled out a smaller white box and something rounded, grey and metal and walked back to me. He handed me the grey metal object first. I didn't realize until the smooth metal entered my hand that he had given me a small urn, roughly four inches tall and two inches wide.

"After the funeral I had the urn sent away to have her remains split into three. This way she will always be with you, Renee and I. We will each have a part of her with us." At the end of this sentence he got choked up and a tear ran down his face. I was speechless. I held the tiny urn in my hand and didn't know what to say. I never would have expected him to give me some of Bella's remains, I was choked up at the gesture. I tried to speak but my voice cut off with emotion and I nodded my head.

"This is the reason they took so long to come back." He told me and seemed nervous. I looked up at him and at the small white box in his hands. "Bella wanted nothing more in this world than to be married to you. I know she would want you to have this." He told me and handed me the box. He took the urn back from me so that I had two hands to open it.

I pulled the top of the white box off to reveal a small black velvet jewelry box, a ring box I realized. I put the white box on the shelf by the front door that Charlie's gun belt usually hung from, I noticed with a pain in my chest that is also still held Bella's rain coat. I opened the ring box to see a black metal ring with what looked like very fine pieces of grey and white sand inlaid in a ring in the centre that ran all the way around it. I pulled the ring out and inspected it.

"I had it made for you, it has her ashes in the middle." He said sounding uncomfortable and I felt a lump in my throat from the thoughtfulness of the gesture. "I hope I didn't overstep." He said quietly and I again had no words. This act of kindness was not something that I ever could have imagined from him. I slid the ring onto the ring finger of my left hand, right where my wedding band should be sitting. It fit perfectly.

"You didn't." I said quietly and pulled him into a hug. He returned the hug and we grasped onto the back of each others shirts. I felt that he was crying and I was envious. I wanted nothing more at this moment than to break down and sob. We pulled away after a minute and Charlie wiped his eyes.

"I'm sorry." He said and then cleared his throat.

"Don't be." I told him quietly. "This is the best gift I could have ever asked for. Thank you so much for having this made for me." I told him.

"You're welcome." He said sounding uncomfortable at my gratitude. "I meant what I said Edward." He looked up at me. "Bella loved you so much and was so excited to marry you. And I was excited too. I'm so glad to have you as my son in law." More tears fell at this. And I felt my eyes prickle and burn as if tears might come, but they of course didn't.

"And I'm so grateful to have you as my father in law." I told him, my voice thick with emotion and he grasped my upper arm. I tucked the ring box into my pocket and he passed me the urn back. As I opened the front door Charlie spoke.

"Hey Edward?" He said and I turned back to look at him. "Don't be a stranger."

I gave him a small smile. The first since this all began. "I won't." I said and turned to leave.

The End.

I hope you all enjoyed the story! Thanks again for sticking around. Please follow me if you want to ready my next story!