A/N: It's been years since I've even bothered or tried to come up with a new story. But this has mostly been sitting in the back of my mind for awhile so I figured while it's still fresh perhaps I could at least get it started.

Summary:

AU, Canon Pairings. Set just after Breaking Dawn ended; The Cullens have a moment of respite after their confrontation with the Volturi over Reneesme. They're at peace and feel now they can move forward as a family. Edward and Bella are ready to live out their forever blissfully. But all of that changes when suddenly Edward and Bella pass out, only to wake up in the past. Just what's occurred to where everything that they've been through and worked for has slipped through their fingers? Will they ever be able to return to where they were before?

The story will be rated T to M due to language, sexual themes and dark points here and there within the plot.

Not the best summary in the world.

With that, let's jump into it.

(Title may not be the greatest but will see if it sticks around or not)


A Thousand Years

Chapter I

Edward

"Yoo-hoo! Edward!" I looked up upon hearing my brother's booming voice calling for me. He stood out amongst the crowds in the mall that we were in, and his shouting caused some humans to look at him in surprise for how loud he was. And when he was shouting my name, some looked in the same direction that he was staring - in my direction - to stare at me. I grimaced.

"Does he always have to draw attention to us like that?" my sweet wife, Bella, muttered while she squeezed my hand that enclosed hers. Reneesme, our lovely daughter in her adorable girly garb that Alice stuck her in, giggled her bell-like laugh. Her brown eyes - Bella's old eyes - twinkled in amusement while she gazed at her uncle as he started to bound towards us. Jacob was on my other side next to me, arms crossed and chuckling to himself while looking at the behemoth that was causing the other shoppers near us to scramble out of the way.

"Emmett," I grumbled once he was standing in front of us, glowering up at him. "What do you want? If it's not important or could've just warranted a text, your shouting is only drawing attention to us. Not to mention you're embarrassing Bella." I hissed at him but he blew me off with a wave a hand.

"Get the twists out of your panties, Eddie. You'd ignore my texts anyways." Emmett stated, snickering when I let out a low growl that came from deep within my chest.

"We've been brothers for so many years and yet knowing full well and good, you still call me by that infernal nickname." I snarled lowly at him, before tugging Bella gently along with me, I turned us away from him and began to stomp off in the opposite direction away from him. Reneesme and Jacob followed closely behind, laughing at Emmett's pouting face when he saw we were walking away from him. But that didn't stop him seeing as I heard his thunderous footsteps shadowing us in the back.

"C'mon Ed, I really needed to find you and let you know something-"

"Again, something that could've warranted a text message is more than fine, you buffoon." I muttered under my breath but he could hear it. We weaved our way through the humans in this overcrowded mall, heading off to another store to look for some more clothes for Bella and Reneesme. Emmett made a whining noise and then picked up his pace to where now he was in the front with Bella and I. I shot him a harsh glare, which he was unaffected by it.

"Fine, seeing as you refuse to leave, spit it out." I said then, and Bella reached over with her free hand to pat my chest in hopes to quell my anger.

Emmett huffed at me, but finally came out with what he wanted to say.

"I came to find you guys to let you know that we're probably going to meet up at our cars instead of trying to find each other once we're done shopping. Alice and Rosie are still at the other end of this mall getting their jewelry and make up while Jazz, Carlisle and Esme are at the furniture store getting some stuff for Jake here." he said to me. I rolled my eyes at this; this was the ever important message that he went out of his way bumbling around in the mall, to then terrify some nearby shoppers in the process when he did find us? Such a minor detail for our family shopping trip to change ever so slightly in plans, which all could've been relayed to me by a phone call or a text.

"Thank you for informing us Emmett. We'll keep that in mind then while we keep up with our shopping. Probably at some point here we'll stop at the food court to get Reneesme and Jake some food." Bella's sweet voice spoke up, smiling warmly at our brother, but also cutting me off, effectively ruining any chances that I could snap at him. He reciprocated the sentiments with a wide, bright grin thrown her way. And then, he said his goodbyes before turning around and lumbering off in the direction he had arrived in.

"Man, why do you always have to be an asshole to your brother Ed?" Jake muttered to me, hoping that his cursing wasn't heard by my daughter; Bella thankfully was distracting her with a nearby pet store's front window that showed off yipping puppies. Minutely the beast within me did salivate a little at the sight of them, but of course that was just the vampire's hunger talking and I wouldn't ever see a dog as nothing more than food; as much as I know possibly Nessie would want one as a pet, it was highly unlikely a dog would last in our household. (And besides, Rosalie liked to remind us sarcastically that, "why would we ever need to get a dog when we have five of them staying with us now?" in reference to Jacob and his small pack.)

I again rolled my eyes, and with pursed lips replied, "Look, I found it to be uneccessary for him to go out of his way to just tell me something so simple and mundane like our plans of meeting up once we'd be done here that it could've easily been done through a phone call or a text message. We're still trying to appear normal and human wherever we go; it's bad enough that Emmett can scare mortals just from his size, let alone his loudmouth."

"Still. I think you just need to learn to take a chill pill; he may be annoying, but he is your brother." Jacob countered and I sighed.

If you may be wondering why we're in the mall in the first place, well it's with good reason. It has been at least a few months after our close call with the Volturi, and our little family was working to adjust to the notion that for the time being we were safe and able to continue on with our immortal lives. Of course that ever present sword still loomed above our heads, waiting in the wings for the off chance if we're to possible screw things up and let something slip up somewhere. But for now, we were going to forge ahead and try to return to some sort of normalcy with our lives. In this case, it was moving forward with getting things ready for us to possibly move out of Forks and keep up with the charade for the rest of the town, that Bella and I would be going to Dartmouth for schooling this upcoming fall. Our siblings would be "attending" their respective colleges, Carlisle would be transferring to a new hospital that would be near our universities, and Esme would of course be following her husband anywhere that he would go. As for Jacob, the story is to go that he's going to be leaving "for the road and get in some life experiences before he settles on figuring out what he wanted to do with his life". That's at least what we came up with when we had to keep Charlie in the loop from the most recent time we had last seen him. Seeing as he was unceremoniously thrown into our universe (thanks to Jacob's revealing of his nature as a wolf to try and keep Bella grounded in the present and to not 'toss aside' her old human life), we didn't want to just up and leave. Especially since Charlie was smitten with my daughter, Reneesme. He wanted to still keep in touch with us and still be able to see her however he can. Bella wasn't going to take that away from him wholly. I know that we had tried to tell Charlie that we wouldn't be leaving anytime soon, but as it stands after the confrontation we had with the Elder Coven of the vampire world, we were on edge worried that we were being watched by them in the shadows. It made us second guess our promise to stay in Forks and in turn, Bella was extremely worried for her father's safety regardless of the fact that we as well as both packs would always be on alert in case something were to happen. It did nothing to assuage her fears.

So we had a discussion with Charlie to try and at least come up with a compromise that would ease Bella's worries to where we can keep her father protected and away from any possible leering eyes that is the Volturi. And to come up with something or some sort of promise to Charlie that he would still be able to see his daughter and granddaughter, this is the best we could come up with. We promised him that he'd still be able to see them when we could come by, be it every

In reality, Jacob was going to be joining our family in some manner and thus with our moving out of Forks, we were working on prepping something for him in our new home. Bella and I were still getting our own small house nearby the main Cullen home (we were still technically newlyweds in that honeymoon martial bliss, after all, and wanted our privacy), so while we were getting that and of course having our daughter still staying with us, in turn we offered a means of rooming for Jacob. He was more than comfortable trying to figure out his own arrangements - he still didn't feel utterly and completely comfortable with the family as a whole, much less his own small pack that still consisted of Leah, Seth, Embry and Quil. Even more so if he and his pack were goin to be staying with us, he wasn't even entirely sure that was better to deal with newly wedded vampires. In his thoughts he had stated it would be "intruding on the vampire love fest" and he didn't want to hear any intimate noises that may go on between my wife and I. Still, we were trying to give them an option that didn't result in them sleeping outside (as much as Rosalie countered that that's where 'dogs' should be); the only last option that we could see fit to making it work would be to buying a small house for the pack that's close to our property, or even building a third small home for them to reside in while still being near us. It was a lot of planning and discussing that's still ongoing. And since the pack hadn't given their full thoughts on the matter, we were going with our first plan to have them move in with Bella and I.

Even if they decided they would want their own property not far from ours, at least we can get the furniture picked out first.

"Daddy, Jake, c'mon! You guys are so slow!' I glanced up to find Bella and Reneesme were already making their way to the clothing store that were heading to, the puppies long forgotten now. Jacob was still standing next to me after he chastised me on how I handled my brother, and when she called us, he smirked and jogged over to the ladies to catch up to them. I followed behind at a normal pace, taking a second to admire my wife's swaying hips and the fall and rise of her pert bottom.

Dude I know what you're doing back there. Could you hold off on it until Nessie and I separate from you two lovebirds? I snickered to myself when I heard Jacob's thoughts invade my mind. I glanced over at him to see him giving me the stink eye while he held onto Nessie's other free hand, mildly paying attention to her and whatever she may be saying to him.

I rolled my eyes at him but picked up my pace to where now I was on Bella's other side and I took her hand in mine. She turned her head to beam at him, her eyes alight even beneath the brown colored contacts that Alice gave her. Even though it has only been a few months and Bella's eyes were slowly moving away from the shocking newborn red, they weren't exactly a passable color arguably for her to feel comfortable to be out and about without something over them to hide their color. Alice tried reassuring her that no one would notice or care to look at her eyes (if anyone ever dared, they'd most likely be scared off by me is how Alice put it), but Bella was adamant in her thoughts. Even if she was uncomfortable wearing them, Bella wanted to have the brown colored contacts over her eyes to just ensure everything would be fine and no one would be freaked out by them.

"Jacob, you know where her section of clothing is yes?"

"Yes."

"And you know her size?"

"Yes, Bella, I do."

"If you need any help, Edward and-"

"Bells, we've been over this; you gave me this spiel like fives times ever since we came to the mall. Stop your worrying and let me handle Nessie's shopping while you and your pervert husband go wander off elsewhere." Jacob stopped her fretting, saying that offensive word about me to her as quietly as he could without Reneesme hearing it; she at least was minutely distracted by some small toy display that was in this story to even be fully listening. I scowled at him when he used it. I wasn't acting like a pervert - can't a married man look at his wife's assets? I can't help it that she's a temptress in disguise.

Bella looked at him, bemused by the word choice as well, but otherwise sighed.

"Meet us at the register whenever you two are done then. If you can't find us in an hour, just give me a call." she relented. Then after we both gave her kisses on her forehead, Reneesme skipped off with Jacob towards the children's section of the store, her bronze ringlets bouncing with each hop she took.

"So, pervert?" I groaned at her; that was the first thing she had to ask? I reached down and pinched her hip playfully while we began our stroll to the women's section. She giggled girlishly at me.

"Excuse me for wanting to ogle at my beautiful wife and her plump backside." I grumbled, but smirked to let her know I wasn't actually upset still with the offensive term. Bella again giggled, her pealing laughter causing my smirk to turn into a bright grin.

"You insatiable man."

"I'm insatiable? My wife is a temptress and loves to tease me mercilessly - I believe I'm not at fault here." I teased, pulling her even closer into my side. I looked down at her to see she was staring up at me through her fluttering lashes. I growled from deep within my chest, happy that there wasn't any shoppers near us or in this section.

"Tease."

"You know you love it." she murmured, laughing before she easily broke from my hold. I pouted at her while Bella looked over her shoulder coyly, winking at me. Then she strutted off towards the first section of clothing that was near us - underwear. She began to finger some pieces on the racks, admiring every detail that each piece had. Some were more scantily made than others.

"So which -"

"All of them." I muttered after I had caught up to her, staring at her seriously. Bella barked out a laugh, shaking her head at me.

"As I said - insatiable."

I quirked her favorite half grin at her; I heard, as it was very low and subtle, a small purr build up from within her chest. Oh that purr, and her looks, just did things to me. Perhaps we could find a secluded dressing room in this store and-

A shrill beeping caused my thoughts to cease at that moment. Of course... I groaned to myself, fishing around in my pockets for the cell phone. Bella looked over at me, questions apparent in her eyes while I accepted the expected phone call.

"Yes?"

"Don't even think about it Edward. Really, a dressing room? I get you two are newly weds and I'm happy for you two, really I'm over the moon. But seriously - you're not the one that had to see the poor teenaged girl walk in on you two and pass out at the sight." I cringed openly when I heard Alice's tone on the other end, sighing heavily at the vision she had described.

"Okay fine, I'll put it out of my head. Sorry but she doesn't make it exactly easy for me." I grumbled, noting how Bella briefly glared over at me, her lips twitching to a frown.

"Don't put the blame on Bella either mister; this is all you and your stupid male hormones taking over. Just hold off on it until we get back home please! I can't trust either of you two to be subtle about public quickies like that when your mind gets all wrapped up in Bella-mode. Also, tell Bella that if she's going to get some new underwear, she better go to a better store that cares about the quality. No sister of mine will be caught dead in any of that!" I snickered at the remarks she continued on with, seeing Bella huff and then turning, stalked away from the underwear and towards the dresses.

"She heard you, you know. I don't see a point in caring about the quality when everything she has on gets torn up regardless..."

"Ew, I didn't need to hear that from you." I laughed loudly at her saying that, and could hear Bella giggling between the racks of dresses. "Please, convince her. I know you like every single piece she puts on, and my purchases for her have not once failed her yet; humor me on this please." she continued and I rolled my eyes.

"Fine, Alice."

"Excellent. Toodles!" And with a click the phone call disconnected. I sighed heavily and pocketed my phone, striding over to my wife who was fingering some dresses of varying colors and designs.

"So... I take it you wanted us to have some fun in a dressing room but we were cock-blocked by our lovely sister?" Bella surmised once I was shadowing behind her, a smirk playing on her full lips. I snickered; she must've heard most of the conversation anyways.

"That about sums it up, yes."

"Figures. We can just have some fun later, sweetheart. For now, help me pick out some new spring dresses."

We shopped around for her for awhile, bouncing between racks of clothing; she picked out some new spring dresses for herself, ones that I could just imagine her in looking radiant as always. Then we had moved onto some t-shirts, blouses, shorts, pants and skirts. I carried it all for her, refusing to let her handle a single bag after we had paid for our stuff before we began to look for our daughter and her wolf companion.

"I'm more than capable of carrying some bags, Edward." Bella muttered at me as we were making our way over to the children's section of the store. She glared down at all of the bags that were being held in my hands with ease. I shrugged my shoulders at her in response; I know good and well that she is fully able to carry bags no matter the weight. But it's the gentleman in me that's not going to let my woman lift a finger if I can help it - else my mother will reach me from beyond the grave to tug on my ears and chastise me to no end.

We continued our way over to the children's section, and finally spotted Jacob's towering figure among the racks. I could tell he had a pile already going in his arms, a small mountain if you will. I smirked to myself before we began weaving through clothing to make it over to them.

"Oh hi mom." Reneesme spotted Bella first when we were near them. I glanced over at Jacob who shifted himself, trapezing the clothes carefully in his arms.

"You still shopping around, sweetie?" I heard Bella ask our daughter.

"I'm almost done I think, just looking for one more shirt to even things out." she replied, and then smiled up at me when she saw me hovering nearby still with all of Bella's bags.

"Mom you got a lot of clothes too!" Nessie had cheered at her mom; Alice was starting to slightly rub off on our little girl, and liked to slightly tease Bella about her lack of passion for fashion. So in Nessie's eyes as an upcoming apprentice to the pixie and her ways, this was a victory in their eyes that Bella was willingly updating her wardrobe. I could help but chuckle at this statement from her, while Bella childishly stuck out her tongue at Nessie.

"Like mother, like daughter." Jacob teased right back after seeing that.

We moved on to finding one more shirt for Nessie, which thankfully didn't take long, before we all got in line at the nearby cashier for this section of the store. I noticed at least two shoppers ahead of us, a mother with three children were in front of us. There were two five year olds - two rambunctious boys - that were playing a small game of tag around their mother. And in the arms of the mom was a young little baby girl, one whom was giggling loudly at her mom's raspberries that were being blown on her stomach. I glanced over and saw Bella looking at the scene with slightly dazed eyes, a small smile on her face. Minutely, I felt a tugging at my heart when I saw this. Now, don't get me wrong here; we loved our daughter with all our hearts and then some, possibly until the end of time. It's a miracle that I was even able to give her a child. When we had first begun dating and had time to talk things through when Bella became integrated in my life, she never really expressed any desires of wanting to be a mother. When she had found out that I was most likely unable to give her that, she accepted it and had told me that she viewed the tradeoff she was getting in return - an eternal life with me - was fair and reasonable in her eyes. She didn't look back. So when we had found out that she had gotten pregnant on our honeymoon, I was both inside and out - elated but terrified.

Of course after having our daughter and going through everything that we did to get where we're at now, it was worth it ten-fold. I now have my amazing wife at my side for forever, I have my beautiful daughter thanks to her.

But... there was still that sinking feeling, that gut wrenching reality, that sits in the back of my head, and deep within my heart. We are immortal, damned creatures who are unable to conceive children naturally. Bella was the exception, but after becoming a vampire I cannot give her anymore children unless it's through adoption. While there is nothing wrong with adoption, like Rosalie had put it at one point "It's just... different when you make a sweet, loving and living being with your beloved." That much, I could understand to a point. Bella will never admit it to me that she wants more kids; we are indeed perfectly content with Reneesme. But the few times we have gone out in public, and there are children much less babies present, there are times - much like this, in few and far between - where I will catch her just gazing at them with that same dazed look in her eyes. Her mind is still closed off to me, but what I wouldn't give to be able to freely hear her thoughts; I could only wish, hope, but fear, that she is thinking of day dream scenarios of having more children.

It's moments like these that I yearn deep down, a chance as if I had the capability, of being human. That, I wish I could go back in time and had met Bella back then as a human. We could've met, I could've swept her off of her feet and courted her, married her, made love to her as a human, and we would have a family - a dream so far off from the reality of the situation as is. I know she didn't regret her decision to become like me, and I don't regret changing her. We have our own family, we're at an arguably great moment of time for our lives. And we have many more to come that I am looking forward.

But that burning what if... It's always going to sit there heavy on your heart. If you two had met as humans, you could've had a happy human life with her... I thought to myself, letting our a little sigh.

"Something wrong?" I glanced down when she asked, noting that her contacts were starting to dissolve, her deep orange tinted eyes starting to peek through. She was looking up at me when she heard my sigh, having broken from her daydreaming after that. I pursed my lips but shook my head slightly, giving her a slight smile.

"Nothing darling."

"You were thinking about something. Tell me." she begged, jutting her full bottom lip. I nearly caved in and almost told her truthfully what I was thinking, but was cut off when the cashier had called for the next customer in line to move up.

"It's honestly nothing you'd need to worry about, love. Now come on, pay for Reneesme's things so we can head back home and have some of our own fun." I whispered to her in hushed, vampire speeds, flashing her favorite grin down at her. She was briefly stunned by it, like always as she had told me, but smirked at me and then turned back around. She, Reneesme and Jacob had walked forward then.

We paid for Nessie's new clothes, before we left the store and decided that we'd go and get some food at the food court. Jacob went about taking all of the clothes to the car for us while our little family went to get some food for him and Nessie. The rest of the afternoon had breezed by at that point, where we did run into some of our other family members on and off while we finished with our trips to other stores. By the time we had left the mall (Port Angeles mall specifically as much as Alice wanted us to go up more north towards Canada for more options than little Washington had to offer), the sun was just on the horizon getting ready to set. After the last few bags had been loaded up, we said our goodbyes to the others as they got into their cars before Bella, Nessie, Jacob and I got into my car and we left the parking lot. Nessie and Jacob busied themselves in the backseat with idle chatter while I held Bella's hand in one hand, the other easing the steering wheel as we coasted down the freeway. I gently massaged her wedding band and engagement ring with my fingers, and squeezed her hand from time to time.

"Mom what's for dinner for the pack and I?" Nessie had broke off from her conversation to start a new one with her mother. Bella turned herself slightly to look back at her and smiled.

"Well I can make you guys some chicken alfredo with garlic bread. Or how about some hamburgers and coleslaw?" Bella offered.

"I'm fine with the hamburgers!" Jacob immediately boomed, causing Bella and Nessie to laugh at his enthusiasm.

"Hamburgers it is then. Just be sure to inform the pack about it, Jake."

Suddenly, before Jacob could respond to Bella, we heard beeping going off from his pockets. Jacob dug around his pants and fished out his own cell phone, where he squinted his eyes at it. Then he signed and answered the phone with a, "What's up Leah?"

Bella and I listened in on the conversation; if I had blood still circulating through my veins, it would stop cold upon hearing Leah's slightly frantic but mostly annoyed tone.

"Look, I know you'd probably wanted us to chill out tonight, but Embry and Seth got word from Sam that there's been scents caught in the Forks and La Push territories. It's a vampire, or maybe more than one. It's fresh - no more than probably a few days old. And it's a constant scent meaning whoever it is, they're sticking around for some reason. We need to go out and search for them, do parameters. Scope and see if we can find out who the new leech is in town, and if they're friendly or not."

I looked over at Bella who held fear within her eyes. She was worried for Charlie and for Nessie - for our entire family; after we had just dealt with the Volturi not too long ago, we're now faced with yet another vampire being near our home?

Jacob was quiet for a moment, while Nessie looked between all three of us slightly confused. She didn't have super vampire hearing yet, so she had no clue what had been said to Jacob.

Then he spoke up, "Alright. We're on our way back now and should be back home in half an hour at most. If anything I can ask or see if having some of the other Cullens involved might help with finding a scent and tracking it while we look for it too. But I'll leave it up to them if they're up for it." Then after exchanging a few more words (some of it being Leah expressing her distaste at involving some of my family members to help with the search), they hung up and he gave Bella and I a grim look.

"I'll call the others and inform them what's going on." Bella murmured quietly, taking out her phone and dialing for Rosalie. I focused on the road in getting us back home as quickly as I could, listening slightly as Bella informed our family what was going on in hushed vampire speeds while Jacob explained to Nessie why he won't be joining her for dinner tonight.

With the speeds I was going on the road, we reached the Cullen mansion in no time. Jacob said his goodbyes very quickly before turning and dashing off into the woods. We briefly reconvened with the others, where Jasper, Emmett, Alice and even Rosalie agreed to go with Jacob's pack and help them look. We said our goodbyes to them as well before they dashed off. Esme and Carlisle had approached us and said that they'd go over to Charlies and watch over him for the night; this caused Bella to sigh visibly with relief and she embraced the two of them into a tight hug. Then, they too were off. Bella and I took some time securing the main house after we had deposited at least the others' newly acquired items within the foyer, and then with our own stuff in hand, Bella and I made a dash for our cottage; Bella had Reneesme on her back while I took care of all of their clothes.

We tried our best to remain at ease for the evening when we were at cottage. Bella made Reneesme her dinner, doing what she could to distract her with just random idle chatter or trying to involve her in the cooking process to teach her a new skill. I sat nearby, watching the two of them as they formed the hamburger patties and prepped the coleslaw in a big bowl. Bella was going to mainly work on our daughter's dinner, but would have set aside some food for the wolves whenever they would return from their scouting on the borders of each territory that was in danger for the evening. I tuned in and would jump into the conversation when needed like if Bella or Reneesme had included me in on it but mostly I was sitting there on high alert, keeping myself guarded and ready for anything or anyone that might try to endanger my beloved family before me. Bella would give me meaningful looks as well; she was keeping herself ready as well incase the worst is to happen.

After dinner, Bella and I had tucked Reneesme into her bed early since she was starting to drag herself on her feet around the house. No doubt the shopping trip we had today tuckered her mentally and physically. We gave her kisses on her forehead and whispered our love to her, before I quietly hummed the lullaby I had composed for her to try and ease her into sleep faster. It didn't take long thankfully when her breathing evened out and that hummingbird heartbeat of hers slowed down into a peaceful slumbering beat. Bella and I slipped out of her bedroom, where she leaned up and grazed my cheek with her soft lips.

"Edward, lets focus on us tonight. I know you're worried about what's going on right now, but I have faith in our family and the wolves that they'll be able to handle it without us." she began quietly, and I sighed heavily at this.

"I know love, I want to say the same that I have trust in them that they'll be fine and this will work out. But you can't blame a man for being worried about his wife and his daughter's safety - especially after all that we've been through a few months back." I murmured to her, wrapping my arms tightly around her small waist and bringing her closer into my chest. Bella reached up and placed her smooth hand against my cheek to try and offer some comfort.

"I'm worried too, and annoyed mind you." I cut her off with a small bark of laughter erupting from my chest. "Yes, I'm annoyed but seriously - we just got done proving ourselves to the Volturi. And now we have new vampires in our areas? It's like we just can't get a moment of peace truthfully without something new coming up and wanting to stir up problems." She grumbled to herself angrily, puffing out her cheeks in agitation.

I raised my hand to her face now, and grazed her cheeks with my fingertips, and she looked back up at me, her eyes alight from the sparks of fire that came from when I touched her just like she has done to my skin when she touches me.

"We're of the same mind then. I agree though, let's just have our moment of peace tonight. Just us. Besides, I recall that I was unceremoniously 'cock-blocked' by Alice earlier from your teasing in the store. I think you owe me some time for that, my vixen." I teased her, smirking and feeling the arousal deep within me begin to flare up immensely while I recalled what had happened earlier today. Bella's deep orange eyes darkened considerably in a split second then, and she released a deep purr then, smiling coyly up at me.

"Let me drop off Reneesme's clothes into her room and then I'll meet you in the bedroom right after." she promised, and then began to shove me to our bedroom.

"Bella, you're killing me here!" I hissed as she shoved me to the door, where I pouted at her childishly. I had hoped to get some kisses going, or other caresses in the hall but she was being icy cold and making it all that much harder to not go caveman on her and have my way with her.

She wagged her finger at me in mock disapproval, her grin now blinding. "Ah ah ah Mr. Cullen! You were going to be a naughty man with me in that store today - it's time you learned to behave and be patient for your wife tonight. So listen to what I tell you and go wait on bed!" she teased me and I growled at her.

"You minx."

"As I've said before - you love it. Now go mister. Longer we stand in the hallway, the longer it'll take for us to get started."

I grumbled about noting even though I let a smile come through to let her know I wasn't honestly upset. She was right, I did love it when she took the dominating role for our evenings. I hurried into our room then, slipping off my shoes and jacket. I then got our bed all ready for our fun, dimming the lights and then sitting on the edge of our bed. I heard her shifting around and taking her sweet merry time transferring our daughter's things to her room. Another growl escaped from me then; she was taking one bag at a time to her room, slowly on purpose, to further drag out my "punishment"

"Not fair, Bella!" I had groaned out loud and could hear her sweet laughter then.

"Patience my husband! Behave and your reward will be everything you could've asked for." she had teased again, and I groaned once more, shoving my fists into my eye sockets in pure sexual frustration. She was sure to get it later when it was my turn to take charge.

Just as I was sitting there waiting for her to finish taking the bags to Reneesme's room, suddenly I could feel myself become dizzy. Huh, okay... That's not normal. I remarked internally as soon as I could feel like my world was becoming more and more off kilter. The room felt like it was tilting even though I was sitting there steadily and upright for the most part. I actually blinked a few times, thrown through a loop as to why this was happening, but blinking did nothing to help with my orientation being so thrown off. I slowly stood from the bed and then felt like I was about to fall forward, almost colliding with our dresser. I had thrown my hands out to stop that from happening and tried using the dresser to ground myself and shake some of the dizziness off. But that wasn't working either.

My hands slamming into the dresser had rustled the knick knacks that sat on top, which clanged into each other audibly.

"Edward?!" Bella's panicked voice reached my ears but just barely. A ringing noise was starting to come through and it was piercing my eardrums. The tone her voice held, caused a vice like grip of dread to enclose around my dead heart. She was scared.

"Bella...!" I ground out in a strangled voice. Turning, I stumbled drunkenly to our bedroom door and then did what I could to support myself against the beam of the door. I lifted my heavy head up; now my eyesight was starting to become blurry and struggling to focus on thing clearly. What the hell is going on? My eyesight is more than perfect and yet now, it's like I need glasses to see remotely anything... This isn't normal. Something is severely wrong. I thought to myself, just as I saw Bella stumble clumsily out from Reneesme's bedroom, heavily grasping onto the doorframe and standing there shaking.

She lifted her head to look for me. She was being effected too by whatever had gripped me first. I heaved myself off of the beam, and did my best to carefully walk into the hallway and make my way to her. She followed my example but didn't get far before she stumbled and fell to the floor. No, no, no! I thought, petrified when I saw her fall. I slipped to the floor and weakly grabbed her. Bella was groaning low, holding her head and her face scrunched in pain. The ringing in my ears was increasing in volume, my sight was starting to gain black patches here and there and I could feel myself growing weaker and weaker by the second.

I tugged my wife into my arms, feeling just the smallest bit of relief that whatever was going on, I had her in my arms now. I felt like she was my rock as I could almost feel myself start to slip into a cold, gripping darkness. She grasped my shirt into fists with what little strength she had left, and she let out a whimper.

"I've got you love. I'm here... I'm not letting you go." I weakly murmured to her, feeling like I was barely hanging on now. It was only a matter of time now before I slipped and fell.

Bella's own weak nod against my chest, gave me a sliver of reassurance that she was going to be here with me as we laid on the floor in the hallway of our cottage, a broken heap that tightly held onto one another. I could only hope that my family would find us soon - that Alice would have a vision of whatever was going on with us, and would be leaving to come rescue us. Or worse, if we were suddenly dying, that she could at least come and save our daughter from seeing us like this. No child should ever see her parents dead or dying...

"I'm not letting go..." was the last thing I could let out, before the darkness was too much for me to try and fight anymore. So I stopped, and I gave into it, slipping into the unknown.


A/N: And there's the starting chapter to this potentially new story.

Again it's something I've been toying around with in my head for awhile now. I had to get it down else I'd forget about it entirely or never gain the motivation to try it out.

I'm still trying to work on HSNE AR's next upcoming chapter, and I'll try my best to work on updating some other stories that have sat on the table to slowly rot and die out. These bouts of motivation come and go, so I'm going to try and milk this current one as much as I can until it escapes me.

Any feedback is greatly appreciated! Until next time,

~Lady Eleanora~