Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight or its characters

Bella

My neck had never felt so sore, yet this was the most peaceful sleep I had in a while. I woke up to the sound of the morning waves, feeling the warm rays of the sun against my skin and sand scratching my feet. I peered my eyes open. My hand was still clutched to Edward's. It seemed like we never let go, not even in our sleep. My head was resting on his arm and I could feel his warm breathing against my neck while his other arm wrapped around my waist protectively, his chest pressed against my back.

Had we really fallen asleep at the beach?

I couldn't believe I actually spent the night away from home… but yet again, I was now engaged and my drowsy mind couldn't decide which was more unbelievable.

I wasn't expecting Edward to propose, not after everything that happened between us and with things so up in the air between us. But he did and as shocked as I was at his sudden proposal, I was more shocked at the fact that I wanted it as well. As scared as I was to fully give him my heart, whether it was out of my fear of the very possibility of losing him so soon or the fact that he could wake up one morning and regret his choice to marry me, I wanted him.

You are everything, he'd told me.

I pressed my face against his arm, my lips gracing his skin softly as I closed my eyes and clutched his hand tighter.

His hand tightened around mine, as did his arm around my waist. I felt him inhale deeply, drawing me closer to him as he exhaled against my neck, followed by a groan. I looked at him over my shoulder as he took in our position and our surroundings, that look of sleepy confusion being replaced with clarity. And for a brief second, I began to fear he had changed his mind. But when he looked at me, his emerald eyes lighter under the sunlight and he gave me a sleepy smile, that fear was washed away with the waves.

"Morning," he said, his voice hoarse with sleep.

"Good morning. How's your neck?"

Edward groaned, taking his hand away from my waist to rub at his neck. "It's seen better days. Yours?"

"It definitely has seen better days."

Edward sat up, pulling his arm carefully from under my head and motioned me to sit up. I did, my bones cracking in protest and I groaned, trying to stretch away the ache. Edward then grabbed me by the shoulders and began to softly massage my neck. I groaned again this time, letting my head fall back as he worked the tension out of my sore muscles.

The act itself tugged at my heart. I couldn't stop looking at him when he pulled away, trying to decipher him. Trying to prove to myself that last night wasn't a dream.

"What?" He asked when he noticed me staring, his hand now rubbing at his own neck.

"Any second thoughts yet?"

Edward scoffed and shook his head. "Bella, only a fool would have second thoughts about marrying you. I'm in this. Are you?"

"I am." I paused, looking at the sunrise. "How is it going to work? I mean, when will we get married? Where?"

Edward moved them, leaning back on his hands.

"Well, I'd like to get married as soon as possible. I'd marry you today if I had any say in it."

"You don't?"

"You do. It's up to you, Bella, whatever makes you happy. We could ask my aunt and my sister to plan us a small reception, or we can have a bigger one if you could like, invite more people-"

"They can do that in such short notice?"

"You'd be surprised at what they can pull off."

"Well, I don't want anything big. Something small, intimate. Frankly, if it's just the two of us, I'll be happy with that."

"Just you and me? You don't want your sister there, your friends?"

I shrugged. "They're all busy with their own wedding planning, so it's nothing that special for them. For me, however…"

Edward smiled and reached over, tucking my hair behind my ear.

"Just us it is. We also have to talk about the housing situation, are you finally going to tell Alice about it?"

"Well, yes. Now that I won't be out in the streets."

"What would you do if I hadn't proposed?"

"I was going to figure it out," I said, defensively. Edward gave me a look. "At least now I don't have to worry about that. Which brings me to my next question, do you want me to move to Chicago after you're deployed?

"I want you to do whatever you are comfortable with," he said. "But I would much prefer if we held off going to Chicago until after I'm back from the war."

"Why is that?" I asked, confused. "Do you not want me there?"

"No, no." He sat up. "It's not that I don't want you there. I want you there. It's where our home will be. But I'm worried. My mother will be there, always. And as much as I trust my sister, my aunt and my uncle to be there for you, I do not want to subject you to that. Especially after we marry, I'm pretty sure tensions will be high over there once word gets out. I don't feel comfortable throwing you at the wolves while I'm overseas and frankly the little time we do have together will not be enough to prepare you for all that. I would rather we face that together."

Okay. Well, that made sense.

"So… Do you want me to stay in Pearl Harbor?"

Edward cocked his head to the side. "Do you want to stay in Pearl Harbor?"

"Yes."

"Okay. Then you'll stay here in my home. Well, our home."

"You have a home here?" I asked, perplexed.

Edward chuckled. "Yes, where do you think my aunt and uncle have been staying?"

"Oh." I hadn't thought about it. "I thought that was their home."

"No, it's mine. They're just borrowing it, but now you'll be the lady of the house, so if you don't feel comfortable with them there-"

"Oh, no no. I wouldn't want them to leave, not unless they want to."

"Well, until they decide whether or not they want to go back to Chicago, they'll be there." Edward tucked the other side of my hair behind my ear. "As long as you want them there."

I gave him a look. "Edward, I won't kick out your family. Even your mother, as terrible and rude as she was."

"That's what I love about you." He pressed a kiss on my cheek and I blushed, letting my hair fall back on my face. "Let me get you back to your sister. I'm surprised half the army isn't out here looking for us by now."

I gasped, remembering my sister. Oh, Alice is most likely losing her mind right now. I've never spent the night out! I quickly scrambled to my feet, wiping away at the sand from my dress, feet and hair. Edward did the same, with less urgency and chuckling to himself. After we got our shoes, he took my hand in his and guided me out of the beach.

My sister saw us walking back through the living room window and quickly ran out of the house, still in her sleeping gown and robe. Rosalie and Jessica ran out after her.

"Where the hell have you two been?" She yelled, running down the porch steps. "Do you have any idea how worried I've been? I was about to call the police!"

"I'm sorry for keeping Bella out late," Edward said, apologetically. "I found her at the beach like you told me and we got to talking… and well, we fell asleep."

"It was an accident, Alice. I didn't mean to stay out all night."

My sister scoffed. "Accident, right. You go out at night all by yourself, that's not an accident. And I hope you've enjoyed your late night walks because once we get to Texas, there will be no more of that. I cannot trust to leave you here alone with those habits of yours."

"Well, I won't be going to Texas with you, sister."

"Oh, yes you are, you need someone to look after you-"

"I wholeheartedly agree with Alice," Edward said. "Your days of walking alone at night are over."

"Thank you!"

"But I like my late night walks!"

"Then take Carlisle with you, please. I do not want you out on your own so late, it's not safe, Bella."

"Why should she take your uncle? And in what world would he even be available for such a request?" Alice asked.

Edward gave me a look, indicating he was giving me the choice of telling my sister of our engagement right now or not. I looked over at the porch, where Rosalie and Jessica were watching our little interaction. To hell with it, I had nothing to hide.

"When I move into the home, that's when."

"Why would you move into their home?"

"Because Edward and I are engaged."

There was a collective gasp from all three of them. Jessica rushed to the porch railing, nearly tipping over it as she shouted, "You're engaged?"

Alice covered her mouth with her hand, her eyes wide. "You are?"

I nodded with a smile. "We are, Alice. So I won't be going to Texas with you. I'll be here, waiting for my husband."

"But you don't like him!" Jessica continued. She turned around to look at Rosalie, who tried to hide her grin behind her hand. "I thought she didn't like him!"

I rolled my eyes, thankful her back was turned to me.

Rosalie shrugged but she couldn't hide her amusement. "So did I, so did we all. We must've been wrong."

Alice then squealed, clapping her hands together before throwing herself at me and Edward, pulling us into a hug.

"Oh my god! Oh my god! That's such good news!" She pulled away, cupping my face between her hands. "I was getting so worried, sister. I didn't want you to be alone, but now you aren't, and you're getting married! How did this happen? When? Tell me everything!"

"All in due time, Alice!" I laughed. "Right now, I have to get inside and take a shower to get ready, and Edward has to go home and get ready himself."

"Wait, ready for what?" Alice asked.

"Our wedding. We decided while we were on our way here," Edward said, giving my hand a gentle squeeze.

"We're getting married today," I said.

"Ouch, Alice!"

"Hold still!"

"I can't when you're stabbing my head with little pins!"

"They're to hold your flowers still! I didn't have much time to come up with a less painful solution, given you told me you were getting married two hours ago!" My sister waved her hands in the air and shook her head. "Now hold still, I'm almost done pinning your crown."

"And stop rolling your eyes while I'm doing your makeup," Rosalie said, pulling out her lipstick from her purse. "I'm almost done. What time did Carlisle say he would come by and pick us up?"

"We got half an hour, so we have to hurry up!" Alice said.

"Pucker up."

I did as Rosalie told me and she began applying lipstick.

"You will be the death of our father," Alice said as she slid the final pin in my hair. "He will have a heart attack when he hears you married Edward Cullen."

"I'm more worried about Edward coming home from the war than what my father might think about my choice of husband."

"We already know what he thinks and none of that matters," Rosalie said. "You will be a married woman and you should focus on the little time you have left with Edward. That's all that matters. You and Edward."

I agreed with Rosalie. I wanted to focus on Edward, which was why when he jokingly said we should get married today as we walked back to the house, I said yes. Because I wanted to marry him and I didn't care about a big extravagant wedding or anything, I just wanted him.

Alice gave Rosalie a look and Rosalie nodded, giving me a kiss on the forehead before walking out of the room. Alice sat in front of me and took my hands in hers.

"I'm so happy for you, sister. Edward is a wonderful man and I know he will come back home, and the two of you will have a wonderful life together."

I swallowed back the knot that formed in my throat. "Thank you, Alice. Thank you for being here for me."

As much as I didn't want to admit it, it hurt that it was my wedding day and my parents would not be here to witness it. It hurt that my father would not be walking me down the aisle like I dreamed about it since I was a little girl. It hurt that it had to be like this.

"Do you have any idea of how lucky we are?" Alice said, bringing me out of my train of thought. "How lucky we are to have found the love of our lives so quickly after coming to Pearl Harbor? Some people spend their entire lives looking for that one person and we found ours without even looking for them."

"At least you knew right away," I said. "It took me a long time before I figured it out."

"None of that, Izzy. He's yours now and you will be his, and like Rosalie said, that is all that matters." Alice kissed me on the forehead and pulled away. "And you look beautiful. Edward will not know what hit him when he looks at you."

Alice stood, bringing me with her as she guided us to the full length mirror. My white lace dress that Rosalie let me borrow reached my knees with long sleeves and a wide neckline that exposed my collarbones. My hair was down in waves with a flower crown pinned to it. I swallowed back the knot of emotion that formed in my throat. Alice hugged me from behind, pressing her chin against my shoulder.

"You are the most beautiful bride I've ever seen."

"That will be until your wedding day," I said.

Alice laughed. "Well, of course! There's no debating that!" She kissed the side of my head. "I'm so proud of you."

"Izzy! Alice! Let's go, Carlisle just arrived!" Rosalie shouted from downstairs.

My heart skipped a beat and I looked at my sister, wide eyed and flushed.

I was getting married.

Alice pulled away, taking my hand. "Are you ready?"

"Y-yes." I gripped her hand tightly. "Don't let me fall down, Alice."

"Never."

Author's Note:

I hear wedding bells!

Also if you guys have a chance and want to read a light hearted, fluffy fic and also love the show Friends, then go check out my new story "The Little Unexpected Things"!

Chapter Nineteen Preview -

"Think about, Charlie. With Isabella married to Cullen, then all hope is not lost. Perhaps this marriage is the opportunity we never expected. This is exactly how we ruin the Cullen's for good."