"Isabella Marie Swan, will you marry me?"
***
I stared at Edward, and I knew that if I were still human, my eyes would be filling with tears. Edward's golden eyes bore into mine, searching for my answer before I said it. Perhaps he was wondering if I'd show him, by snapping off my shield, but believe me when I say I was far too preoccupied to focus on freeing my mind from its enclosure.
Edward stayed in exactly the same position as the seconds ticked by, and I saw him grow more nervous as I stood stock-still, trying to comprehend the fact that Edward Cullen, beautiful, smart, perfect, wanted to marry me, Bella Swan, boring, average-looking, mediocre.
"Yes," I whispered, "Yes a hundred times over."
At my words, Edward's tensed face relaxed and his lips turned up into my favourite, crooked smile. He slipped the ring onto my finger and stood up, kissing my hand once, then wrapping his arms around me and kissing me gently, sealing the promise that comes with an engagement. As he pulled away, we kept our arms wound loosely around each other.
"I love you Edward," I said.
"As I love you Bella, always," he replied, kissing my lips once. We smiled at each other, savouring that short little piece of perfection in our forever. Suddenly, our moment was interrupted by a groan of protest from Edward.
"What's wrong?" I asked, running my fingertips down his cheek.
"Alice."
I let out a similar groan to Edward's, and together, we ran back through the forest. We reached the front door quickly, and Edward opened it, motioning for me to go in first. As soon as I'd stepped over the threshold, I was attacked by a blur of white and black, otherwise know as Alice the pixie.
"Oh my God!" she squealed, "I can't believe it!"
"Calm down Alice," Jasper said, pulling Jasper away gently.
"Don't use that on me," she snapped. Jasper laughed, and I spotted the rest of the Cullen family standing in the shadows of the house, smiling at the scene. Esme was the first to hug Edward and myself, closely followed by Carlisle. Emmett man-hugged Edward, and spun me round, making me dizzy. Rosalie looked a little nervous as she moved to embrace me, clearly remembering all the times she'd been horrible. I threw her a smile, and she returned it, looking perfectly gorgeous as she hugged me gently. She hardly acknowledged Edward, instead moved backwards to Emmett and turned her gaze to her nails.
"Congratulations," Esme said, smiling widely.
"Bella! You have to let me plan your wedding!" Alice said.
"Reign it in a little Alice," Carlisle warned.
Alice pouted at him, and looked at me expectantly. I looked to Edward for help. I didn't really want Alice's 'perfect' wedding, because it would be far from it, but I didn't want to hurt her feelings, which I undoubtedly would if I refused her offer. Esme was watching us worriedly, and Alice was begging me with her best puppy eyes.
"I think your idea and Bella's idea of perfect is a little different Alice," Esme said. I shot her a thankful look and she smiled at me. Edward wrapped his arms around my waist and tucked my head under his chin, kissing my hair.
"Please Bella?" she begged me.
"I'm hardly going to do it myself am I? But I want final say," I said, smiling when her face lit up like a kid on Christmas morning when they first saw the massive boxes under the tree. Alice squealed again and snatched me from Edward's arms into another hug. Edward pulled me away from the over-excited pixie, holding me to him protectively.
"Thank you so much! I'll make your wedding perfect!" she gushed, before describing a large, fancy wedding and talking about inviting people I'd never even met. I looked up at Edward, who had a grimace on his God-like face. He glanced down at me, and his expression softened. I snapped off my shield, showing him my thoughts on what Alice was talking about.
"No Alice," Edward said firmly.
"What?"
"No. That's not what we want," he said.
"But it'll be perfect!" she whined, "It'd be the best wedding ever! Please Bella?"
"No Alice!" Edward roared, his voice truly terrifying. I had honestly never heard Edward that commanding and furious. Well, I'd heard him angrier, but not at his family. It was usually reserved for Jacob. Not that I could blame him for that, of course. And I was ever so thankful that he was saving me from the wedding that sounded awful.
"Fine," she snapped, "Don't let me plan a wedding you'll love."
We'd clearly hurt her feelings, but Edward wasn't falling for it.
"Good. We want the wedding we would love, not the wedding you would love," Edward said. Alice glared at him, then stormed off upstairs. Jasper shot us an apologetic smile, then ran up after her. Edward sighed, resting his chin on the top of my head. I turned round in his arms so that I was facing him, and nestled my nose into his neck. He let out a long sigh and pulled me against him, hard. If I were human, he'd have broken a few bones as he pulled me towards him.
"How's Katrina's mother doing?" I asked Carlisle, my voice muffled slightly as I spoke into Edward's shirt. Emmett burst out laughing, and I shot him a glare.
"She's in Forks hospital now. She'll be fine, thanks to you," Carlisle replied.
"I'm proud of you Bella," Esme said, her voice gentle. I was reminded suddenly, and rather painfully of Renee. I bit my lip, trying to push away the thoughts of my long-dead, scatter-brained mother, but somehow I couldn't quite manage it. My mind was filled with cloudy images of her smiling, laughing, of her voice.
For the first time in over a two hundred years, images from James' attack on me in the ballet studio filled my mind. My body tensed as I remembered the pain, and the terror. I remembered him videoing me, and trying to get Edward to hunt him down so he could kill him. I remembered all the screams that came from me that night as the venom coursed through my veins...
And then I remembered how amazing it was to hear Edward's voice. How it felt when his hand brushed mine, how I relaxed slightly when he reassured me, telling me it'd be ok. Then how relieving it was when he saved my life, sucking the venom from my system, causing himself great discomfort.
I remembered waking up in the hospital, seeing my mother, and Edward pretending to be asleep. I remembered the conversation we'd had about me leaving him, and going back to Phoenix with my mother, and my immediate reaction to his suggest. Then his words of comfort, telling me he wasn't going anywhere.
But he had. After that summer, my perfect summer, full of days on end with Edward, he'd gone. Disappeared. He left for seemingly forever, and I'd turned into a monster.
Edward's voice snapped me back to the present, pulling me away from the painful reminiscing.
"Bella?" he asked again, stroking my hair tenderly. I looked up, and relaxed instantly upon meeting his gaze. Edward did that. Just by being in the same room, he calmed me, unless he was agitated himself. It was like our emotions were connected.
"Mm?"
"What's going on in that mind of yours?" he asked, smiling as his hand continued its rhythmic stroking of my hair.
"You don't want to know," I said. It was a lie, he did want to know, but it would only upset him, and he had no need to know.
"You're so stubborn," he said.
"And you love me for it," I joked.
"That I do," he replied, nuzzling my neck with his nose, sending sparks through my body.
As Edward kissed down my neck gently, my thoughts were far from my time as a human, or our argument with Alice. I was far too preoccupied with the person making my legs feel like jelly and turning my insides to mush. My fiancé.
That word was going to take some getting used to.
***
Katrina Halewood stood in the parking lot, staring at her phone as she leant against her car. She had dark bags under her eyes that stood out against her pale skin, and her hair was untamed and thrown into a messy ponytail rather than her perfectly neat plait. You could see that she'd been crying over the weekend, as her eyes were still bloodshot. Her bag was slung over her shoulder, but she had neglected to zip it up.
Pecking Edward on the lips, I said goodbye to the other Cullens and left the car to see her. She'd been there for me while I was going through that crap with Jessica and Edward, so I would be there for her while her mother was in hospital.
"Katrina?"
She looked up from her phone and let out a little cry when she saw me. She threw her arms around my neck and sobbed into my shoulder. I held my breath, just as a safety precaution, and patted her back gently. I said nothing, but let her cry, as Edward used to do while I was human. After a minute or two, she pulled away.
"I'm sorry. It's been hard. And thank you so much, if you hadn't found her..." she trailed off, and internally, I swore. Carlisle had never told me the cover story he was using, so I had no idea that he'd told the police I'd found her. Thanks for telling me, I thought sarcastically.
"It's ok Katrina. Carlisle says she'll get better," I said, giving her a sympathetic smile.
"I hope so," she replied.
"Come on," I said, motioning for her to follow me as the bell rang, signalling the start of school. Edward, Alice and Jasper were waiting for me by the lockers, and I snapped my shield off, telling Edward I'd meet him in class. Katrina and I made small talk as we grabbed our stuff, and I was surprised how easy it was to be around humans, without wanting to devour them.
"What d'you have now?" she asked, seeming much more like her old self.
"English."
"I have trig. See you!" she called as she headed to her first class. I waved to her and headed to English. I sat down in my space next to Edward and squeezed his hand, needing to have some kind of contact with him. We smiled, lost in each other's eyes for a moment, before the teacher walked in, breaking one of our many near-perfect moments.
***
"Not again," Rosalie groaned quietly at lunch. I looked up to where she was looking, a glare plastered on her beautiful face, and let out a low growl. Alice had her lips pursed, and Jasper was watching us all anxiously. Emmett cracked his knuckles against the table, and Edward laid a gentle hand on my arm, soothing me with a single touch.
"Hi Edward!" Jessica said brightly, shooting me a smug look as she sat down next to him. I refrained from knocking her head off her shoulders while she shunted up, closing the distance between herself and Edward. Edward clenched his fingers around my hand and I rubbed circles onto the back of his hand, trying to calm both of us at the same time, and it worked a little.
Jessica grinned at Edward, flicking her hair over her shoulder. She sat so that her leg was touching his, and I smirked, seeing an opportunity to embarrass her in front of her crush.
"Scoot up Emmett! Jessica's having to press right up against Edward!" I called, shooting her a smug grin. Emmett obliged and we all moved up along the bench surrounding the table. A minute or two later, Jessica moved up again, this time placing her hand on Edward's knee. I swore under my breath and I felt Edward sooth me this time. He moved closer to me and wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling me against him. Jessica glared at us and huffed, before standing up and flouncing off. We all sniggered at her expense and Emmett cracked several jokes that would have made Edward blush twelve shades of scarlet if he could.
"Shut up," he muttered. My smile dropped from my face and I took his hands in mine. Edward refused to look at me.
"Hey. I'm sorry Edward," I said. Edward removed one of his hands from my grasp and caressed my cheek, his eyes snapping to mine.
"I know, but you don't need to be," he murmured, his voice too quiet for anybody but me to hear, human or vampire.
"Seriously guys!" Emmett whined, "Enough of the icky wicky."
I said nothing, not moving my eyes from Edward's face as I threw my pen at him. It hit him in the eye, and I suppressed a smirk. Edward chuckled and kissed the top of my head.
Hey! What's life without drama?