AN: This is it. Thank you for reading. Huge thanks to IsabelGrace, Sscana, ColourmeCullen, and FanpireMama for their help pre-reading and beta-ing. Be sure to check out my other stories.

Epi- Don't Stop Believing…

Five years later…. 2011

Lauren POV

He was going to propose. I just knew it. Jeff had brought me to New York City for our anniversary – well the anniversary of when we got back together. We had already gone ring shopping, and he knew what I wanted. It seems like we've been together forever. Heck, we even finish one another's sentences.

Besides, it's New York City - can we say shopping, restaurants, and clubs before we had left Seattle, I really had wanted to know the good places to go. No tourist traps for me. I had been trying to get back in contact with Bella Swan, or Cullen I guess it is now since she lives there. At least that is what her dad has told his deputy, whose mother is friends with Jessica's mom and her mom told my mom and my mom told me…

Supposedly, Bella got offered this amazing opportunity to study abroad for her freshman year or something like that., which is strange because most people I knew who studied abroad went their junior year. Anyways, she went to like Austria or Australia or something like that for a year. Then she was supposed to come back to the US in the summer, but then Edward Cullen whisked her off on this world wind tour of Europe. Supposedly, he proposed and then his family flew her parents and stuff to Alaska so they could get married on a Glacier in Alaska at dusk. Who gets married that young? Anyways, apparently now she's finishing up school at NYU. At least that's what I heard. Supposedly, she's totally gorgeous and really blossomed during her travels or something like that.

Anyways, the bitch never replied to my emails when she went abroad and we just lost touch. She wasn't even on Facebook; even my Nanna is on Facebook, although she plays that stupid farm game and her status updates are totally annoying. I figured I would try once more, since I would be right there and maybe we could meet up for coffee or something. I wasn't expecting her to respond, but she did.

She said she had class all day but could meet me in the early evening. It would work out well, because Jeff wanted to put in some time at the New York Office. He works for one of those big companies with offices in every city. He's working his way up the corporate ladder. Not that I'm not. I got a job as a PR assistant at major software company, which is great because the dorky guys who do the programming are always too shy to talk to me.

So I had some time to kill to walk around, but instead of seeing the sights, I went shopping, of course. Besides, Bloomingdales is a landmark. Three pairs of Ugg boots later, because a girl can always wear her Uggs, it was time to meet up with Bella. Okay, despite the whole "grid system" I couldn't find my way around the city. I kept having to sing, "the Bronx is up and the Battery's down." So, instead of getting hopelessly lost in Greenwich Village, which actually has named streets, I took a cab.

I checked my phone, to make sure I had the right address. It was a cute little coffee shop with dim lighting. I looked around and saw a bunch of hipsters sitting at various tables engrossed in their laptops, but no Bella. I took a seat toward the back so that I could people watch all of these skinny-jean wearing, dark glasses, emo-freaks.

I sat there nursing a latte, when Bella walked in. She looked fairly similar to the way she had looked in high school. Her hair was still long and she was dressed casually – jeans, button down shirt, tucked out and boots over her jeans. Well, the boots were definitely stylish. There was something different about her though. She was paler than she had been, if that was at all possible. She was like Cullen pale. Did they have a contagious disease or something?

"Bella! Over here," I called out, waving my arm in the air. Bella smiled in return and walked my way.

"Lauren, it's great to see you. It's been forever."

Her voice was different than I remembered. It just sounded much more melodic to my ears, but I was a little off from the time change.

Bella sat down at the table. "Do you want anything? I can flag down our waitress?" I asked.

"Oh, no, I'm fine, really. So, what brings you to New York?"

"Jeff, yes we're still together, had business and I think he's going to propose, tonight!"

"Lauren, that's great! I owe you an apology. I sort of got caught up in college and traveling and never returned your emails. It's strange but you blink your eyes and boom – five years just fly by. How are you? What's Jessica up to? Do you still keep in touch with her? What about everyone else?"

"Angela and Ben are still together and going strong. They are engaged but they are both going to law school. Angela refuses to even think about an actual wedding until after they both take the bar exam in a few years. Jessica is great. She's a kindergarten teacher outside of Seattle. She's not dating anyone at the moment, well not any one guy… she tends to date around, a lot. We're not as close as we were, but we still get together every once in a while. Oh, did you hear about Mike Newton?"

She shook her head. This was priceless.

"He came out of the closet after his first semester of school. Which is great, but he's actually in New York. He works at some place called Lucky… something or another. He goes by the name Alicia Doubledees." I paused and waited for Bella's reaction. I mean, how could you not react to Mike Newtown, out and proud, drag queen? Actually, I was supposed to meet up with him tomorrow for lunch and shopping.

"Wow. I definitely didn't expect that," Bella said, her jaw dropping and her head shaking in disbelief.

"I know. It's good though, now that he isn't suppressing who he really is, he's totally tolerable and that's coming from me."

"That's great, Lauren, and you work in public relations now?"

How come Bella was completely avoiding talking about herself? This was kind of strange, not that I didn't mind talking about myself.

"Yup, I do promotions for this big software company. It's not glamorous, but it's a job. What are you studying now? Where did you go? I've heard all of these stories from Jessica, via her mom…through the whole Forks grapevine."

"Umm… well, I went off to Australia for a year and then I sort of got the travel bug and went around Europe. Edward and I just felt unsettled and wanted to see the world. Institutes of higher learning have been around for centuries, they aren't going anywhere, so we saw no reason to just go."

"And you got married?"

"Yup. We had a small ceremony with just our families. It wasn't really elaborate, but it worked for us. Edward and I are so happy together."

I thought back to how Bella had looked that first day back at school. That was the day I had decided to bury the hatchet and befriend her. As I sat there lost in my thoughts, Bella didn't attempt to make small talk; she just sat there, looking around the room, the floor, anything but me. The silence was uncomfortable.

"What are you studying?" I asked again. She hadn't answered me and I was desperate to fill in the silence.

"Oh, English literature. Focusing on the Brontes and Jane Austin." I had read that one book where it was Jane Austin's characters but they were zombies. It was funny, but still pretty boring.

"Wow! I remember you liked to read. So, what's good here in New York City? Do you have any recommendations for restaurants?"

Bella thought for a few moments. "Umm… Le Circque. The 21 Club are both classics. David Bourke Townhouse… I don't know. My parents liked Becco. So, tell me about you and Jeff. College? Catch me up on you."

I hadn't caught her up on all things Lauren, but I would give her the shortened version. "Well, Jeff and I were together through college. Oh, we did break up for like a day, but we got back together. Umm… what else can I say? We live together in a condo since I graduated last year and we are both working hard, saving to buy a house. It's like I always knew he was the one."

Bella nodded her head. We had always connected, because we had both found our soul mates so young and our stories were so similar.

"Lauren, isn't it amazing how we both ended up with the men who had been the cause of such teenage heartache? I think back to that time and well, I owe you a huge world of thanks." Bella said quietly. I tilted my head in confusion as she continued. "If I hadn't witnessed you and Jeff getting back together, I never would have opened my heart or my mind to the possibility of letting Edward back into my life. For that, I will always be internally grateful to you."

"Oh, Bella, that is so sweet." I reached my hand out to touch her arm across the table, but she flinched and pulled it back.

"Look at the time! I have to run to a study session," she cried, jumping up from the table. Was she even wearing a watch?

"It was great seeing you, Bella. Hopefully we can stay in better touch," I said, getting up to give her a hug.

She gave me a man hug, which was more like a pat on the back, but damn when I touched her she was like hard as a rock. Edward must have her in personal training or something like that.

I got the feeling as she walked away and looked back, that I probably would never see her again. She seemed to be in her own world. Happy, but just on a completely different plane than everyone else I knew from Forks. Maybe she'd come to a reunion. I finished my latte, and paid the bill. I couldn't get used to the prices here - $12 for a latte? Insane!

The funny thing about seeing Bella was that I lied and really painted my life as perfect. It was far from perfect. Well, Angela and Ben seemed to have an ideal life. Jeff and I were great now, but we had broken up for a semester when I went abroad. I came home to him dating someone else. It broke my heart. Not that his relationship with that other girl lasted long, especially once I made a point of dating other guys in front of him, but it was a dark time in our relationship, a dark time that I didn't talk openly about with anyone. Jessica Stanley was a slut. She's my friend and all, but once Mike Newton came out, she started over-compensating because she thought she had made him gay. I know Jessica was never the sharpest crayon in the box, but really?

Mike Newton? Sure he's out and proud now, but his dad won't even acknowledge him. He refused to pay for Mike's education, because according to him, his son was dead. Who does that? Small town Forks people do. At least Mike's mom makes an effort and flies to New York at least once a year to see him. Mike is really strong and I admire him a lot.

Bella and Edward seemed to have it so easy, but one thing I had learned is that appearances are just that – appearances. All the superficial things I had thought had meant so much, I was slowly learning that they didn't mean bubcus.

I walked along until I could find a cab and headed back to the hotel. I had to get ready, tonight everything would change and I'd be one step closer to becoming Mrs. Fishbourne, like I always wanted to be. I knew the road ahead wouldn't be perfect, but whatever challenges I would face, I wouldn't be facing them alone.

Bella POV

Thankfully, Alice had prepared me for my coffee date with Lauren. She was just a blur in my memory of human life, and part of me wanted to ignore her request to meet up, but Alice had encouraged me to accept and then had pulled out photo albums to jog my memory. It had become fairly routine that I get a crash course in my human life before I interacted with anyone from my old life, even my parents. Study old photos, put on contacts, and try to sound less melodic. I never was any good at acting.

When I first awoke from being changed, I was confused and sad. I had to come to terms with veering from the plans we had made. I had wanted to spend at least one semester of college as human. I could comprehend that being a vampire was a better alternative to being dead, but it took me several weeks to mourn my human life and even longer to figure out how to integrate my human existence with my new one. I could now understand how Edward wouldn't want this life for me, but I will never fathom how he could think we could both be in a world and not be together.

The Cullens were there every step of the way, especially Edward. From the moment I woke Edward was by my side, helping me and walking me through my new eternal life. He took me for my first hunt, and watched proudly as I pounced on a deer. Of course, I was messy, but since then I have become much neater in my hunting prowess. Even in vampire form, he still couldn't hear my thoughts, which was a relief, because I was a wide gamut of emotions – extremely sad one moment and then excited the next.

For the first time, I had siblings and Carlisle and Esme were terrific surrogate parents, Alice and Rosalie both embraced the role of my sisters – going shopping and bringing me home luxurious clothes I never ever thought about wearing. Having finely tuned senses meant that good old polyester was no longer comfortable against my new hardened skin. Emmett and Jasper were like the two big brothers I never had nor knew I ever wanted, but they were there, supporting me.

It was months before I even encountered a human, thanks to the Cullens carefully watch. Alice had finally foreseen an episode where I ran into humans and was stunned by my reaction. Thanks to the vision, she encouraged the family to take me out in public. It was then did I truly understand my special power. Apparently my aversion to blood as a human translated into a disdain for human smells as a vampire. It reminded me of the Roald Dahl children's book "The Witches", where the witches could always sniff out a child in the room.

At first, being around humans made me want to flee to the nearest bathroom and dry heave, of course nothing would come up. Eventually I grew used to their smell, but the thought of drinking human blood repulsed me. My powers made my newborn year much more tolerable, allowing us to travel a bit. I was fearful though of seeing my family.

My parents had been told that I was selected for a special study abroad program and that allowed me the time to adjust to vampire life. During that time, my parents' lives moved on. Renee got pregnant with twins. Phil was ecstatic and was talking about a whole baseball team. Having a few more years under her belt, Renee took to motherhood much better this time. I was happy for her, but the pregnancy and babies were just another wedge that pushed us further apart.

Charlie, on the other hand, threw himself into his work. At least, that was all he spoke about. Meth labs were popping up all around the county, and he was leading a joint task force from all of the towns to crack down on them. It wasn't until almost a year after the accident and my change, did he tell me over the phone that he had met someone. Actually, it was Sue Clearwater, one of his good friends' widow. Her husband, Harry had died shortly after I had left for school in June. Sue had two children, including a son, Seth, I think, who my dad has really taken a shine to.

Knowing that my parents had more than just me in their lives made it easier to pull away from them. Phone calls became more of a weekly occurrence, if not less and emails were fewer and further between. Renee hadn't seen me since her visit prior to my change. With the babies, it was too hard for her to travel and I couldn't exactly traipse down to Florida, with the sun. Eventually, we'd ask Alice to find us a rainy weekend so we could visit them.

Unlike Renee, Charlie was able to fly out to New York a few times – that was after I had returned from traveling. We could have gone to Washington, my change had been cleared by the tribe and the treaty still in place, but I wanted to avoid running into anyone else. Despite the stories we told, we had traveled quite a bit. Sometimes it was all eight of us and other times it was just Edward and me.

When my dad visited, I made sure it was during the winter. It allowed me to barricade my new skin with clothing, leaving layers upon layers between us. Edward later told me that Charlie noticed I looked different, but figured Alice and Rosalie had given me a makeover or something. He couldn't believe how beautiful I had become. The winter also allowed for the shortest amount of daylight and greater chance of overcast. It tended to work in our favor. I knew I only had a decade or two before we would have to turn to heavy makeup and temporary hair color to age me and Edward.

Yes, my father had accepted Edward as my husband. They bonded over baseball. He had even stopped trying to broach the subject of why I couldn't have married Jake. He was very successful though, with a chain of auto repair shops throughout the county and on the reservation. What my father didn't know and I later found out, was that Jake was bound to someone else, and eventually he would find her. I could only hope that in time, he would find her.

Edward had been my constant through all of this change. It was only as a vampire that I could truly understand the deepness of his feelings were for me, because my feelings seemed to intensify with my transformation. Every touch, every tender moment made me want to explode. It was difficult in the beginning to separate my physical desires to my emotional ones. Edward surely made up for his century of celibacy during that time. I think the term is fuck like bunnies. That was the way Emmett described us.

Edward. It seemed like eons ago when he had left me in the woods. That human memory was still vivid. Everything associated with that day, even the emotions, were still clear, but the pain was no longer there. We had found one another again; fate had led us back to one another.

I walked out of the little coffee shop, after meeting Lauren. There he was leaning against his car – a Volvo sedan; silver, of course. He bought it to help jog my memory. It didn't help too much, but I did enjoy the new memories we made in it.

Smirking, I thought back to a few nights ago when we had driven up to Bear Mountain at sunset. Not only had we watched the sun go down, but then we made love, ever so carefully as to not rip the leather interior. It was so freeing, being completely naked, our bodies coming together as one. I loved the way he felt inside of me, but nothing compared to when we climaxed – together.

"How'd it go?" Edward asked, pulling me close to him in a hug. I leaned in and breathed him in. Even for a few hours, I missed being close to him. I caressed his face with the back of my hand. Even a few moments away from him seemed like too long. When we were together, we were constantly touching. Our bond was one of the many reasons we had chosen to live in our own place apart from the rest of the Cullen family.

"Can I tell you when we get home? I need to process everything." I said, reluctantly pulling away as Edward nodded. I immediately missed him. Seeing Lauren had stirred up lots of old memories I had thought were lost to time.

Edward opened the door for me. I had become accustomed to him doing this for me. Everything we did together was so in-sync.

He weaved through the streets with ease, despite the erratic driving of cab drivers. Since learning of how my human life was cut short by one of those sunshine colored death traps, I was sickened to see them. Now that I have become accustomed to seeing them they just brought out feelings of indifference and sometimes even gratefulness. If one of those cabbies had been paying attention, I could have still been bartering for eternity with Edward.

Edward pulled into the garage of our luxury building and we quickly ascended up to our apartment- the penthouse, of course. Even if we weren't living with the rest of the Cullens, Edward always insisted on the best for us. I could never get used to the extravagance, the clothes, or the cars. I only needed the people who loved me around.

We sat down on our white leather sectional; the sun glistened as it was sinking in the sky.

"These are the times I wish I could read your mind. So…"

"Seeing Lauren again was so surreal. I know from what I was told that she, Jessica, and Angela had been there for me in my darkest time, but seeing her, suddenly hazy memories became clearer. She's happy. I think she's in a really good place in her life. Jeff is going to propose soon. I'm happy for her."

"I am so proud of you," Edward said, kissing my nose.

I pulled closer to him, bringing my lips to his. No longer was it cold on hot; we were equals now. No more being careful, no more secrets, no more being breakable. My hand was once again feeling the smooth skin along his jaw line; we were the same.

"Thank you."

"I know I only gave into agreeing to changing you because I wanted to please you, but I see it now – this is how we were destined to be."

"I know that now too. Preparing for and seeing Lauren made me realize something. When you left, it didn't matter who I was under, and at the time, I didn't want to care, I just wanted to feel. What I realize now, is that there was no getting over you. It was always you and now we have forever. Don't you see, Edward, it was always supposed to be like this – you and me, together, forever – through and through.

~That's all folks!~