Author's Note: Hey guys! Sorry this took so long, it should have come sooner. But I've just been so busy with cheerleading tryouts that I hadn't had much time to write. I've worked so hard that I do believe I've created my very first "female four pack" in two freakin' days. That's crazy! Like…seriously. Everybody PRAY that I'll make the squad. This is my effin' dream.

This chapter is ridiculously short, I know. This is the last chapter. If I get enough reviews saying they want an epilogue, I'll write one up and post it. The song for this chapter is "All the Young Dudes" by Mott the Hoople. (Play this song near the end of the chapter.) I love it! It's the song I used from Jacob's garage!

Alright, that's been enough of my rambling. Without further ado, here is the final chapter of Sunshine. (:

Chapter 21:

Bella's house had been magically transformed into a doctor's office. Over the course of five days, she'd worked some major wonders around that place.

For Embry, she'd picked out about 27 pieces of glass out of his skin with a pair of old metal tweezers. He had band-aids all over his body as he lounged on her couch uncomfortably.

Jared was now legally blind in his left eye, wearing bandages over his head for some time, and sunglasses for the other. Kim walked him around and babied him like crazy.

Paul already took to being annoying again, calling him "Graybeard" like he was a pirate with a patch over his eye.

Rachel was caring for Paul after his back was mangled with deep, bloody scratches. The guys were healing quickly, though.

She cared for Seth's broken arm and put a sling on it as well. Quil sprained his ankle and had a fractured jaw from their first encounter with the vampires. He got stitches on the sides of his mouth where his cheek had ripped open. "Smiley" was what they called him.

She stood in the kitchen, nursing the stitches on Sam's arm as Emily nursed her newborn baby, a girl named Malea, born three days ago, in Bella's living room. "Bella," Sam whispered. "I'm really sorry."

Her heart spiked with sadness. "Thanks." She dabbed at the stitches with her saline covered cotton ball, trying to keep in her tears. The days slipped by so fast sometimes.

A week ago he was here, standing by her side, kissing her and loving her. A week ago she was captured and a week ago, he met Riley's wrath.

She missed him so much.

"You doing okay, Bella?" Sam asked her, placing a warm hand on the den mother's shoulder.

She nodded and pulled out another bandage. It was a complete lie. Everyday was a struggled without him. She placed it over the stitches, then wrapped gauze around it.

"You're good," she whispered.

Sam chastely hugged her and rubbed the smaller woman's back. "We feel your grief. Never think you're alone, Bella."

She nodded and pulled away.

It didn't feel right to be hugged anymore.

0o0o0o0o

He'd been gone for three weeks. She wished she could see him again, but she couldn't. The doctors had clearly said that it was impossible.

So she sat on her porch, rocking on her chair, eating pretzels from a large bucket and reading some stupid romantic story. She learned to resent Romeo and Juliet since Riley read her some lines every night before he put her to bed.

The guys were coming over that night for a dinner at her house. She wished Jacob would come back and stand by her side, but she just didn't know. It was hard to tell anymore.

Her cell phone buzzed in her pocket. Emily's name came up on the screen. She pressed the green button and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Hey chica. How are you hanging in there?"

"I'm fine. What's up?"

"I wanted to check on you…and I also wanted to know what I should make for the dinner tonight."

She sighed. "I don't know. Kim's bringing potato salad and Seth volunteered Pepper to bring some macaroni salad. Rachel's getting some cupcakes and Embry's girl is bringing some salsa and chips."

"Oh, that's right, Embry imprinted! I haven't met her yet. What's her name?"

"Her name's Lilly—she's really sweet and soft-spoken. I'm happy for Em. But anyways, I think we need some muffins and—"

"I'm on it. You're such a strong girl, Bella. If Jake were still here, I know he'd be proud."

That stung worse than a wasp in autumn. She recoiled from the phone like Emily's words had bitten her hard. "Thanks. Bye."

"Bye, sweetheart. Love you."

"Love you too."

Over the past couple of weeks, Emily had become sort of what you would call an "adoptive older sister." She was supportive and understanding and especially sweet to her.

Ever since the whole Riley thing, she'd been looked at in a different light—a more respected light. They respected her. They respected what happened to her…and what happened to Jacob.

She fished another pretzel out of the bin and stuffed it into her mouth in thought.

0o0o0o0o

Everyone quietly ate at the table, enjoying the food that Bella had made for them. It was a great meal, but it just wasn't the same without him. She was lonely and heartbroken, and just not "sunshine" anymore.

Her personal sun had left her with only darkness and painful wounds.

"Lilly, do you need something to drink?" she asked Embry's shy little imprint, who nodded her head politely.

"That would be lovely. Could I please have some iced tea?"

Bella was happy for a reason to get up and go to the kitchen, to walk off the awful gut-wrenching feeling that ran through her veins. She was cold, the touch of a vampire having clung to her skin after a few days.

She filled Lilly's cup up with homemade iced tea, glancing out the window to look at the backyard. It had rained again that night and the grass was sparkling in the sunlight, glistening dewdrops clinging to the bright green blades.

Bella sighed, pushing on her refrigerator's ice-cube compartment and feeling the horrible frozen cubes slide into her warm hand. It took all of her warmth away, just like Riley had. It was a wretched, wretched feeling.

She dropped the cubes into the cup of cold tea and checked the stew on the stove. It was beef stew, Jacob's absolute favorite of hers. Her heart sped up in thought of him, but it slowed down as soon as it realized that he wouldn't be coming back anymore.

And the realization that he wouldn't be coming back anymore was worse than having a metal dagger inched through her heart torturously slowly. She wished she could be with him, hold his warm hand, see his sunny smile, and kiss his sweet lips again.

She carried Lilly's iced tea back into the room and gave it to her. The smaller girl gave her a small smile and Embry rubbed the girl's back. The guys were chatting quietly in the corner. There were no food fights, cursing or laughing.

The mood was sullen, and it was because Jake wasn't there.

Emily noticed Bella standing in the doorway that divided the kitchen from the dining room and pushed out of her seat. "Come with me to the kitchen," she whispered. "Help me take the muffins out of the oven, will you?"

She nodded. Emily made sure that baby Malea was safe in Sam's arms before tugging her companion into the kitchen. "I made banana," she murmured. "You like those, don't you?"

Bella nodded. "Yeah, they're good."

The timer beeped. Emily turned off the oven and looked at Bella expectantly. "Oven mitts?"

She pointed at her brown wooden cabinets. "Third drawer down. Use the green ones, the red ones are crappy."

"Gotcha."

Emily pulled out the tray of steaming muffins and inhaled the aroma. "Doesn't that smell good, honey? Jake always loved these."

Her eyes stung from holding back tears. She sucked in a much-needed breath and nodded her head quickly. "Yeah."

Emily quickly learned from her mistake and put the oven mitts back into the drawer. "Could you fetch me a plate, hon?"

Bella got her a big white serving plate. She watched as Emily pulled out the steaming little muffins and set them down onto the white plate. Bella went to her refrigerator and pulled out a jug of milk and a clear glass.

She poured the milk and lifted the glass to her lips. Two big hands covered her eyes, stunning her instantly. It was probably Paul, trying to play a stupid joke on her to cheer her up or something.

"Guess who."

Bella gasped at the same time Emily did. That sure as hell didn't sound like Paul's cocky voice. The glass of milk slipped from her weak fingers and shattered all over the floor. The milk licked at her ankles, but she didn't care.

She swayed, nausea filling her system. She pulled down his hands and turned around to face the mystery person that stood behind her. "Oh God!" she cried, tears springing to her eyes instantly. "Oh my God!"

It was him. He was tangible, standing right in front of her with nothing serious but a few scratches on his body. She blindly stared through her tears at Emily's whose jaw hit the floor in sheer astonishment.

The guys all rushed into the kitchen at the sound of Bella's cries. They all skidded to a stop at the doorway, their eyes widened and amazed. And then someone said it.

"Jacob? Is that you?"

She buried her face in her hands, leaning into Jacob's embrace as he reached for her. His warm arms engulfed her tiny, shaking body, pumping warmth and electricity through her veins and igniting her stony, dead heart again with his love. It beat faster and faster, just like whenever he was near.

It was then that she realized that this wasn't a dream. It was reality.

He turned his eyes and smiled at the guys. "You got it. It'll take more than a bitchy vampire to get rid of me."

There was that sweet humor. She cried even harder, but this time in complete joy. She pulled back and wrapped her arms around his neck, and he pulled her up into his arms, cradling her like a child as she cried into his neck.

He kissed her cheek tenderly. "Shh," he whispered. "I'm here, baby. I'm here now. I'll never leave you again. I promise."

"Never again," she sobbed.

Seth laughed in astonishment, looking at the others, all similar expressions on their faces. "We all thought you were dead!"

Jacob shook his head. "It was a coma that the council didn't know that wolves could go into at a certain point of injury. My body had pulled me into such a deep state of healing that it made it look like I was dead on the outside. Good thing you guys, didn't have a funeral, eh?"

He laughed at his darkly humorous joke, but Bella growled into his shoulder. "Not funny," she hissed.

Jacob set her down onto her feet and Bella wiped her tears. She looked up at him and smiled so wide that she thought she'd become like Quil and split her lips on the sides. "Hey, loca. Missed seeing that pretty face."

She tugged at her hair and hugged him again. "Life was hell without you. It felt like a part of me had died."

"Remember what you said about the mark to Riley? How that if I died you died? That's somewhat true. You get really sick after your imprint's died and you follow shortly after. Usually it takes about a week. It's been four weeks since, honey. Ever wonder why you weren't 6 feet under?" he asked.

She looked at her feet, contemplating what she just said. "Oh. Oh, Jake I missed you. When did you wake up?"

"This morning," he grinned before looking back at the pack members. "Geez, look at you guys. What did you do to yourselves?"

Bella curled herself under Jacob's arm as he swaddled her to his body. "Well, Quil's got stitches on the sides of his mouth after having broken his jaw and torn the edges of his lip and cheek."

Quil waved and smiled a wide smile with scars so long that they almost reached his ears. Jake laughed. "You look like the Joker," he sniggered. "I guess I'll call you Smiley now."

Paul chuckled. "That's my name," he said.

Jake nodded his head at Paul. "What happened to you?"

Paul turned around and revealed long scars that stretched along his back. "Paul looks like he was whipped," Bella commented.

Jake nodded. "Em had the kid?" he asked, nodding at Sam with the young child in his arms.

The Alpha nodded and smiled proudly. "Yeah. She was a trooper. In labor for 12 hours, but it paid off. Her name's Malea."

"Congrats, man."

"Seth's got a broken arm, and Malea's new daddy's got bruises and lots of deep scratches. Embry's got 27 little cuts from the glass that I personally took out with a pair of old metal tweezers. And Mr. Cameron back there, is now legally blind in his left eye."

Jared grinned from under a pair of black sunglasses. Kim kissed his cheek. "It makes me see life in a different perspective."

The pack laughed at his little joke.

"Well this sucks, having all of you injured." Bella whispered. "And it's all my fault."

"No!" everyone said in unison.

Paul stepped forward. "That was the best ass-kicking we ever gave a vampire."

Jared nodded. "Yeah, I'd choose to blinded over again if I had a do-over."

Sam stepped forward. "Jake, I've never seen the level of courage that you showed to me on that day. You were the bravest out of all of the pack members, I think, even braver than me. You were focused on one thing you wanted, and even though we thought you were dead your stubborn ass still kept on fighting." He chuckled. "I want to resign my position as Alpha. And I want to give it to you—you deserve this."

Jacob gaped. The room exploded in cheering. It was something that he'd wanted for a while, but he never thought he was going to get it anytime soon. Sam loved being in charge. "You're not serious," he mumbled in excitement and disbelief.

He cradled the child in his arms and kissed the baby's rosy cheeks. "Oh, I'm absolutely serious. You're Alpha."

Jake laughed and kissed Bella's temple. "Well, I'm Alpha now, honey."

She squealed and clapped her hands. "I'm so happy for you!"

He grinned and rubbed the back of his neck quickly. "And I guess we're in a giving mood tonight, huh? Well, I have something to ask you, Bella. Before it's too late."

She nodded her head and watched as he began to kneel down on one knee. She shrieked and began to cry again. He dug around his pocket until he found the little black box. He opened it and showed her the ring.

The whole room gasped and all the girls began to "aww" and coo at the scene.

"Isabella Marie Swan—I couldn't imagine spending my life with anyone else but you. You have brought so much sunshine into my life and took me from hell to heaven in 0.03 seconds flat when you hit me with your truck that rainy night." He spoke, eyes looking into hers adoringly.

She cupped her hands over her mouth, tears streaming down her face.

"So with that, I ask you to marry me and wear this ring—so creepers like Riley will know you're mine and only mine, forever and always."

She gave him her hand and watched as he slipped on the ring. "Forever and always," she echoed him. The ring was a beautiful oval shaped with diamonds encrusted into it. "It's so beautiful."

"It was my grandmother's," he chuckled. She embraced him and kissed his cheeks repeatedly.

"I love it," she told him.

"And I love you," he whispered. "Always and forever."

She nodded. "Yes," she said. "Always and forever."

The End.

0o0o0o0o

Holy crap am I bad at completing stories. BUT OH MY GOSH, I DID IT, YOU GUYS! I ACTUALLY FINISHED A STORY! And thanks to all of you beautiful people, too! You helped me through so much and helped me overcome periods of writer's block with kind words and inspiration. I love you all so much! I can't believe I did it! We did it! AHHHH!

I'll be writing more, so don't think you've seen the last of Courtney Howlett. Because you haven't. I'm working on a story as we speak, called Sinful Seduction.

Jacob's a barbarian whose barbarian men captured Bella. Jacob makes Bella his mistress, but Bella's reluctant because she was promised to Edward. But SCREW EDWARD, can Jacob work his irresistible charm on Bella and seduce her into his bed? Tell me if you'd like to see that!

Remember, if you want an epilogue to come up, review! Or just review and tell me how this whole story was!

I love you all!

Adios!

Courtney Howlett xx