Epilogue - …To Light

I am a man who will fight for your honor;
I'll be the hero that you're dreaming of.
We'll live forever, knowing together that we did it all for the glory of love. – Glory of Love, Chicago.

EPOV

The waiting was the hardest part; the frustration of not knowing when she'd wake, for it wasn't something Alice could predict. It was enough to drive me crazy. There was so much I had planned for us, so much left for us to do. But until she woke, it would all have to wait. And I would sit here silently, waiting for her to open her eyes.

I stared at her sleeping form. God, she was beautiful. The gleaming sunlight played with her long, dark hair, sending prismatic rays of light shimmering through every strand. Her big, inquisitive eyes were shut tightly in her slumber, depriving me of her deep, chocolate orbs, always so full of questions and excitement. Her soft, creamy skin would never be as pale as mine. It looked so smooth and warm, and I longed to caress her cheek softly. But I didn't want to disturb her. Not yet. I'd been warned to let her wake on her own, without any prodding from me. And I didn't dare cross the source of the warning.

At that moment, Alice stepped into the grassy clearing. She scowled when she saw my uplifted hand.

"Edward, weren't you warned to leave her alone?" she hissed. "She'll wake when she's good and ready!"

I sighed. "How much longer must I wait? I don't think I have the patience." I moved my eyes back to the sleeping angel before me.

"Well, you'd better find the patience," called another musical voice from just behind Alice. "Haven't we talked about this Edward?"

I didn't have to look to know who the voice belonged to. I'd recognize it anywhere. Sighing in mock defeat, I raised my eyes. Alice's beautiful sister was less forgiving in these instances than Alice was.

Just then, a gentle stirring called all out attention back towards the dreaming form before us. My heart contracted in anticipation of having her eyes meet mine. She opened her eyes slowly and when she saw me, the wide smile that graced her mouth and the uncontrolled joy in her eyes took my breath away.

"See? I told you she'd wake up on her own time," Alice admonished.

Her sister pursed her lips, her gold eyes flashing in mock reproach. "See what you did Edward? It wasn't time for her to wake yet."

But faster than I could've imagined, my angel flung herself into my arms, hugging me tightly. I wrapped my arms around her gently. She moved her hands to cup my face, and in her own unique, wondrous way, she said,

'Daddy, I took an afternoon nap like mommy said. Can we go hunting now?'

My full heart felt as if it would surely overflow.

"You'll have to ask her, Renesmee sweetheart. I think she might be a bit upset at me for cutting your nap short." My eyes moved sheepishly to my wife, the beautiful, wondrous woman I'd been blessed with.

Bella walked out from behind Alice and moved towards our daughter and me. Her mouth was set in a disapproving smirk, but the sparkle in her tawny eyes let me know I'd been forgiven instantly.

Bella put one arm through mine and lifted the other to caress our daughter's long, bronze hair. "Are you sure you want to hunt this afternoon Renesmee? How about some apple sauce and milk instead?" she asked softly.

Renesmee's face scrunched up into a small scowl, and she shook her head decisively, sending red and brown ringlets waving about her porcelain face. She put her small hands on her mother's face, and I could see she was showing her how much the idea of human food repulsed her. I smirked. I couldn't say I blamed our half-human, half-vampire daughter. I'd take a nice warm, juicy elk over a bland bowl of mashed up apples and sour smelling milk any day.

Those few weeks after we figured out Bella had our child within her were…excruciating. Bella never woke from the coma. And apart from the one squeeze she'd given my hand up on that meadow, she never again gave any outward sign of awareness. But the child…our daughter…she was a different story…

Our daughter hummed Bella's lullaby that morning on the mountain, the tune her mother hummed to her in utero. And when I placed my hands on Bella's stomach, for the first time noting the slight bulge beginning to form – a bulge I was sure hadn't been there the day before - I saw what the child was seeing, the images Bella was showing her. Our times spent in the meadow, our first summer together, the time we spent fixing up her store, Charlie, Renee, Jake, Gabby, our vampire family…

If possible, I would've cried a river of tears at that moment. Forsaking that possibility, I cradled Bella in my arms and kissed her forehead over and over.

Alice's voice had reminded me of her presence, along with Jasper and the strange young man they'd brought back with them. He was obviously more than human, but not quite a full vampire.

"That's why I couldn't see her," Alice whispered that morning. She walked slowly towards me and put a hand on my shoulder. "I can see vampires because I am one. I can see humans because I used to be one. But half-breeds…this child inside Bella…Bella's wrapped her whole life around it. It's why I haven't been able to see her. It's part of her as much as it is part of you."

She turned towards the young man she'd brought with her. He stood quietly off to one side, with Jasper. Jasper nodded at him, indicating he should begin his story.

"My name is Nahuel," he began. His voice had a slight accent. "I live in the jungles of the Brazilian Amazon. My father is a vampire. My mother was human."

Nahuel proceeded to tell the story of his birth. It wasn't a pleasant story. His father, a vampire, impregnated his human mother. Abandoned, his mother had no idea the child growing inside her would grow stronger than her, and at an unbelievably accelerated rate. At full term, Nahuel bit his way out of his mother's womb. She died hours later.

Horrified by the story, I felt the world starting to cave in on me once again.

"Edward, wait!" Alice demanded, seeing the terror on my face. "There's more. Nahuel has two sisters from two other human women his father incubated."

Alice told me that Nahuel's eldest sister's birth progressed much the same way his did. But apparently, finally finding someone he considered his true mate, Nahuel's father stayed with the youngest sister's mother throughout her short pregnancy.

"When my father believed my sister was developed enough to survive birth, he used his teeth to tear through the vampire membrane she was contained in. My youngest sister was born, and my father performed the transformation on her mother right away."

This story did little to ease me. In fact, it had repulsed me even more.

"So what are you all suggesting I do?" I hissed, holding Bella tighter to me. "Use Bella as a temporary incubator until the child is strong enough to be born, and then mutilate her with my own teeth?" I shuddered at the picture my mind conjured. "I don't even know…I'm sure Bella never imagined such a birth…how could I do something like that to her?"

It was agonizing, knowing I was so close to having the woman I loved back. Because I was convinced now that the venom would, indeed, save her. She was still there. Her interactions with our child was proof. And she'd squeezed my hand.

But if I saved her now…if I transformed her now, her body would change. Her reproductive system would no longer function the way a normal, pregnant human woman's would. The child…would not survive.

And I wanted the child. Already, I loved it more than my own life. As it continued its sweet lullaby, made even sweeter by the soft, musical voice humming it, I ached to know her, to hold her in my arms and tell her daddy would always be here for her. Daddy would always protect her. But at Bella's peril?

"She's so weak right now," I murmured, caressing Bella's face softly.

"Edward, listen to what I'm about to say carefully," Alice pleaded quietly. "Don't pick the words out of my head." She drew in a deep breath. "There may be a way to strengthen Bella, enough so that she can carry the child safely."

I narrowed my eyes suspiciously. "What are you talking about?"

It was Nahuel who answered. "What sort of nourishment has your mate been receiving through her pregnancy?"

"She's in a coma," I responded, in case it wasn't obvious. "We had no idea she was carrying…she's been given vitamins and lipids through a feeding tube. Why?"

Jasper, who'd been silent so far, said, "Edward, the child is half-vampire. Can't you guess what sort of nutrition it requires?"

My eyes grew wide. "Blood?"

Nahuel explained how his mother had survived on a diet of animal blood during her entire pregnancy. And the mother of his youngest sister, with both human and animal blood.

"But how…I can't…" The idea was so revolting I couldn't even finish my sentence. To feed Bella blood!

"It may not bring her out of the coma, but it may make her stronger. Strong enough." Jasper added.

And again, as I'd prayed before Alice and the rest even arrived, I wished Bella would open her eyes and tell me what the right thing to do was. I couldn't make such a decision without her.

And once again, as if in answer to my prayers, the child's humming grew louder. Instinctively, I placed a hand on Bella's stomach, meaning to soothe, and once again I was bombarded with images from the incredibly advanced fetus. Images of Bella and I walking through the forest, a small little girl running ahead of us; her long, bronze hair waving in the breeze and the sound of her laughter reaching us as she turned and dazzled us with her beautiful smile.

But these images weren't memories. These were Bella's dreams. Bella was somehow sharing her dreams, her deepest desires, with our child.

She'd dreamt of our child. Somehow, she'd known. And she wanted this. She wanted our family.

So yes, those few weeks were difficult beyond words. We took Bella home. Nahuel came to stay with us to show us how to care for her. The blood…

As Nahuel had said, the blood made her stronger. She remained unconscious, but her pulse quickened, her heart beat quickened to the strength of what it had been before her injuries, and within a day she no longer needed any machines to help her. Her midsection grew at an unbelievable rate. Within a week Bella appeared to be in her last trimester.

And through it all, the child communicated in her own way. She seemed to understand my words, and tried to the best of her abilities to stay as still as possible, so as not to hurt her mother too much.

But the day came when she could no longer stay still, and with Carlisle and Nahuel's help, I did the impossible. I begged Bella to forgive me through the whole ordeal, and as soon as the child was out, I placed one quick kiss on her forehead and handed her to her grandfather, and then…then I did the one thing I'd sworn years ago I would never do to Bella. Quickly, I lowered my mouth to her neck, but before I pierced the skin, I paused one last time. Her blood pulsed wildly in her veins, and then I looked up into her closed eyes.

"Forever Bella. I'll love you forever."

Her blood was unimaginably sweet, but I gave myself no time to savor it. Bella's blood was no longer what called to me. It was her soul. I needed her soul to survive as much as she did. Working quickly, I delivered my venom into her system at different points throughout her body, hoping it would speed up the transformation, and lessen the time she'd have to spend in unimaginable agony.

She awoke three days later, with no memory of the pain, but other things, she remembered immediately.

"Edward, where's our daughter?" were the first words off her lips.

"Renesmee is well. She's with her grandmother." I'd given in to Jasper's urgings that Renesmee wait downstairs until we determined how controlled Bella would be as a newborn.

Bella closed her eyes and sighed with relief. She opened them back up quickly. "Renesmee. How did you know…"

I smiled. "She told me. She told me that's what you'd named her. Renesmee Carlie Cullen."

"She told you? How…?"

And then, after determining that like everything else about Bella, her control as a newborn was completely unexpected, mother and child finally met outside of the womb. Once Renesmee placed her hands on Bella's face, she understood what I meant when I told her Renesmee had told me. Our family, a family I'd never in over one hundred years imagined I'd ever have, was complete.

But there were still difficult times.

Bella missed her parents. She'd never had a chance to say goodbye. But while she'd accepted her separation from Renee a bit easier, she ached for Charlie.

We waited one day, Bella and I, hidden in the trees surrounding the small, white house she'd shared with her father for so many years.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" I asked.

Bella smiled up at me nervously. Her pupils were still a bit red, the blood hadn't entirely left her system yet. It made her self-conscious, but I assured her they'd be as gold as mine before long.

"It's my way of saying goodbye to him Edward. And of letting him know I'm okay. More than okay."

I pulled her in and kissed her tenderly, amazed at how warm her lips still felt to me. And now there was no longer any fear. Only pleasure and happiness as our lips met and tongues intertwined, sending wonderful bursts of heat radiating through my entire body. She pulled me in closer with her strong, slender arms and I almost forgot where we were, until the sound of a car's engine over a mile away broke us away from each other.

Charlie stepped out of his police cruiser; home after a long day at work. His face looked tired when he stepped into view, and I hesitated whether I should tell Bella today had been a particularly hard day for him. He still missed Bella terribly.

With slow, haggard movements, Charlie opened his mailbox, flipping through the pile of bills and junk mail as he made his way up to the front door. His footsteps suddenly stilled as he came across an unmarked, white envelope. He paused, looking all around him before bringing his eyes back to the white envelope. For a few minutes, he just stood there, holding the envelope.

He tore the side of the envelope; I squeezed Bella's hand and gave her an encouraging smile. She saw me through her periphery but kept her eyes trained on her father.

When Charlie pulled out the solitary object in the envelope, he gasped, and his eyes automatically filled with tears we could see from over here. For a long time, he just stared at the picture, the tears he'd been fighting falling freely down his unshaven face. Only one word ran through his mind.

'Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful.'

I thought back to that final night Charlie and I spent in the hospital together, keeping vigil over a comatose Bella.

'If you'd had a child,' he'd said to me, 'you'd understand why I'm doing this now.'

'A child,' I'd answered, with no hope that that would ever be the case. Nevertheless, as part of Bella, even then I was sure, 'She would've been beautiful.'

'Yeah, she would've,' Charlie had agreed.

Charlie finally smiled through his tears. He swallowed thickly and slowly turned the picture of his granddaughter over. In her carefree handwriting, Bella had written out 'Renesmee Carlie' on the back of the picture.

"Renesmee Carlie," Charlie murmured to himself.

"Do you think he knows where the 'Carlie' comes from?" Bell asked in an anxious voice, without turning to me.

I took a deep breath before answering her. "You're father knows a lot more than he says. I'm pretty sure he's figured it out."

At that moment, Charlie looked up, his eyes coming to rest almost exactly where Bella and I sat perched on a tree over a mile away. And although there was no way he could see us, he smiled.

"She looks just like you Bells," he whispered into the air. Bella gasped. She squeezed my hand so tightly it felt as if it would break off. But I let her. There was nothing I would ever deny her.

"Be happy. Be safe," he murmured quietly. He looked back down at the picture of our daughter, and after giving it a kiss, placed it back in the envelope and walked quietly into his house.

So many milestones were reached, so many memories created that I thought I'd never have.

The day I was finally able to call Bella my wife, a couple of months after Renesmee's birth, I paced anxiously up and down my bedroom floor. I pulled at the dark tie Alice had fastened around my neck, and ran my hand through my hair, much to Alice's chagrin.

"Damn it Edward! I just finished gelling you up! Now you're hair's its usual mess!"

I smiled crookedly. "So what? Bella would've messed it up anyway."

"Wait a minute!" Emmett choked. "Did you just make a veiled sexual innuendo regarding you and Bella's love life?"

I laughed.

"Woo hoo! Eddie Boy! You are going to be so much more fun to live with now!" Emmett chortled.

"Yes, well. Just because I may make occasional innuendos doesn't give you permission to do so."

Emmett scowled. "Well, not in front of Bella anyway."

"That's right. Unless you want your ass handed to you on a silver platter again," I reminded him. We all laughed this time, and Emmett's scowl widened.

"That's just because she's a newborn. Let's see who beats who at arm-wrestling next year," he growled.

Jasper walked in then and announced, "They're here." I stiffened, unsure if I was ready for this.

I walked out to the front of the house to meet the guests to our wedding. The only guests besides our immediate family.

Jacob and Gabby approached us slowly, hand in hand.

'Oh, look at him,' Gabby thought. 'He looks so radiant. So happy. I can't wait to see Bella!'

Jacob sighed internally. 'Well, here goes nothing.'

Apparently, he and I were on the same wave-length for once.

I smiled softly at Gabby. "Gabby. How are you?" I asked. She smiled back and hugged me warmly, planting a friendly kiss on my cheek.

"Edward! You look great. Thanks for inviting us! Where's Bella? And where's the baby? I can't wait to meet her!"

I laughed. "Bella is inside with my mother, getting ready. And Renesmee is with Rosalie."

Gabby looked from me to Jake. "Well, I'll let you two catch up. I'm going to go inside and find Bella and the baby."

"Let me know if Rose gives you a hard time," I called out to Gabby, who was running inside impatiently. "She's a little…overprotective with her niece."

"I'm sure we'll be fine," Gabby laughed, before disappearing into the house.

As Jacob's imprintee, as well as his future wife, Gabby was aware of everything. There were no secrets between them. The night of the accident, Alice had explained to her everything her own eyes had shown her, but hadn't been able to make sense of. And once Jacob had woken, he'd explained the rest.

The night of Renesmee's birth, I'd called Jacob and told him everything. He was quiet for a while. I thought he was going to rip into me for allowing Bella to go through something so horrible.

"Bella would've never forgiven you if you'd done it any other way," he finally said. Jacob, who'd cared for Bella for so long. Who'd risked his life for her time and time again. Who knew her like the back of his hand, and who I knew still loved her, in his own way. And knowing that, it was his words more than anyone else's up to that point, that had helped me feel as if everything would be alright.

"Jacob, I'm glad you were able to come," I said to him now, putting a hand out to him.

Jacob looked down at my hand and slowly, met it with his own.

"Well, I figured a wedding's as good a place as any to say goodbye to the past, and embrace the future."

"That it is, old friend. That it is," I agreed.

The wedding…the wedding was too beautiful, too indescribable for words. Afterwards, as we all celebrated outside in the garden Alice and Esme had decorated with candles and flowers. And with the champagne Alice had bought that only Gabby and Jacob would consume, we toasted to old friends, bright futures, and new beginnings.

Bella couldn't bear to leave Renesmee for our honeymoon. She was still too new, too unbelievable to behold, and I understood Bella's feelings. It was a while before I was able to stop fearing that both she and our daughter would disappear if I turned my eyes away from them for too long. So we postponed a honeymoon, until Renesmee was a bit older at least. But that didn't mean we postponed our celebrating…

This new, strong, unbreakable Bella was…remarkable, to say the least. She was tireless, she was imaginative, she was mind-blowing. She was insatiable…

And I was not complaining.

We spent hours exploring each other's bodies, finding new and different ways to please each other. She fit me perfectly, like a missing piece of a puzzle. The nights…the nights were the best part. Our sweet little, half-human daughter needed sleep, like any other child. And the nights were long…

"Will I ever get tired of this?" Bella asked one night, lying in my arms spent, or as spent as she could be. Insatiable. "Will there ever come a time when I look at you and not want you, like this?"

"I hope not," I chuckled.

She turned and laid her head on my bare chest. "I'm serious."

"So am I." I ran my hand down her bare back, smiling when I felt her shiver. I knew it wasn't from the iciness of my hand anymore. "Maybe in a thousand years," I teased.

She turned over, until she was over me, her hands lost in my hair. She lowered her head and our lips met, instantly making me anxious for more than just a kiss.

"A thousand years from now, my love for you will have grown a thousand years stronger," she whispered. She moved her lips across my jaw, trailing down my neck, and across my chest. "A thousand years from now, we'll look back at what it took for us to get here, and still be grateful that we were both able to find the faith in each other, in our love, to survive."

I wasn't sure if it was the vibrations of her words so close to my heart, or just the words themselves, that sent such a pleasant chill down my spine.

I grabbed her face in my hands and brought it back up to my lips, kissing her softly. "And we'll always know that every decision we made, we made for love."

"I love you forever Edward Anthony Cullen."

"As I love you, Isabella Marie Cullen." I'd never in a million years tire of calling her that.

She moved her hands down my arms, caressing my chest, down my torso, making me shudder. My own hands roamed freely over her body, feeling her soft hips under my hands, and unafraid to pull her in closer, unafraid to hurt her anymore. She lowered herself to me fully, and any other thoughts I may have been contemplating soon left me as her warmth pressed up against me, and we took up where we'd left off just a few minutes ago…

Bella's voice, back at the clearing, broke me out of my errant thoughts.

"Well, since your daddy woke you up anyway, I suppose we can all go for a hunt." Renesmee clapped her hands happily and jumped out of my arms.

"Come on Nessie," Alice called out, calling her by the name Jacob had coined for her. Bella groaned; she hated that nickname for our daughter. "I'll race you!" Alice challenged Renesmee playfully. Ness took off running, and Alice took off after her, at a much slower pace than her normal one.

Bella and I walked hand in hand after them. Suddenly, she turned to me, and with a twinkle in her eye and a challenging look, she said, "Race you?"

I laughed at the fact that all these months later, and despite the fact that she was undeniably stronger than me right now, it irked her that I was still faster.

"I'll give you a head start," I grinned.

She scowled, but took the head start.

And as she ran off into the forest, behind Alice and our daughter, I stood there, marveling at all my blessings. A year ago, my life was torture. I was a broken man; a faithless monster. I held no hope for anything beyond a life filled with loneliness and bitterness.

One cold day in the woods, I'd uttered eight mindless, impossible words, and abandoned my hope and my faith. I'd promised Bella a normal, human life. A life filled with joy, family and love; things I'd been sure that day that I'd never be able to give her.

But it was hope that brought me back to her. It was love that restored her faith in me, and thereby my faith in myself. In my ability to be more than a monster, to be the man that she needed; that both she, and now our daughter, deserved.

I snorted. "It will be as if I never existed," I murmured, remembering the words. How opposite the truth turned out to be. I existed now as I'd never existed before. And Bella would always be with me, as well as Renesmee. I ran into the forest, after my family. Together, we'd all exist in our own world, a world restored through faith, hope and love.

A/N: This has been such a great experience for me. I'm feeling both happy and sad right now. Happy because the story is complete. And sad for the same reason.

I want to thank so many people.

First, my wonderful Betas, without who this story would be half of what it turned out to be. They've caught grammatical errors, mixed up story lines, and all sorts of blunders.

Danna0724 beta'd this last chapter and epilogue after being up for like 48 hours or something, driving half-way around the country and back in like, a tornado or monsoon, and then almost throwing down at an airport. That's dedication.

ADGroovy is eight and a half months pregnant with her second child, trying to get a nursery together and making sure she's got everything ready for her new arrival, yet still turned this around superquick.

I love you both girlies.

And then there are those reviewers that reviewed almost every single chapter. Eyes of Topaz, Saritadreaming, 8papillons, Missypooh, BettyBarchetta, , Vanilfrappe, and so many more of you. Please don't get mad if I didn't list you here. I haven't forgotten you. Know that all your reviews have been special to me and I treasure every single one of you!

Hope to hear from you guys some more. I've got a couple of other stories still going, and believe it or not, while watching a music video the other day I got an idea for a new story. (I know, I'm sick)! Make sure you've got me on story and author alert if you want to see that.

And yes, we made it past 1000 reviews. What does that mean? Well, it means some of you will be reading some happy times by the river between E & B sometime in the near future. Again, make sure you've got me on story and author alert if you want to see that.

Love you all! Smooches!

Patty