Epilogue

He turned to me his eyes shining with brightness and leaned down and placed a soft kiss on my cheek.

"I love you, Bella. That has never changed and never will."

I reached up and placed my hand on his face and whispered, "I love you, too."

-:-

Bella glanced over at the man behind the steering wheel sitting next to her and smiled to herself. She couldn't believe how much her life had changed in the past six months since the Ball. The past few days had proven that. Now finished with her senior year of high school Bella found herself on her way to a graduation party.

A party. Bella cringed at the thought. Her past experiences with parties usually ended up with misunderstandings and embarrassment. She tried her best to avoid those at all cost.

But this one was completely unavoidable. Alice had planned this little get-together many months before. Everyone in Forks was invited, including the people in La Push. That was another reason the party was being held at the beach, a simple reminder of Edward and Bella's relationship and a half-way point between the two communities.

Bella caught sight of the beach as they drove closer to La Push. The rolling waves splashed onto the sand crashing into the sand dunes and washed up logs on the far bank. The sky was dimming slightly into dusk but it was all clear with no sign of rain for their parade. Soon she could make out the tiny fires dotting the beach and she could see that many people were already here.

Bella was pulled away from the scenery and looked again at the man in the driver's seat. He smiled at her, his mustache pulling up at the edges. He looked so happy and Bella found herself laughing at his silly smile. Charlie hated parties and large groups, in general, just as much as her.

Going back to how her life had changed so much Bella would have never fathomed that she would feel so comfortable with her own father again. A few days after the ball Charlie called and Bella accepted his invitation to dinner. At first it was awkward. Neither one knew what to say or how to express their feelings. By their third father-daughter date Bella caved in and told Charlie how much he had hurt her in the past. Many a tears were shed that afternoon. Charlie apologized profusely and tried to explain his reasons for leaving. But with most things, sorry isn't always good enough, and so they had to go the long way. Day by day Charlie earned back Bella's trust and Bella saw Charlie's love for her.

When they reached the parking lot Bella was quickly met by the biggest change in her life.

Edward.

He opened her door and helped her out of the Cruiser. On the way down to the beach Bella held on to Edward's hand more tightly. Fear gripped at her body causing her physical pain as they approached the beach. Bella looked at Edward silently begging him to turn around and go back. Edward chuckled and pulled her towards the group of people at the water's edge.

Over five years ago Bella could have imagined being by Edward's side, but after their falling out she couldn't bring herself to think about him, and now…

Now, Bella was one hundred percent in love with this guy. Like with Charlie, it was a day to day struggle, a struggle of faith and hope. It was easy for the two of them to be together, but they had to believe that the other would be there for them. Bella worked hard not to let the past affect their relationship, but on some days she still questioned if Edward would be there in the future.

Walking up to the large group at the surf, Bella looked around at all the familiar faces. The entire Cullen Clan was there along with Bella's mom and every single senior at Forks High. She caught sight of a dark blob in the water and waved at the Quileutes. Jacob was trying to catch a small wave on his board. Bella immediately saddened unable to forgive herself for leaving the poor boy at the dance. He laughed it off the next day and joked with Bella that he was only holding Edward's spot anyway. Jacob had turned out to be such a good friend. He hung out with Bella and the Cullen's a lot throughout the spring.

Edward bumped Bella's shoulder pulling her from her thoughts and pointed to one of the logs. Bella brightened up when she saw the curly bronze haired girl.

"Ness," she called. The girl stood up and walked over to Bella. Ness was Jacob's new girlfriend and apparently his soul-mate. Bella giggled and started chatting with Ness while Edward went to find Emmett and Jasper.

The night quickly passed on and Bella found herself relaxing more and more into Edward's embrace. The flames from the fire licked at the wood turning blue and casting a faint glow on the couple.

Edward turned Bella slightly in his lap and planted a soft kiss on her lips. Bella breathed in taking in his heavenly scent and sighed contently.

"So, have you made a decision yet?" Edward murmured.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, I think Washington." Bella looked up at Edward and asked, "And you?"

Edward hesitated and Bella sucked in more air afraid of what is answer may be. They had been putting their decision about college off until the last minute. Graduating in the top of their class, both Edward and Bella had received numerous scholarships and acceptance letters to many colleges around the country. Bella had been fighting with her decision with Washington and Edward with Dartmouth. They rarely spoke of it to one another, but Bella knew he wanted to go there.

"I think I like the rain, too," he finally responded. Bella squealed and threw her arms around him. She was so happy he had decided to stay.

"Oh, Edward, but are you sure?" she questioned him.

"Fuck, yeah," he whispered. "Anywhere that you are I want to be."

"How sweet," whaled Emmett who was making his way over to our circle. He plopped down across from Edward and Bella stuffing his face with more fish and barbeque chicken.

He grinned at Bella and spoke with his mouth full, "Studying in Italy next year, bella?"

Edward shook with laughter at Emmett's forever on-going joke about Bella and Italy.

"No, they'll be going to Seattle, like us." Alice appeared out of nowhere and patted Bella on the back.

Suddenly, Rose and Jasper also appeared taking their seats around the fire. They all sat there silently taking in the past few days. High school was over and the yellow caps had been thrown. In the next few weeks they would all be packing up their bags heading to Seattle.

Alice was going to study Fashion. After the school got a look at her designs from the Ball one of the teachers had signed her up for an art scholarship. Jasper had opted to continue his former military education and would be going into the ROTC program in the fall. Emmett was going to college, well, in his words he was going, 'for the kegs and the parties.' Rosalie had landed herself a modeling contract with an elite business in Seattle and she hoped to take a few classes at the University.

This only left Edward and Bella to decide what to do with the rest of their lives. After all that time spent hating the world and distancing themselves from other's they hadn't put much thought in to the future. Only time would tell.

Bella looked at the group before her. All six of them had become the best of friends in the past months. From parties at the Hale's, surfing at the beach, and dates on the weekends, it had been the best of times for Bella. She looked at each of them. They were all alike. All were broken.

Alice with her broken past, Bella had come to learn of how Alice had suffered from amnesia. She woke up in a hospital with no recollection of her past life. She felt a need to travel to the rainy state of Washington and a few buses later she was standing at the Cullen's door.

Jasper with his broken skin, they had all learned to accept him and in turn Jasper learned to accept his own scars. Now he took to bringing awareness to young kids the dangers of gangs at the local youth shelter.

Rose with her broken heart, Bella shook her head at the sight of the beautiful blonde before her. Having been so shattered and broken, Rosalie found the strength to carry on leading her to Emmett.

Emmet with his broken…stomach. It obviously did not have any filler, nor did his quota for living life to the fullest. Each day was a new challenge or adventure for Emmett.

They were all broken. But for Bella and Edward it was harder to overcome their pain. Broken relationships and broken hearts crippled their outlook on life. Each day was a fight to save their selves from their selves.

And as Bella watched her friends banter around the campfire she realized that she had no control over her life, she only had choices and opportunities and what she did with those, well, that was up to her.

She motioned for Edward to loosen his hold on her and she stood up and told him to follow her. The night sky was now dark and the moon was bright.

Walking along the water's rim they strolled hand in hand.

Edward sensing her distress prompted Bella to speak her mind. "What's going on in there, huh?" He poked with his free hand at her forehead.

"I was thinking about the first time we ever came down here at night. Do you remember?" She asked her eyes sparkling as she looked up Edward.

"When we were ten and you turned down my marriage proposal?" he joked.

"Yeah," Bella breathed. "I was so afraid of it, even then."

"You were afraid of what?" Edward looked worriedly at her.

"Afraid of failure. Of loss. Of everything." She smiled at him and sat down on the damp ground placing her feet at the water's edge.

The mountains were slowly slipping away as the inevitable clouds moved back across the sky.

"I could never believe that Bella Swan was afraid of anything." Edward beamed back at her sitting himself down beside her.

"With you, Edward, I don't think I can be anymore. You always bring out the best in me."

"You know what? I could marry you some day, Miss Sawn." Edward chuckled as Bella quickly shook her head.

"Yes," she stated.

Edward stared back at the wonderful girl before him, whether they were truly serious or not Bella was willing to wait and find out.

Edward stood back up shaking off the sand and pulled Bella up into his arms. He twirled her around and around dancing to the lullaby in his head.

"Who are we making jealous now?" Bella asked.

"Everyone, Bella, just everyone."

The End

A/N: *sniffle* *tear* *sniffle*

Before you ask, no, I will not be writing a sequel to this story. This is as far as my imagination goes with these guys.

Four months, 16 chapters, and one incredible journey later, I have finished my first fic.

Thanks to my wonderful RL bff/beta, MEP, without you this story wouldn't be half as good.

To all the people who reviewed, alerted, favorite-ed, and what-not: THANK YOU! You're encouragement and words helped me to continue this story even when I thought I couldn't and you let me know I didn't totally suck at this writing thing.

There is a playlist, banner, and some pictures on my blog for this story if you want to take a look.

http://fanpire1721(dot)blogspot(dot)com/

Now as I go and click on the COMPLETE button, go hit the review button one last time. Let me know what you thought of the story, your favorite chapter, your favorite line, or anything else you may want to say.

xoxo,

Sara