A/N: This is the final chapter. Thanks to everyone that has stuck with me through it all. Thank you for all the sweet reviews, alerts and faves. I love them all.

Big hugs and lots of love to Smfogleman for her beta magic. Love her!

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters.

The first time I died...

Visiting her graveside wasn't something that was ever easy to do. I did it often, keeping the weeds off the headstone- and fresh flowers in the vase, even though she would have thought it unnecessary. A ridiculous sentiment, I could hear her say, they're pretty and smell good, but I don't need them.

I could recall the memory of Bella's voice with perfect clarity. It haunted my sometimes. She had said those very words to me on our second anniversary. After reminding me that her garden was all she'd ever need, she kissed my cheek, thanked me, and set them on the table anyway. I knew of Bella's secret love affair with the perfect flower, even if she never did admit it aloud.

It was true, even in the end, her faithful visits to her flower gardens never ceased. Sure, the time she spent out there lessened, but it didn't stop. I tried to keep them up after Bella had gone, to care for them as Bella would have, but my thumb wasn't as green as hers. I'm sorry to say, they didn't last, but nothing ever did.

Not her.

Not us.

Not even me.

My flower choices varied week-to-week, but they were beautiful each in their own way. Just like Bella. Flawless, yet imperfect, vibrant and aromatic until the last day. Their fragrances that assaulted you senses, searing memories into your head, endless arrays of colors that pleased and tempted the eye. Yes, they reminded me of her. Even as they wilted away, one petal or leaf at a time, so did the days until I could see my Bella again.

I was an old man, aged and weak. Bella wasn't there for the first gray hair I found, or for the following six that revealed themselves in the same sitting. Funny, it was the little things that made me miss her most. Maybe I was more prepared for the big things to bring me a constant, nagging pain, but the minor and mundane always seemed to hit me like a stake to the heart.

I was never ready for those moments. It only seemed to take the slightest thing to set me off, and there was never any warning.

Once it was when I tried a different brand of coffee. The aroma sent me in a torment of emotion, reminding me of our first days and first kisses. Another time, I had found a small patch of dark hair sprouting up on my back. I sobbed for an hour sitting on the bathroom floor because she wasn't there. I would never get the chance to hear her laughing at me and calling me a gorilla or something equally as charming.

Memories like that had been stolen from me, ripped from my hands and heart with her death.

Thirty-five year was a long time to live without her. A life-time of memories lived without my love by my side to share them with. And with our daughter married, her children growing and learning, their own lives being lived to the fullest, I knew I was ready.

Sure, there would be things I would miss. Not being able to watch our grandchildren grow up, marry and have lives of their own. I was definitely going to miss that. But nothing more than I had missed my Bella. I had missed her long enough.

The second, minutes, days, and years had been long and hard without her. I liked to think I did okay without her, that I had done her proud, but I also know that I would have done better with her.

Oh yes, I was ready. Ready for us to be reunited, ready for our forever.

It was time to go home.

I laid down on the soft grass, the morning dew soiling my clothes, but it wouldn't matter. Not where I was going. The flowers were clutched to my chest as if they were Bella themselves, having had represented her for so long. Represented the life she didn't have, the body that was buried beneath the earth. Their scent filled my nose, soothing me, comforting me, and I closed my eyes.

It didn't take as long as I thought it would. There was no pain, no nothing except for an overwhelming sense of peace. No air to fill my lungs, no sounds to tickle my ears, no thumping of my heart against my chest, no more aching in my weary joints. I just was, and then...I wasn't.

She was there, as I had imagined her to be for so long. As beautiful as ever, her radiant hair billowing around her with the invisible wind, her eyes vibrant, her smile blinding, her skin glowing with life. My heart soared, and my soul sang. My Bella, how I have missed you.

I've been waiting for you, she said to me. Her voice like honey to my ears, sickly sweet, thick and filling, my whole heart exploded with life and my love for her. I'd been waiting for her too.

The first time I died, I dreamt of our forever.

Chapter titles all came from quotes by the amazing William Shakespeare, so I don't own those either.

Again, thank you so much for reading. Press the little button and please tell me what you thought.

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