"That ought to do it," the nurse muttered as Bella's eyelids drooped.

The nurse promptly left the room, eyeing me suspiciously.

Even though she was obviously losing consciousness I rushed over to Bella to place my hands on her face, to hold her head still.

"Stay." Bella slurred.

"I will," I promised. "Like I said, as long as it makes you happy..." I hesitated, not long enough for Bella to notice. "As long as it's what's best for you," I added to my statement.

"'S not the same thing," she mumbled more inarticulate words.

Watching her trying to beat off the medication was kind of...hilarious. I laughed.

"Don't worry about that now, Bella. You can argue with me when you wake up."

A cheesy grin spread across her face as her eyes became small slits. '"Kay."

I continued to try and suppress laughter. I was very glad Emmett wasn't here, the jokes would never end. Looking down at my now drunken beauty, I brought my lips to her ear.

"I love you," I whispered.

"Me, too."

"I know," I laughed quietly at my joke, remembering her saying that when I finally sucked the venom out of her wrist and told her I loved her.

Again, I tried to suppress laughter as her head lulled sideways, her lips puckering at a funny angle, facing the opposite direction of my face. I shook my head and brought my lips to hers. "Thanks," she sighed.

"Anytime," I chuckled.

She went limp in the bed, but was still struggling to reach reality.

"Ed..war?" she tried to say my name, but it came out all wrong.

"Yes?" I smiled down at her

"I'm betting on Alice," she mumbled, her words clearer this time.

My humor vanished, a frown replaced my smile. This argument was far from over, but no matter what, our deadlock would remain. I kissed her forehead and sat down next to her to hold her hand until she wakes again.

Epilogue: Dream

The month after Bella's accident flew by. After Charlie had cooled down and quit blaming me for her 'accident' - which he had every right to do since it was my fault - things had been comparatively free of danger...besides the obvious danger that I always presented.

Regardless of our now quiet and semi-uneventful life, I was quite content. It had only become habit for me to stay in her room every night and each day absorb every word that came out of her mouth - sarcastic or not.

Looking into the mirror I could see my dark eyes and deep blue circles under my eyes from where I hadn't hunted in a while. It was hard to take myself away from Bella for any period of time, so my hunting habits had become less gluttonous than usual. Before the prom, though I would hunt.

In the corner of my eye I caught the black bag with a post-it note with my name written on it. Alice had purchased for me a new tuxedo. Unzipping the bag, I grabbed the coat to examine it. It was made by some famous and outrageously expensive designer. But clothes, no matter what kind of an occasion, were her specialty and you just learned to not argue with her. Putting the black coat back into the closet and making sure all my accessories were there, I decided to give Charlie a call.

The phone rang a few times before I heard Charlie's gruff voice on the other end.

"Hello?"

"Good evening, Charlie. It's Edward," I said politely, using my smooth voice.

"Ah. Yes." He coughed and cleared his throat before whispering into the phone. "She's upstairs right now." He laughed lightly. "She has no clue."

I returned his laugh. She sure seemed a little slow about something so obvious. What could she possibly be thinking we were doing tonight? Surely she had noticed all the posters around school with today's date and the words PROM plastered all over every inch of the school building.

"Thanks, Charlie. I will be there in a few minutes."

"I'll make sure she's downstairs and ready," he chuckled under his breath, still whispering.

When I arrived outside of her house I could hear her complaining to Charlie.

"So, Bells, what do you have planned for the evening? Alice showed me the dress you are wearing tonight."

"I don't know, dad. Alice wouldn't tell me, and Edward wouldn't budge either. For all I know they could be taking me to the Grammy's," her voice was clearly irritated at the lack of information we had given her.

Honestly, I was probably enjoying this much more than I should be. Usually, she is the one unlocking my secrets and me giving her all the answers. But the past two weeks have been kind of fun, especially every time she gave me her pouty face, which was absolutely adorable and almost impossible to resist. I decided before hand that if she gave me that irresistible face, I would just kiss her pouty bottom lip.

"I don't know about that. I told him to keep it in a fifteen mile radius."

"Ugh!" Bella groaned. "Did he tell you?"

During their banter I had made it quickly up the sidewalk and was standing outside the door, thoroughly enjoying their conversation.

"Nope. Not even a hint," I heard him chuckle.

"This is so annoying," she huffed.

I knocked lightly on the door, which was quickly yanked open to a smiling Charlie.

Bella was sitting on the couch, her head placed on top of her hands - which were intertwined like she was praying - with a look of pure devastation on her face. I laughed.

"Are you going to tell me now?" Her chin jutted out.

I shook my head, chuckling.

She folded her arms. "Fine."

Stepping around Charlie, I brought Bella into a deep embracing hug, like I hadn't seen her in months. Her tiny arms wrapped around me fiercely and she smiled reluctantly.

"Alice is waiting for you," I kissed her forehead and let her fragrance tingle my throat pleasantly.

Alice had become the best friend to Bella that she always envisioned, minus the scarlet red eyes - which I continually refused to give her, regardless of Bella and Alice's pleas. Though it pained me to see Bella's delicate leg casted on a daily basis, I knew that my sister was taking care of her during hours I wasn't allowed into the Swan house.

I shook my head to try and dispel thoughts of Alice, now, who is planning on entrapping Bella in her gym sized closet for hours today while I go out hunting with Jasper and Emmett. Her not-so-sneaky-way of telling Bella about the transformation process of how to become a vampire was her way of taking the strain of that kind of conversation off of myself by having Bella ask me. What she seemed to not be able to comprehend is that I didn't want to have that conversation, not just because I didn't want to bring it up, but because I never wanted to have that conversation in the first place.