128This is it, the final chapter of this story. I won't ramble on too much here, I'll let you get on with it and see you at the bottom.
"Edward," I groaned, my voice holding none of the admonishment that I had meant it to, "We're going to be late." Even as I said the words, my hands slipped into his hair holding him to me as he trailed kisses down my neck.
He didn't speak, his mouth too busy as he went lower and lower, his lips now nipping at the top of my satin tank top.
"Please," I breathed, not knowing what I was even pleading for. He paused, looking up at me with a mischievous glint in his eyes.
"Please what?" he asked, his voice husky as his hands slipped down to the hem of my tank top, gripping it lightly but waiting for me to answer him. My core throbbed as his fingers lightly grazed my lower stomach, almost but not quite where my body wanted them to be.
Screw it. Or screw him more like it. My body won the argument against my head, and I pulled him towards me, my lips hungry for his. His tongue met mine, dancing together for a few moments before he pulled away and finally pulled my tank top over my head.
"Now, where was I?" he said, lowering his head to my chest once again, kissing exactly where he had left off. My hands once again slipped into his hair, and I gasped as his lips surrounded my nipple. His other hand slid up my body from my hip where it had been resting, to gently tease my other nipple. My back arched in pleasure and a moan escaped my lips.
I was almost ready to combust when he moved from my breasts, down my stomach, and slid my satin pyjama shorts down my legs. He settled between my legs, spreading them to look at me.
"God, Bella," he rasped, "You're beautiful."
He licked his tongue through my wetness, swirling it around my clit as he reached it. I gasped at the sensation, squirming beneath him. His hand came up, pressing down on my stomach to hold me in place. His tongue was relentless, circling my clit over and over and when he pushed two fingers deep inside me, curling them to hit that perfect place, I couldn't hold on any longer. I fell into the abyss, screaming his name.
I opened my eyes to see him hovering over me, a satisfied grin on his face. I smiled up at him, wondering what I had ever done to deserve him. He leaned down, kissing me deeply and I could taste myself on him, mingled with his own flavour, and it just made me want more. He settled between my legs, his hard length slipping through my dripping core. I gasped into his mouth when it glided over my clit.
He pulled both of my legs above my head, hooking them over his shoulders lining himself up with my entrance, and pushed deep inside me, never once breaking our kiss. He wrapped his arms around my legs and thrust into me over and over, hitting deep inside me. His mouth moved from my lips, trailing down my neck, his teeth grazing lightly. I moaned inarticulately with each thrust, and it wasn't long before we were both panting heavily.
"Oh, God, I love you, Bella," he groaned, "I'm so close. Come with me." His hand slid between us, circling my clit as he continued pounding into me. A couple more thrusts and we both went tumbling off the edge together, screaming each other's names.
~~~PS ILYF~~~
Twenty minutes later, after the quickest shower and a frantic drive across town, we arrived at our destination surprisingly only a few minutes late. We slipped into the back of the lecture hall, taking a seat as quietly as we could, though the professor still shot us an annoyed look. I smiled apologetically at him and quickly got my books out.
It had been almost a year since our run-in with the Volturi and we had since moved from our secluded house in Canada to a small town near Cleveland, Ohio. Edward and I had enrolled in university, both studying literature and creative writing. Despite my complaints that Edward would be bored with the course that I had chosen, he had insisted that for now he wanted to be near me, and after everything that had happened I couldn't really blame him.
Alice, Jasper, Rosalie, and Emmett had decided to take a break from school and studying for a while and had all found jobs in the area.
Alice was a personal shopper in one of the town's high-end stores. She loved helping people with their fashion needs and I loved it because she was less inclined to play Bella Barbie, now that she had other people to dress up.
Jasper had gotten a job teaching history in one of the other colleges in the area and he was loving it. Despite his reluctance when Alice had first suggested teaching, he had taken to it like a duck to water and often talked enthusiastically about his students.
Rosalie and Emmett were working together having opened a small car repair shop. Rosalie was doing all the big jobs, with Emmett helping out with some of the smaller jobs and, sometimes, still being her jack when there were no humans around.
Carlisle was, of course, working at a local hospital, and very happy to be back at it after a short break to help me during my newborn stage. Even Esme had decided to take up something new and was volunteering in a women's shelter. She was using her experiences with her abusive human husband to help women in the same situation, as well as providing them with necessities and helping them find new places to live.
We had also decided against all living together in one house. With only Edward and I attending university, the others had opted for slightly older ages and each couple had bought their own house to suit their needs. Edward and I had opted for a small apartment, while the others had gone a bit fancier with their houses. We still lived fairly close to each other and spent a lot of time together, still posing as family with Edward and Emmett posing as Carlisle and Esme's nephews and Alice as my sister. This was thankfully drawing a lot less attention to us.
I glanced over at Edward and smiled. He was listening intently to the professor and studiously taking notes, as he had been doing all semester trying to show me that he was interested in these classes and not at all bored. I secretly loved that he was taking the same classes as me. If I had still been human at college, then I would have made new friends to talk about my course with, but as it was, I needed to keep my distance from the humans, and it was nice to have someone to talk about it all with. I was doing a lot better being around human scents without my shield, though in crowded situations like this, I still usually kept my shield around me, but I was able to lower it around humans when they weren't sitting quite so close to me.
Usually, I would have been listening just as intently as Edward was, but today I was too excited. Even as a vampire, I could hardly sit still, and Edward reached his hand over to stop my leg from bouncing up and down.
"Excited?" he whispered with a smile.
"Very," I replied, "It's going to be a long day."
"You're telling me," he said with a smirk, "If I'm going to have to spend all day calming a very fidgety vampire."
I stuck my tongue out at him before quickly turning back to the professor who was now looking this way. I focused back on the lesson, trying my best to quell my excited fidgeting.
"Can we go?" I whined to Edward just as we finished our last class of the day. He was on the phone with Alice and I was fed up waiting for him.
"I gotta go, Alice," he said into the phone with a sigh, "Yes, very." He chuckled at whatever Alice had said, but I heard enough to know they were talking about me.
"Hey!" I shouted into the phone, "Like you can talk about being excitable, sister!" I heard her giggling down the phone and then a faint "Goodbye!" before Edward hung up the phone.
"We're going to be far too early," Edward said, "Even with the traffic that Alice was calling to warn me about, but yes, we can go now."
I raced to the car, forcing myself to keep to a fast human pace, and waited patiently for Edward as he rounded the car and got into the driver's seat.
It took us around 45 minutes to get to the airport, even with the pre-warned traffic and we had to wait around for nearly another hour until the arrivals board finally reported that the flight from Seattle had landed. I stood in the arrivals hall, my excited fidgeting just getting worse as I stood on my tiptoes trying to see over the crowd.
As soon as I saw her, I raced forward, wrapping her in a hug.
"Leah!" I squealed, "I've missed you so much!"
We had been keeping in touch regularly, talking on the phone at least once a week and she was keeping tabs on my parents for me and updating me. It wasn't the same as being in their lives, but it was nice to know that they were doing okay. My mom and Phil were still living in Florida and my dad had finally found himself a new girlfriend after all these years. A lady called Valerie, the new receptionist at his work. She had helped him through his grief at losing me and they had become close. Leah said they seemed really happy together and I was pleased for him.
"Yeah, and I'll miss my eardrums too," she said snarkily, rubbing her ears as I made a face at her, "I'm kidding. I've missed you too, Bella! It's been too long."
I finally pulled away, letting her greet Edward who was just standing at the side with a strange smile on his face, like he knew a secret I didn't.
"I've got your bag," I called as I gripped Leah's hand and began pulling her towards the exit.
"Wait," Leah said, looking a little nervous when I glanced back at her, "There's someone I'd like you to meet first." She looked behind her and reached out her hand, pulling someone up to her side.
"This is Mya," Leah said quietly, as though she was waiting for some judgement.
I glanced between them. Mya was fairly tall, just an inch or so shorter than Leah, her long golden-brown hair falling in soft waves down her back. Her grey-blue eyes flicked between Edward and me almost nervously, before she looked down at the ground. I looked at Leah's hand still holding Mya's before glancing back up at Leah. It was impossible not to see the love shining in her eyes as she looked at Mya.
"Did you...imprint?" I asked incredulously, lowering my voice to barely a whisper on the last word.
Leah nodded, a nervous smile creeping over her face as she waited for my reaction. Within a second, I had my arms wrapped around her again.
"I'm so happy for you!" I said, pulling back to speak to Mya, "I'm so pleased to meet you! Let's get back to our place so we can get to know you." Mya smiled nervously at me, greeting me in a quiet voice.
We made our way through the airport and I couldn't help but watch Leah and Mya. Their love for each other was so clear on both their faces. I'd been excited before, but now I could barely contain myself. I was so happy for Leah.
"She knows about us?" I whispered to Leah as we waited outside the restrooms for Mya.
"Yeah, sorry, imprint thing," Leah confessed, "It's impossible to keep anything from your imprint."
"It's fine," I assured her, "Is she okay with it all? Should we find you a hotel to stay at?"
"She's a little nervous," Leah admitted, "But she knows we are planning to stay with you, so I think she will be okay."
"Well, if she's not, it's completely understandable and we'll get you a hotel room," I said, "I want her to be comfortable."
"Thanks, Bella," Leah said, "I've really missed you. I've been bursting to tell you about Mya."
"Why didn't you?" I asked, a little put out that she had felt she couldn't tell me, but I also understood how hard this must have been for her.
"Some people haven't taken to it so well," she said quietly, "I thought you would probably be okay with it, but I wanted to tell you in person, not over the phone. It's all still fairly new too. We only met about a month ago."
"There's nothing you could ever do that would make me not want to be your friend, you know that, right?" I said, "You stuck by me during the worst time of my life, when I was barely alive. I'll always be there for you. As long as you are happy, I'm happy."
Tears ran down Leah's face, just as they burned behind my eyes, unable to fall, and I pulled her into my arms, so glad to have her here with me and so happy.
~~~PS ILYF~~~
A few hours later, we were all sitting in our apartment. Mya had relaxed a lot and now seemed much more comfortable with Edward and me. She was funny, sarcastic just like Leah, and passionate about sports. I knew that Emmett would absolutely adore her and I couldn't wait for him, and the rest of the family, to meet her. She was also just as besotted with Leah as she was with her. Every time I caught them exchanging glances when they thought we weren't looking, just made my heart melt.
I thought back to times Leah and I spent together, both nursing our broken hearts. Leah had dealt so much better with the whole Sam situation than I had with Edward leaving, but it had still broken her. It broke her trust and I had wondered if she would ever be able to trust another person with her heart again. And now, I looked at the two of us, both whole again. Mya had healed Leah's broken heart, and I could see that clearly in every smile they shared.
"Thank you," I said to Mya when Leah was in the bathroom. Edward had clearly sensed that I wanted to talk to Mya in private and excused himself.
"What for?" she asked, confusion shining on her face.
"For loving her," I said simply, "Leah is my best friend in the world. She was there for me through a really tough time when I wasn't really good company. But she saw past my sadness and reached out to pick me up."
"She was broken then, too," I continued, "Despite her jokes and the brave face that she put on, I knew deep down that she was struggling. But now, even in just the past few hours, I can see that you have healed her. You have pieced together her broken heart and there is not a single crack still left. So, thank you."
"It is not a hardship," Mya replied with a smile, "She is so very easy to love."
"That she is," I said with a chuckle, glancing up as Leah returned to the room, eyeing me suspiciously.
"Whatever she's telling you about me," Leah said to Mya, sitting down beside her and placing a hand on her knee, "Don't believe a word of it!"
"Someone's gotta keep her informed," I chuckled, deftly dodging Leah's hand as she tried to swat me away. Just then, the doorbell rang and I ran to answer it.
Our whole family piled into the room, all of them desperate to meet Mya. Leah had blended in well with the whole family when she stayed with us after the incident with Victoria and they all loved her.
Everyone greeted Mya and she looked a little overwhelmed to be surrounded by a bunch of vampires, but she was taking it almost as well as I had when I'd been human. Within a few minutes, she had relaxed again and was, not surprisingly, deep in a conversation about baseball with Emmett, with Jasper and Carlisle pitching in here and there.
Leah never left her side as she chatted with everyone, blending in with them all nearly as seamlessly as Leah had, and as a lull came in the conversation, she turned to look up at Leah, her eyes so full of love that I couldn't help the smile that spread across my face.
I wandered into the kitchen to join Edward, where he was preparing some snacks for Leah and Mya.
"They are so happy," I sighed, wrapping my arms around Edward's waist as he worked, "Mya is amazing."
"She is," Edward replied, turning in my arms to face me, "She has a fascinating mind, but every thought always comes back to Leah. They are perfect for each other."
I rested my cheek against Edward's chest, thinking about how the last piece had now fallen into place.
I was happily married to the love of my existence. We had our own little place with all the privacy we had dreamed of. Although I couldn't be a part of their lives, my parents were happy and fulfilled. I was surrounded by my new family, each of them so important to me. Our lives were once again calm, no rogue vampires trying to destroy our happiness. And now, my best friend has found her soulmate.
The puzzle was complete. Now, my forever with Edward could truly begin.
I hope you enjoyed the conclusion to this story. I wanted to round it all off with a happy ever after for everyone. I always felt that Stephenie did Leah dirty with how she left her story in the books. She played a huge part in my story and was such a good friend to Bella that she deserved to find her happiness too.
Just over a year ago, I never would have thought that I would have written not one but three stories (and a few one shots). By no means do I think I am an amazing writer, but my stories have turned out a lot better than I ever thought they would. I have read many, many fanfiction stories but I was never a writer, not even when I was a kid, and I never expected to be writing my own fanfiction. Then one night my brain kept me awake with an idea that I just couldn't get rid of until I had written it down. That then became my first story, Finding Her, which I never really planned to write past the first chapter.
I have a few people I need to thank, without whom this story (and the prequel) would never have been finished. Firstly and most importantly, my beta Denise (CoppertopJ) who has fixed all my typos, removed many 'reallys' and 'actuallys', listened to my confused ramblings during my spats of writer's block and generally just helped me to keep everything straight in my head. She has been an absolute godsend and I would have been lost without her! Also, Drotuno, whose story gave me the idea for To The Only Girl I've Loved Before. Her Angel series is absolutely amazing and if you haven't read it, go now! I promise you won't be disappointed. And lastly, my husband, who hates Twilight, but has listened to me rambling on about my stories and chimed in with his own ideas, even if most of them are ridiculous and mainly about the characters staying in a cute little B&B.
At the minute, I have no plans for any more stories, but never say never. Make sure to follow me just in case another idea keeps me up at night and needs to be written!
Thank you so much for everyone who has read, reviewed, followed and favourited. It really means so much that anyone at all wanted to read my writing and I love to see those notifications coming through, each and every one brings a smile to my face.
Janelle x