Author's note: This fic is kind of the missing scene from "A Thousand Packs of Wild Werewolves", but even if you didn't read that one, you will still get this story.
My stomach was in a knot; a feeling I knew only too well. It was a mixture of fear, anxiety and most of all nervousness.
Edward took my shaking hands and pressed a kiss on each of my fingers but nothing could stop them from trembling.
For you see, today was the day I announced mine and Edward's engagement.
It was also the day I would announce to my family that in a short while, I would be dead. Well, technically un-dead, but it's the same difference really. No beating heart, pale skin, and no body heat.
From that point of view, I doubted that anyone would want to become a vampire.
"Bella?" Edward asked, "Are you okay? You're shaking like a leaf!"
"I'm not okay!" I snapped. "Sorry..." I sighed. "I'm just nervous."
He gave me a small kiss. "And you have every right to be, love."
We sat together for a few more minutes in comfortable silence before Edward got up. "I have to go. Your parents just got home." Just as he finished his sentence, I heard the cruiser pull up, the gravel crunching as Charlie parked the car. He gave me a quick peck on my cheek. "I'll be by later on," he promised before he ran off, leaving me with a grin on my face.
But the grin lasted for only a moment for then the door opened.
"Bells?" Charlie called out.
I rushed down the stairs and noticed my mom and Phil right away. Neither had changed from the last time I saw them, but I knew that I had changed more than they could ever imagine. And, I was going to change even more soon enough.
"Hey Mom, hey Phil. How was the flight?" Momentarily, I remembered my own flight and the drive back to Charlie's. It probably resembled my own arrival to Forks.
"Fine, fine. Phil got a little airsick, but that's all."
"Too much turbulence," Phil said, trying to defend his honor.
We all laughed, but it seemed to be strained. "Supper's ready for whenever you want to eat," I told them, gesturing towards the kitchen. "I made spaghetti."
"How about Phil and I get settled in the basement and then we'll eat?" Renee suggested. I nodded and they carried their bags to the lower level. Charlie and I were left standing awkwardly next to each other.
It took them no longer than twenty minutes before they came up. Renee and Phil sat next down and Charlie came into the kitchen to help me bring in the plates. Once everyone had sat down, we seemed at a loss as to what to do next. Feeling brave, I picked up my fork first and began to eat, which seemed to tell everyone they could begin too.
"So, Bella, are you still with that Edmund or Edwin or whatever his name was?" Renee was nothing but blunt and for a moment I let my mind wonder what Edward was really doing before snapping back to reality. I'd see him soon enough anyway.
"Yeah, I'm still with Edward. In fact, he's the reason that you're here. He wants to meet you
and-"
"You're not pregnant are you? Cause if you are, don't expect us to be happy for you. You're only 18!"
I nearly choked on my pasta. "Excuse me?!" I was shocked but then I started laughing. If only my mother knew! "No, I'm not pregnant! My god, Mom! We haven't done... that..." My face turned red at the thought. I couldn't believe I was having this conversation with my mother at the dinner table in front of Phil and Charlie.
"Well then, why does he want to meet me? If you're not pregnant, which is a great thing cause I'm too young to be a grandmother. Does he want money? I'm not giving him any and-"
This time I interrupted my mother. "Mom! He doesn't want money. The Cullens have enough for twenty lifetimes!" How true that was!
"Well then why?" Both my father and my step-father seemed uncomfortable witnessing this argument. They looked like they wanted the ground to swallow them up in case either one of us were to include them.
But, before I could come up with an excuse, the doorbell rang. "Thank the lord," I muttered. I ran to the door and flung it open. In front of me, Edward in all his might.
"Hey... things are pretty tense in there. I thought I'd rescue you." He gave me a small kiss on the cheek.
"Thanks." I whispered. Louder, I said, "Come in. I was just about to tell my mom the news."
He walked next to me back to the living room and smiled. "Oh, sorry for interrupting supper. Bella, why didn't you tell me you were eating? I would have come back later."
"Why don't you join us?" Charlie asked, eager to have something to disrupt my mother's ranting.
"Well, I'd love to sit with you guys, but I actually just ate." A little grin appeared on his face that I recognized right away. It dissolved back into his famous crooked grin that I loved so much.
"I'll get a chair for you," I told him, disappearing into the basement to grab a folding chair. I made my way back up the stairs and miraculously didn't hurt myself. When I got back into the kitchen, Edward was sitting in my chair, telling my family the story of when he caught Emmett taking a bubble bath. The idea of the big vampire in a little tub surrounded by bubbled and a rubber duck was hilarious.
"Here, let me grab that from you," Edward said, coming to take the chair from me. His eyes glistened with laughter as he lifted the chair from my hands. He smiled and winked before pulling his hands on the small of my back and leading me towards the table. My vampire placed his chair next to mine and waited for me to sit before seating himself. Under the table, he grabbed for my hand and I slipped it in his.
"So Edward, where are you from?" Phil asked, breaking the tension that hovered in the room.
"Well, originally I'm from Chicago, but we lived in Alaska before we moved here." His hand gripped tighter on mine when he spoke the name of his birthplace, and I squeezed my hand to reassure him, although I don't know if he felt it.
"Isn't Alaska cold?" Renee asked.
Edward laughed. "Yeah, it is. But where we were wasn't that bad. It was closer to British Colombia than to the ocean."
Supper continued with questions in between bites of food. After we ate dessert, we when back to the living room and my parents and Phil sat down. Edward and I stood in front of them, our hands clasped.
"Mom, Dad, Phil, there's something we need to tell you," I told them, biting my lip. "Edward and I are getting married."
The jaws of each adult dropped.
"Are you serious?" Phil asked.
We both nodded.
"But you're so young!" my mother exclaimed. "You should learn from my mistake. Don't marry on a whim!"
Charlie flinched. "Now, Renee..."
"Shush!" she told him, scolding him like a little puppy. "How could you let this happen?"
"Excuse me?" Charlie's face was getting red. "I didn't do anything to let this happen! I let our daughter see her boyfriend and if they want to get married, that's fine with me."
"Oh Daddy, really?" Seldom did I call my father that, but excitement boiled in my blood. At least someone was okay with it.
"Yes Bells. You are an adult, you are a woman and I think you have proven to make good choices. Although I don't exactly like Edward," he gave him a glare before turning back to me, "he's proven to be loyal to you. I just hope that the reason you're doing this is because you're pregnant."
I grinned. "No, I'm not pregnant. Thank you so much Dad!" I gave him a big hug, which made him lose his balance for a second before returning it.
"Renee, I know you don't approve, but you don't see these two together. Now, I'm not much of a romantic, but the way they look at each other is as if the world could be falling down around them, but as long as they still have each other, they'll be fine. And, I have to say Edward has always come through for Bells."
"He left though. He left, and our daughter was broken. How am I supposed to forgive that?" Renee asked.
"Bella forgave him. You're not the one marrying him." Never in my life had I felt as proud of my father as I did now.
Phil wrapped an arm around my mother. "If Bella wants to marry him, she's legally an adult and will probably do it without your blessing. I think that she would appreciate if you didn't oppose." He looked up at us and smiled. "As for me, I like the guy. He seems like he would take good care of Bella."
"I'm the only one who's not keen on this idea?"
"Well, Mike Newton and Jacob Black probably won't like the idea very much either," Edward said, a hint of a mischievous grin on his face.
"Who?"
Charlie and I laughed, but mine was slightly forced. "No one Mom. Just some guys with silly crushes." It took a moment before the pain of my ex-best-friend went away.
"There's also something else," Edward said, but it was more of a reminder for me than anything.
I sighed. "You might all want to sit down for this..."
I wasn't sure where to begin so I started with a simple statement. "Edward and his family are vampires." After the shock of the sentence wore off, I continued. "There's not the Hollywood version that sleep in coffins and burn in sun light. And the Cullens don't eat humans. They live off animals, more or less like we do... except they drink up all their blood instead of eating their meat."
"Billy was right?" Charlie gasped.
I nodded and continued. "Edward is going to change me before we get married. I had to tell you because I couldn't just up and leave. The rest of the Cullens didn't have to worry about leaving family because they were alone in the world when they were changed."
"So you were warning us that if you were to mysteriously 'die' in some freak accident not to worry or something?" Renee asked.
"Um... not really. It's more of a warning that if I come see you in about twenty years from now, I'll still look like an 18 year old."
"So you'll always look the same? Wish I could still look like I'm 18..." Charlie said, muttering the last part.
Renee and Phil stayed for a week and promised to be back for the wedding in a couple months. We had planned it for late August, that way I could learn how to control myself around humans for two and a half months during the summer.
The night I was going to be changed, Edward brought me back to his house. Since they lived far from town, no one would hear my echoing screams of pain.
What a morbid thought.
"Are you sure?" Edward asked, his light eyes filled with worry and concern. He had gone hunting for a couple days to ensure that he would not be in the slightest hungry, but I could tell he was still scared.
"Edward," I gave him a small kiss, "I'm positive. It's the only way we'll be together forever."
He took a deep breath and exhaled, only to take another deep breath.
"What are you doing?" I asked, curious.
"Smelling you one last time," was his curt reply. "I love you."
"I love you too."
He gave me a long kiss, which made me dizzy before pulling back. He kissed my neck on the spot he was to bite and then he did it. At first, there was no pain, only a strange feeling. Suddenly, pills were being shoved down my throat and I swallowed, but the pain that erupted in my neck made it hard to swallow.
"Come on love, swallow the pills. It'll make it all better. I promise." If vampires could cry, I bet Edward would be sobbing. "This is what you get for refusing to take pills before the bite."
Somehow, I swallowed the sleeping pills and within half an hour, the pain was reduced to a horrible throbbing instead of a pain so intense you weren't sure you were ever to feel good again.
The rest of the transformation was a blur, faces mixing into one and horrible dreams of fighting vampires and werewolves. The only things I remembered vividly were Edward's sweet kisses and soothing words that didn't do anything to alleviate the pain that coursed through my entire body.
When I woke up, I felt born again. I got up, with Edward's help for I felt wobbly, and looked at my reflection in the mirror.
I was beautiful.
Edward kissed my neck. If he had been a normal man, he would have had a bit of a beard growing and bags under his eyes, but since he was a vampire, he just looked tired. "Are you okay?" he asked.
I nodded. "I'm great."
"Good."
"Good."
We looked at each other in the reflection of the mirror and I smiled. "I love you. That's why I pressured you to do this."
"I know. That's why I did it."
Author's note: Okay, I know it took me FOREVER to post this, but in my defense I have been super busy. There was exams and a new semester, I have myself a bf now and I've been spending lots of time with him or talking on the phone to him and I'm hanging with my friends. Such a busy life. But, I promise in the future I will truly try to post things sooner.