It's a long chapter this time, but it's the final one and rather than fiddle around and try and split it I decided to put it all up as one ~ enjoy!

Chapter 32 - Homecoming

"Bella?" Lord Edward touched my shoulder.

I turned my face away from the freshly mounded grave and looked up, bereft. "I can't cry."

"No." He knelt beside me, his eyes black in the moonlight. "We don't do that. I'm sorry Bella."

Sorry about my father, or sorry I could not even shed a tear to honour him…it didn't matter. "I wish I had been here with him."

"If you had been here with him, you would be buried here beside him," Lord Edward said softly. "I saw Alice's vision of it and there is no doubt. Your father loved you Bella, and all he wanted was to see you safe and cared for…he would have been glad, even at the end, that you would be spared."

I crossed myself and whispered the prayer for the dead. For Charles, my father…a prayer for goodbye. I closed my eyes and followed the prayer with one of gratitude, because I had loved him so dearly and by sending me away from him at the end he had given me the gift of this life I would make with my lord. I prayed, and the words sounded like music in the still, midnight air.

"He suffered very little," Lady Alice said gently. "He never stopped working and caring for everyone else…but he was so very tired, and when the end came it came very quickly. I saw it…Carlisle was with him, and heard his confession and gave a blessing. If anyone made a good death with the blue sickness, Charles did. He was the last one."

"The last one?" I looked up at her in sudden horror. "You mean…there is no one left?"

"Oh no, no!" Lady Alice hastened to reassure me. "I meant only that he was the last death. There will be no more dying…the pestilence here is over."

I covered my face with my hands. Lady Alice's words should have bought joy, but all I could think of were the dead. All those lives ended, all the fear and grief and sorrow…so many gone. Lorelle, Merek, Sir Hugh, Elric and Benedict, Damaris and Malin and Lady Aldith, Jocelyn, Charles… And I did not even know the whole of it, not yet.

I rose to my feet. I was a vampire now and did not feel tiredness, but there was a weariness to my spirit that kept my pace slow as I caught my loose horse and led him homeward. Lord Edward walked beside me, and when he silently reached for my hand I curled my fingers around his and together we walked under the gatehouse. Home.

A gaggle of half-grown hounds came bounding out of the stable to meet us, howling and whining in excitement. They all sniffed me as someone unfamiliar, but before I could comment on this there were footsteps on the stones and a hearty "Welcome back!" rang through the yard as someone somersaulted off the upper balcony and landed beside Lady Alice.

It was Lord Emmett, beaming a dimpled smile on us all as he engulfed Lady Alice in his arms. "You're back! And lovelorn and melancholy Edward with you too…and thank the Lord God above, he's actually smiling! But look at what else you've brought with you! Lady Bella, all whole and healthy and far from dead of the plague, as I see it."

Lord Emmett turned his mischievous grin on me and then, much to my surprise, swept me up in his arms as he had Lady Alice, laying a smacking kiss on each cheek. "Lady Bella, the newest member of the family by the looks of it like…welcome home baby sister." He lowered me to my feet with gentle care and whispered in my ear as he did so, low enough that no one else would hear, "Thank you for bringing back my brother and giving him reason to live."

He swung away from me and wrapped his arms around Lord Edward and Sir Jasper, and for a moment the three of them gripped each other tightly and I saw once again how much they all meant to each other.

"My dear Bella!" Lord Carlisle was beside me now, his smile bright even as he looked around at the suddenly busy yard with bemusement. "Welcome!"

"Welcome!" Lady Esme embraced me carefully, kissing my cheek and smiling at me kindly. "What a lovely surprise, Bella! As for you three…" She turned and frowned at Lord Edward, Sir Jasper and Lady Alice, but her twinkling eyes gave the lie to her pretence at sternness. "I think there are some explanations needed!"

"I'm sorry we caused you such worry!" Lady Alice said contritely, smiling affectionately at Lady Esme. "I can explain everything, and you'll see that we did the only thing we could under the circumstances." She looked at a little anxiously at Lord Carlisle. "We really did, Carlisle. There wasn't any other choice….we did the best we could."

"That's all I ask of you," Lord Carlisle said gently. "It is all you can ask of yourself."

"Let's get these horses in the stable, and then we can continue this elsewhere," Lord Emmett suggested, taking the reins of my horse and Lady Alice's. "We don't want to wake the whole place…or what's left of it," he added darkly.

Lady Rosalie took the other horses, and disappeared into the stable after Lord Emmett. She hadn't spoken, and she had been careful not to look at me. I couldn't help but remember how much she had resented my presence in her family group when I was a human, and I wondered anxiously how she would feel about my transformation into one of them.

I strained my ears to listen as I followed the lord's family towards their chambers, but even my sharp vampire ears could hear little. Certainly there were sounds of human sleep, but how many and who they were I could not begin to guess. I didn't even know if I could bear to know.

There was a fire in the upstairs chamber and, although I did not need the warmth it cast out into the large room, the ordinary glow of it was comforting. Seeing the castle, so familiar and yet so different when viewed through my new vampire eyes, had unsettled me a little, and I felt reassured by the normalcy of sitting by the fire and feeling the heat against my back. Lord Edward sat beside me, his arm holding me snugly against him, his lips occasionally touching my hair.

"Tell us how this all came about," Lord Carlisle requested, as Lord Emmett and Lady Rosalie slipped in and the family were finally all gathered together. "As far as we were aware, Alice was rescuing Edward from an unhappy fate at the hand of the Volturi and Bella was perhaps dying from the pestilence."

Lady Alice giggled. "It seems my vision of Bella's death was a little premature. Had Bella stayed human here at Castle Cullen I think we would be telling a very different story now, but I was a little overhasty in announcing her demise. Although I wasn't the only one who jumped to conclusions and acted without thought!" She waggled her finger at Lord Edward, who smiled sheepishly.

"I do owe you all an apology," he admitted. "I really have caused no end of trouble…and I was wrong. Not just wrong about Bella, but wrong about how much my family means to me and how much you have all been there for me." He ran a hand through his hair as he looked at each one in turn. "What we have here, all of us together, a family, is extraordinary. And for me to be prepared to throw it all away is unconscionable. I hope you'll forgive me."

"Of course we forgive you!" Lady Esme exclaimed, coming forward to embrace my lord. "Dear Edward, there was never any question of forgiveness! We are simply so relieved you are well and have returned to us safely!"

"And we are much relieved that Bella is here safe too," Lord Carlisle said with a friendly smile in my direction. "Although she is not in quite the same state as she was when we last saw her! How was it that the transformation took place?"

"The fault lies with me, and my wretched decision to go to the Volturi." Lord Edward grimaced. "Upon my arrival in Volterra I was granted an audience, and went before Aro, Caius and Marcus. Aro held my hand." He paused.

Lord Carlisle's shoulders stiffened.

"This is significant?" Lord Emmett had evidently caught the slight movement too. "Someone holding your hand?"

"Aro has a gift," Lord Carlisle answered. "He has only to touch the skin of an individual to see all their memories. Everything they have ever seen or thought or learned, everything they know…Aro sees it all."

"He knows everything I know," Lord Edward said. "All about our family, about our lives, he knows everything."

Lord Emmett gave a long, low whistle and shook his head.

"Aro was not inclined to grant my request. He gave the excuse that he would not wish to upset his good friend Carlisle, but in truth he thought someone with my particular abilities was perhaps too…useful." Lord Edward smiled wryly. "Although he was a little less pleased when he realised that my gift meant that all his musings and plots were an open secret to me! Rather than immediately deny me, they sent me away so that they might deliberate on the matter. I knew they intended to refuse however, and I came up with a plan to force their hand. I had gone to Volterra fully intending to die, and I did not intend to be thwarted."

"I saw what Edward planned." Lady Alice snuggled into Sir Jasper and took up the story. "It was very simple. He would merely expose his true nature to the humans in the square. No one would even be hurt. But of course the Volturi did not know his plan, and they dare not risk what Edward might do in public. They were watching him, and he would have been stopped before any humans had a chance to even catch a glimpse." She smiled at me. "I knew that it was only by seeing Bella alive with his own two eyes that Edward would believe me that everything had been a mistake. So I told Jasper to return to you in London and explain, while Bella and I went on to Volterra. It was the most appalling journey, made worse by the constant fear that we would be too late, but despite everything we managed to reach Edward in time."

"Almost in time," my lord added. "Unfortunately not before the Volturi were made aware of their presence. The three of us were summoned before Aro once again."

"And you really don't want to upset Aro," Lady Alice said emphatically. "Carlisle, I know you have spent time there and he calls you friend, but Aro most definitely can not be trusted."

"It would seem not," Lord Carlisle murmured, his face shadowed.

My lord went on. "I had always known that Bella being privy to anything about our world went against the laws the Volturi uphold. But I had always believed – foolishly – that any repercussions would fall to me. And indeed, Caius was most anxious to see me punished! However Aro counselled forgiveness, although only if the situation I had created was rectified immediately." Lord Edward took my hand and raised it to his lips. "In other words, Bella's transformation was ordered. At that point, there at Aro's mercy, there was no safe alternative."

Lord Carlisle nodded his agreement. "They do not take kindly to defiance. Was it you who bit Bella, Edward?"

"Yes." Lord Edward nodded. "It was utterly terrifying…I would have given anything I had to have you there beside me Carlisle! It is such a razor thin line between success and failure, and I could not bear the thought that I might be responsible for causing Bella's death. I believe Aro would have done it if I had requested he do so, and Philippe offered, but Bella wished that it should be me." He smiled at me before he turned back to Lord Carlisle and said in a lighter tone, "I do not know how you had the courage to attempt it! I had Alice reassuring me that she had seen a positive outcome and I was still so apprehensive I could scarcely make myself begin!"

Lord Carlisle chuckled. "It was truly not an action I took lightly, on any occasion! It is an awe inspiring responsibility to give someone this dark gift of immortality, and I trust that all of you would treat that responsibility with the degree of honour it deserves." His eyes roamed the room, taking in all of his family, and his mouth curved up in a smile. "But you have been a blessing in my life, all of you…I cannot regret my actions when I look at my family."

Lady Rosalie cleared her throat and stepped forward. Lord Emmett shadowed her, moving when she did, his eyes soft as he looked down at her in the firelight.

"I feel that I ought to apologise for the part I played in this," she said, her voice low but very clear. "I should have known better than to tell Edward what I did. I really did believe that Alice's vision told truth, and I thought Edward ought to know…but there was no cause for me to tell him the way I did. I never dreamed that it would cause all this. I'm sorry Edward, and Bella too." She looked at me. "I know you wanted to become what we are, so that you might be with Edward. But it should have been something undertaken with great consideration and preparation, not something forced upon you as it was, and I am sorry for the role I had in events unfolding in this way. I hope that you will bear no grudge, and that one day we may perhaps come to see each other as sisters."

"There is no need for apologies," I said sincerely. "What is done is done, and I cannot really feel any sorrow over it, not now." Being as one with my lord Edward was the fulfilment of a dream.

"Do not trouble yourself Rosalie. Had I not acted with such intemperance it should none of it have happened. I blame myself entirely." Lord Edward gave Lady Rosalie a rueful smile. "Forgive and forget, please."

She smiled at both of us, so radiantly beautiful it could take your breath away, and turned back to Lord Emmett. Lady Alice skipped over to her, talking fast as she told her about some of what she had seen in Volterra. Other conversations broke out, and I turned my face up to my lord as I felt him tighten his arm around me.

"Are you well?" he asked, his glorious face shadowed with concern. "I am truly sorry about your father. I hope that you do not find his absence here at Castle Cullen too difficult to bear."

I shook my head. It would take time to learn to live with my loss, but I thought that being here at Castle Cullen in the place I had felt close to him would help.

But being at Castle Cullen would not be quite what I had expected.

Walking in to the chapel the following morning felt almost surreal. How many mornings had I stood with cold hands and numb feet, listening to the priest and staring at the bronze head of my lord ahead of me? Now I was suddenly expected to walk with the family and stand beside him, my new position in the castle made abundantly clear by that simple act.

I gave little thought to how that might be received though, for as soon as I entered the chapel all I could see was the emptiness. Death had done his work thoroughly here as he gathered souls, and less than a third of the people who had once filled the room remained.

The ghosts lay heavy on my heart that morning, as I took in the faces in the chapel and mourned the missing; those who had died in the rushed, confusing and heartbreaking days that I nursed the sick, and those who must have passed while I was gone.

But there were moments of happiness amongst the grief, as I saw the loved and familiar faces of those who had been lucky enough to come through the storm. Mistress Hildegard was there, deep lines of strain newly etched on her face, but her manner as brisk and efficient as always as she tended the children who stood close by her side. Amongst them was little Nell, the child Lorelle had brought with her, holding a toddler who was almost as large as she was on her skinny little hip. Jacob was there too, an older and more tired looking Jacob than the laughing stableboy who had one day taken me riding and whispered of secrets and legends, but his dark eyes looked the same as he looked up and smiled at me. And Agnes too, had been spared, her face as serene and kind as always as she prayed in the candlelight.

The priest had died before I had even left Castle Cullen, but with so many of his brothers also lost to the blue sickness there had not been another priest to replace him. Instead Lord Carlisle led the prayers in the chapel that morning, his faith and conviction clear in his measured words.

Lord Edward stood close by my side, with Sir Jasper almost as close on the other side. At one stage I caught him looking down at me with a slightly puzzled frown, which changed to a self-deprecating smile when he saw me looking at him.

"Edward asked me to stay close," he murmured, so quietly that the humans would never hear. "He was concerned about you being in such close proximity to humans, in case you…"

"Lost control," I said, shrinking away from the potential horror I was capable of unleashing here.

Sir Jasper nodded, still looking faintly perplexed. "I would perhaps be able to calm you if it were needed. But the scent of blood so close seems to scarcely trouble you at all."

It was not until he spoke of it that I realised it, but Sir Jasper was right. The scent of blood, as mouth-wateringly delicious as it was, was merely background to me. It didn't raise that ravenous frenzy in me that the free-flowing blood in Volterra had. Within this context, I was quite able to keep my composure.

"I told you Bella's control was going to be exceptional," Lady Alice said smugly. "Whilst I would advise against complacency, I really do believe you are more than capable of this."

At the conclusion of the prayer service I began to follow Lord Edward as we led the way out of the chapel, but the sight of Agnes, and Jacob, made me pause.

Bella," Agnes said, a little hesitantly. "Welcome back." She tried to hide her confusion as she took in my new visage, so familiar and yet so unfamiliar. "I'm sorry about your father."

I thanked her and asked after her own health. She answered me, but her tone was distant and her face uneasy as she glanced at me and then to Lord Edward waiting for me in the doorway, and I let her go.

Jacob came towards me, and as I reached for him he gave a happy smile and caught my hands in his, squeezing them tight. But almost immediately he dropped them and stepped away, on his face a look that could only be described as revulsion.

I suddenly remembered a sunny afternoon, riding through the woods and listening to a laughing Jacob tell me stories. The cold ones…they kept coming back. They're immortal, and every so often would come a Lord to run the castle whose flesh was ice cold and whose body never changed, and the people would sense that they were something other.

Surely he couldn't know…

"Jacob," I whispered.

But Jacob swallowed convulsively and backed away, refusing to meet my eyes. "Excuse me," he muttered. "There are things I must see to." Without waiting for a response he strode rapidly away, crossing himself against evil as he did so.

I did not try to greet anyone else, and the few people who saw me and made moves to approach seemed to change their minds and veer away as they drew closer. They may not have been able to define why, but something about the changes in me made them uncomfortable, although none of them reacted so overtly as Jacob had.

"You need to stay away from him," Lord Edward said quietly, appearing soundlessly at my side.

"But…he's my friend…" I gazed after him.

Lord Edward touched my face, his eyes sad. "He cannot be that Bella. Not now. You are one of us…and this immortality does not come without a price. Human friendships are difficult, and Jacob's bloodline make any friendship with him an utter impossibility."

"His bloodline?" I queried. "You mean because he's not noble born? My lord, with all due respect, that is absurd…"

"What is noble birth but a lucky accident of fate?" Lord Edward shook his head. "Bella, I judge no one for their parents or place in life. But Jacob comes from an ancient line of people whose sole purpose was to protect humans from danger…protect them from creatures like us."

"He told me those stories, but he doesn't believe them," I said. "I mean, wolves?"

Lord Edward smiled faintly. "Is it so much harder to believe than that we exist? And they might be nothing but story and legend now, but Jacob carries the blood of the first people in his veins and whether he knows it or not, or understands it or not, he is our natural born enemy. And we fight our instincts all the time, but there are some lines that cannot be crossed."

The two of us paced slowly from the chapel, taking the winding stairway up until we stepped out on to the roof. Still thinking of Jacob, I gazed out across the rolling hills. At this time of year the arable land should be tilled and planted and the crops growing, but only small areas had been ploughed. Under the grey sky, most of the land lay fallow, fit only for grazing.

But as I watched I heard the distant sounds of laughter, and Lord Emmett came into view, mounted on the broad back of a plough horse. He guided it to the edge of the ploughed earth and then slid off, leading the horse on a slow line as it dragged the heavy plough behind it, turning up the soil. Sir Jasper followed him with another of the solid plough horses, falling into step behind him.

The sight of the two highborn men ploughing like any villein or serf rendered me temporarily speechless. Lord Edward saw my surprise and his face lightened as he smiled.

"You seem so shocked, my love!"

"They're ploughing," I said with a faint laugh. "It seems so…incongruous."

Lord Edward laughed too. "Perhaps so, but it is probably a good thing to give Emmett something useful to do that keeps him out of mischief!" His face sobered. "It may not be so rare now to see people step outside of their station in life…this plague has decimated the population, and I think it is not only Emmett and Jasper whose lives will change as we try and rebuild."

For a long time I didn't say anything as I watched the slow but steady progress of the heavy horses and listened to the birdsong and the repetitive, tuneless whistling of Lord Emmett. I thought of all those people gone, all the skills and knowledge lost with them, the way of life I had grown up with that had now been shaken to its utter core by the devastation that had rocked the world. I thought of how we might rebuild now, of people being called upon to do things that they would not have dreamt of before. Lord Carlisle leading the prayer service, the lords ploughing and harvesting, the cottar's girls brought into the castle as kitchen maids, Jacob going from being a stableboy to overseeing the yards and the stables. And me, from a small and mousy human to a vampire, from bread and ale to blood…

"It's going to be a very different world after this, isn't it?" I said slowly. "Not only for myself…but for everyone."

Lord Edward gazed across the fields, nodding thoughtfully. "I think so Bella. I hope that it doesn't make you too anxious?"

He turned to look at me, and I met his face with a bright, open smile. "No," I said with conviction. "I'm not frightened. I think that all will be well…after all my lord, could it be anything but now that we have each other – for always?"

My lord kissed me, and there on the castle roof, with the world stretching out around us, and the future stretching endlessly ahead of us, we pledged ourselves to each other again. The two of us together…always.

"Remember tonight…for it is the beginning of always." – Dante Alighieri

A/N – Thank the Muse, this thing is DONE! Finally! I have never, ever worked so hard to finish a story for this site, and I have to say thank you to every single person who ever left me a review or left kudos or favourited this, because without that encouragement I would never have finished it. Everyone has always been so lovely to me about my writing here, I'd be damned if I let anyone down with an unfinished story!

However, I concede that I am definitely, absolutely, NOT a Bella-and-Edward writer.

After all that though…I hope you enjoyed The Beginning of Always. Thank you for sticking with it, even though a satisfying story arc and resolution probably seemed very doubtful at times! Thank you for indulging my love of historical fiction and plague stories, and accepting my characterisation of Bella – I definitely came to love and appreciate her character a lot through the challenges of this story.