Edward's POV

The next day brought with it more and more mayhem. When I saw the sunlight begin to shine through the windows, I felt so much better about everything that had happened. Bella was still safe, and smiling up at me. Her change was still not a concern to her, and I really hoped it would stay that way.

"So, what are supposed to do now that it's morning?" Bella asked me quietly.

I chuckled a little before answering her. It would take a while to get used to the 'no sleeping' policy. It is very difficult, but we seem to manage fairly well under the circumstances. Sometimes, it's almost better that way. We can use the darkness to hunt in peace, and we can stay on full alert 24/7. Yes, sometimes I wish I could sleep. But really, it wasn't all that bad.

"Well Bella, we need to wait for Carlisle to come and get us. He said he wouldn't come until Vincent was gone and locked up far away."

At this, Bella smiled. I couldn't blame her. If Vincent had been following me and attacking me for so long, I would want him gone. Though the thought of having Vincent locked up was a huge comfort to me, I couldn't stop feeling that something else was starting. Inside, I knew that was something terrible.

As far as I could tell, Carlisle would be arriving here in a little less than an hour. I wanted to make the most of my time of privacy with Bella.

Softly I lifted her up and carried her over to the bed. There was something I had wanted to do. After she was seated and comfortable, I curled up beside her ad reached into my pocket. Bella's mouth dropped as soon as she recognized what I was holding. I smiled at her shocked reaction. In my hands, I held a small, dark-blue jewelry box. I had one chance to do this, and it needed to be done right.

"Bella," I started, taking her hands in mine. "Ever since I first saw you, I knew you were special. Little did I know we would have gone through so much in such a small amount of time. The beauty is, we did it together. Isabella Swan, I want to spend the rest of eternity with you by my side. I love you, please marry me."

My insides were shaking with anticipation. Bella's beautiful eyes filled with tears and she fell into me with sobs.

"Yes Edward, yes, I will marry you, I love you!"

Bella continued crying. I wasn't sure if that was something a Vampire could do, but Bella was capable of anything. I held her – my fiancée, and thanked my lucky stars for everything.

It was later in the afternoon that we heard a knock on the door. It was Carlisle, of course – nothing to be worried about. When I unlocked the door and pulled it open, Carlisle was standing next to two of the officers from the Unknown police department.

"Hey Ed – before we can lock Vincent up and have him sentenced, there needs to be a trial, and we need evidence. Our only evidence in this case is Bella."

My eyes flickered to Bella's frightened face as I made a noise to signal I was pissed off.

"There has to be more evidence!" I complained to Carlisle. "Vincent has been attacking and murdering innocent people for over six decades as far as I can remember!"

The two cops pushed Carlisle aside and went over to Bella.

"Excuse me, miss. We need you to testify in this case. Is the reason for your change Vincent?" One cop questioned Bella, and the other just stood there.

Bella being as shy and fearful as she was merely nodded her head in response.

"Look," I started on the both of them, grabbing Bella. "She has a scar. I pulled him off before he killed her, but I couldn't stop the venom from spreading."

I indicated to the gash that Bella had, and would remain to have on her lower neck. That is where she was bitten.

The cops examined it as if to make sure it was actually from Vampire fangs.

"Well," said one cop, "We were given a kit for extracting the venom from inside of you. We were given instructions to have Dr. Cullen perform the task, and we're supposed to bring the results down to a lab downtown."

This entire time I had been standing by Bella as a guard, holding her hand. Things seemed very strange now. Carlisle made his way toward us with the kit. In an attempt to protect Bella, I growled at him. He reassured me that Bella would be fine, and prepared the test. It involved one of Bella's least favorite things in the world – a needle. Sensing her discomfort, Carlisle began speaking to Bella.

"This shouldn't hurt a bit; it's just a tiny needle. We need this to get Vincent taken away, Bella."

Carlisle gently lifted up her left arm. Subconsciously his eyes flickered toward her new engagement ring. Carlisle knew I would be listening to his thoughts.

Nice, Ed. I'm really happy for you. I heard him think.

I smiled at him to indicate that I had gotten the message. Bella flinched slightly as the needle went in, but it was pulled out almost a second later. A tiny vile was filled with the clear venom, and Carlisle sealed it in a bag. He handed it to the cops, who then informed us to be at the town municipal building tomorrow at ten in the morning.

Carlisle breathed a sigh of relief after he closed the door behind the cops. He began talking to us.

"Bella, I am so sorry we have to put you through all this trouble to catch such a wanted man. And I hope you're ok with everything that's happened – and AGAIN I am so sorry. But… on a lighter note to the both of you – Congratulations! Bella, I knew this day would come. Welcome to the Cullen family. Wait until everyone heard about this!"

"When will we be seeing them now exactly?" I asked.

"Well, I think it should be safe to leave now," Carlisle told us.

With relief, I grabbed Bella's hand and we followed Carlisle out of the door. As we made our way to the car, I gave Bella a kiss and promised her that everything would be fine. To my surprise, she looked up at me in sheer terror. Poor Bella didn't have to say anything – I knew what had happened. Obviously she had seen something; someone's fear. I really hoped at that point it wasn't Carlisle's. That could be very frightening to Bella. I feared he would think about her possible death. It was times like these that I wished I could hear what Bella was thinking. I couldn't talk to her about this in front of Carlisle. But yet the important thing right now was comforting Bella. She had been shaking violently, so I held her tight until we arrived at my (and soon-to-be-Bella's) home.

"Omigod, congratulations!" Alice screamed as Bella showed her the ring.

"Welcome to the family!" Esme cried. Rosalie, Emmett and Jasper all said their congratulations to Bella and me. It seemed like the engagement was nothing shocking to them –yet her new appearance was.

"Bella you're so beautiful! Let's go fix that gorgeous hair!" Alice was excited.

Bella seemed much more relaxed in a familiar environment. We both followed Alice upstairs, and into her room. I sat down on Alice's bed as she sat on the floor, trying to style Bella's new flawless hair. The two girls went on in a conversation about all the events that had recently happened. As they talked, I rested my entire body down on the bed and concentrated on my own thoughts.

One thing was nagging me.

I really wanted to know what Bella had seen before when we were walking to Carlisle's car. She was so frightened and I could still pick up a look of worry in her beautiful eyes. I figured I would get this information when we were alone tonight. I planned on taking Bella on her first hunting trip to celebrate the engagement.

It seemed like reality hit me again. It was no longer just me and Bella. I wasn't sure if I liked reality anymore.