Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, any of its characters, or Brighter Than Sunshine.

AN: I'm so so sorry for taking so long. And now, without further ado, onto the...

Epilogue: Brighter Than Sunshine — Aqualung

What a feeling in my soul
Love burns brighter than sunshine
Brighter than sunshine
Let the rain fall, i don't care
I'm yours and suddenly you're mine
Suddenly you're mine
And it's brighter than sunshine

Ten Years Later

The grin on Bella's face slowly grew the closer we drew to the house. I couldn't help but smile at her excitement as we raced through the trees. I reached over and grasped her hand, bringing it up to my lips for a kiss.

Bella turned in my direction, her heart-stopping smile lighting up her face, as my surroundings began to fade away until only she was in focus. She still, after ten years, made the world melt away for me.

I let my mind wander as we ran through the trees.

The last decade had been blissful, to say the least. As agreed, Bella had finished her senior year, graduating alongside Jasper, Alice and I, while the rest of the Cullen clan and Charlie hooted and hollered from the stands.

That night, I took her to the meadow and asked her to be my wife for all eternity.

And she said yes.

But her one term before marriage was to tell Charlie. Everything. She realized the risks involved—if the Volturi ever discovered that he knew of our existence, things would not go over well. But after many days spent agonizing over it, she realized that no matter what, she couldn't bring herself to hurt her father anymore by faking her own death. And she didn't want to have to say goodbye to him forever.

I had never been so nervous in my life.

Not only to tell him what we were, but to tell him what Bella was to become. That I was taking away his daughters humanity? It was my worse nightmare.

Bella and I had held hands as we sat across from him on the couch, slowly explaining everything to him. We did leave out the bit about the Volturi—there was no need to make him worry about Bella even more.

At first, he had laughed, thinking it was some sort of joke. Then his face had paled considerably when he realized we were serious. Then he had paced the room, ranting and raving. Then there were tears. And then there was hugging.

By the end of several long hours, he actually thanked me for letting Bella remain part of his life, even if we could only visit every once in a while. He was grateful that she wouldn't disappear from his world completely.

We had explained that she would be changed after the wedding, and that we wouldn't be able to visit for a while, that Bella needed time to adapt to the lifestyle.

Our wedding had been simple yet beautiful, with Alice and Esme transforming our backyard into the perfect spot for the ceremony. It was a small affair, mostly our family and Charlie, Billy and his son, and a few close friends from school.

The plan was, after our honeymoon—which, despite my protests, Bella insisted on being human for—we would meet up with Carlisle in Alaska for the change. Our family would slowly gather there, after a certain amount of time had passed.

The story for our human friends was that Bella and I were heading off to Alaska for college right after the honeymoon. Carlisle had already turned in his notice at the hospital, with the story that he had been offered an amazing position in New York, and he and Esme would be moving shortly after the wedding. Alice and Jasper were heading off to college as well, and Emmett and Rosalie were supposedly already at a university in Florida, although they had actually been shacking up somewhere in Europe.

Thankfully, Bella's change had taken less than two days—we guess it had something to do with the trace amounts of venom already in her system—but it was still the worst two days of my existence. It had been excruciating to witness my love in pain, and I could do a think to help except feel so utterly useless the entire time. All I could do was stay by her side, holding her hand the entire way, despite Carlisle's urgings to spare myself the pain.

And Bella had transformed, as I had known she would, into an absolutely stunning vampire that gave Rosalie a run for her money, much to my vain sister's dismay. She was still my beautiful Bella, but just less fragile, for which I was grateful.

She took to her new life like a duck to water. Perhaps it was the time she had to prepare mentally for the transformation, but we were all completely stunned by her adaptation. That's not to say that human blood did not tempt her those first few years especially, but she always managed to stay in control and not let her instincts take over.

And her gift. It hadn't taken long for her to have complete control over that, too. With a bit more practice, she was able to lower and raise her shield at will, letting me have access to her thoughts when she felt like it. The first time I read her mind, it was as if we were connected on an entirely different level, that I truly knew her inside and out. It was magically. Of course she liked to keep her shield up more than not, mostly just to tease me and drive me crazy.

And we were constantly working on expanding how far she could spread her shield to protect others. She could currently stretch it to envelope our entire house in Alaska, protecting anyone inside.

Like I said, my wife was amazing. She made me so proud.

And Alice had been right. Other than our required visit to the Volturi once Bella was changed, we hadn't heard from them since. Life couldn't be any more perfect.

My eyes wandered over to my wife, as they often do, and I was enamored all over again.

She caught my stare and quirked an eyebrow.

"What?" She asked curiously.

I tugged on her hand to signal that I wanted to stop for a moment.

"What's wrong?"

I dropped our joined hands and slid my arm around her waist, drawing her close.

"Edward, what are you—"

I silenced her question with a kiss that showed her just how much I loved her.

When we finally drew apart, I couldn't help but grin at her blissful expression.

"I just wanted to kiss my wife," I whispered as I pressed a kiss to her temple.

"Well your wife's glad you did," she grinned, delighted. "Now come on, husband, I don't want to be late."

We dashed through the woods, only pausing to gaze for a few moments at the now abandoned Cullen home, standing like a beacon in those dark woods. Here was where it had all began for me. For us. And we would be back. Not for many, many decades. Not until everyone who could possibly remember us was long gone. But this was our home. We would not be gone forever.

Bella squeezed my hand and smiled gently, reading my thoughts. I swear, sometimes it was like she was the mind reader. We dropped our bags off on the front porch, planning on staying there during our visit, and turned away, running until another familiar house came into view. Bella's speed increased the moment it came into sight. Once we reached the back door, Bella was bouncing on her toes, mirroring Alice's usual exuberance.

She knocked lightly, shifting from foot to foot while we waited for the door to open.

After a few seconds, it swung open to reveal an attractive older woman with a sweet smile stretched across her face.

"Bella! Edward! It's so wonderful to see you," she greeted, drawing us both into warm hugs, before ushering us into the kitchen.

"It's so great to see you too, Sue. And to be home. Is my dad here?"

Sue glanced on the clock on the kitchen wall. "He should be getting home in about half an hour or so. He's going to be so thrilled to see you!"

"It was actually Edward's idea to show up a few days before his birthday," Bella said, smiling up at me. "He thought it would make a nice surprise."

"I can't wait to see his face!" Sue said with a giggle. "Now where are your things?" She asked, taking in our empty arms.

"We left them over at the house," Edward dipped his head in the direction of the Cullen house.

"We we're planning on staying over there for the week. We don't want to intrude—"

"Nonsense. You're both family and will always be welcomed in this home."

Edward and I decided to go get our things later, and for now, settled in the living room, catching up with Sue.

Bella adored Sue, and was ecstatic that her father had found love again after all these years.

Sue had actually been married to one of Charlie's best friends, Harry Clearwater. But about a year after we left Forks, Harry died of a heart attack. Charlie stepped in and helped Sue get through that dreadful time, knowing what it was like to have your entire world shatter in an instant.

He also helped Sue with her teenage children, who lashed out often after their father's death. Both kids were now grown and happily married, and loved Charlie dearly. And the companionship Sue and Charlie felt slowly turned to love, until they were married more than six years ago.

Bella was thrilled that her father had found love again after so many years, and that he wouldn't be lonely anymore. I know leaving him was one of the most difficult things she had ever done, and she felt so guilty about it for so long. But now that she knew he was happy, happier than he'd been in years, Bella wasn't as weighed down by remorse.

As Bella was relaying one of Emmett's latest pranks, we heard a car pull into the driveway.

Bella jumped up, excited all over again. She ran over to the door and waited for her father's footsteps on the porch, before swinging the door open to greet Charlie.

"Happy early birthday, Dad!"

Charlie's stunned face was priceless, as the keys he had been fishing for slipped through his fingers and clattered to the porch.

"Bells?" He whispered, sounding confused. Then his face lit up. "Bella!"

He reached forward and scooped his daughter into his arms for a hug, laughing with delight. When he finally released her, he cupped her face in his hands, as if examining to see how she'd changed since last time.

But we all knew she looked exactly the same.

Charlie guffawed loudly, completely beside himself. "We weren't expecting you for a few more days."

"Well, we decided to surprise you instead. And we did!" Bella looped her arm through her fathers and ushered him to the living room. He leaned over and kissed his wife, before offering a hand to me.

"Edward, it's good to see you, too. You've been taking good care of my Bells, haven't you?"

I opened my mouth to reply but Bella beat me to it.

"Of course he is, dad," she said, rolling her eyes dramatically. "He still treats me like a queen."

"Well that's good to hear. So how long can you two stay?" Charlie asked, his arm still holding Bella close.

"We were thinking a week, if you don't get sick of us by then," Bella said with a grin. "We have finals next week that we can't miss."

"Well I'll take what I can get."

"We were hoping that you two might be able to join us for Christmas this year," Edward said. "I know everyone would love to see you again."

Charlie looked over at Sue, who nodded excitedly and answered for him. "That sounds wonderful. It's been so long since we've seen everyone."

Bella smiled brilliantly. "Perfect."

I sat back, content to just watch and listen while Bella grilled Charlie for details on everything and everyone in Forks.

I smiled as I thought about that day all those years ago when I saw Bella for the first time. Who would have ever thought that the little girl with the pack of crayons would be the part of my soul that had been missing for my entire existence?

That day marked the true beginning to my life.

I reached over and slipped my hand into Bella's, while she asked her father about her old friends. Her eyes slid over and met mine, and she smiled beautifully at me, before turning her attention back to her father, not missing a beat in her story.

I watched her animated expressions as she talked with her father and Sue, and my own smile, the one that had become so familiar this past decade of bliss, found its way to my lips again.

I never imagined that I would have ever gained my life back after losing my humanity. I thought the day I was changed marked the end of my life, and only dark, lonely days were left for me.

How wrong had I been.

Gazing at the light of my world, I knew this was just the beginning of our long, beautiful life together.

And no matter what may lie ahead, I know we will make it through, as long as we have each other.

Well, there you have it! I'm always so sad when it's time for a story to end, but then again, I'm always excited to start on the new ideas I have! A huge thank you to everyone who has stuck with me through all of my sporadic updates...I know those are never fun for readers. But I hope yall have enjoyed the story, and will stay tuned for my next one (which I have a new plan for: actually having several chapters complete before I even begin posting so I can keep some kind of an updating schedule). Anyways, for all those American readers, have a Happy Turkey Day this Thursday! Thanks so much for reading!

Lizzieloo