The Twilight Twenty-Five
Prompt: Fragments
Pen name: Amethyst Jackson
Pairing: Edward/Bella
Rating: M

Disclaimer: Neither Twilight nor When Harry Met Sally belongs to me. Please don't sue.

A/N: Thanks to Elizabethan for beta reading!

This chapter may need a little explanation for those who haven't seen When Harry Met Sally. Throughout the movie are interviews with older couples about how they met. I thought it would be perfect for the "Fragments" prompt to have some interviews with Twilight couples.

Chapter Twenty-Five: Fragments

Couple Interviews: January 1, 2020

Rosalie and Emmett

"We met in a bar."

"Ugh, you make it sound so sleazy. No, he was at the bar, hitting on every woman that walked past, and I was bartending. I finally got fed up and told him to stop being such a douche."

"I told her I'd prove I wasn't a douche if she let me take her out to dinner."

"I only said yes because he had cute dimples."

"I took her to Chuck E. Cheese."

"Weirdest date I've ever been on, by far."

"But she stuck around."

"He jumped right into the ball pen with a bunch of seven-year-olds. I thought he'd make a great father. And I was right."

"We've been happily married for ten years now."

"And counting."

Carlisle and Esme

"We were within miles of each other our whole lives, but we didn't meet until 1978."

"We were both born in Chicago, in the same hospital."

"Turns out, our families lived blocks from each other for years."

"My family moved to Washington when I was fifteen, hers a year later."

"We even went to rival high schools."

"I went to U-Dub for pre-med, and she went for a degree in the Humanities."

"We finally met at a Sex Pistols concert in California."

"I rescued her from a mosh pit."

"He helped patch up my broken nose. Didn't even leave a bump."

"She was my first patient."

"Isn't it amazing? Twenty years in constant proximity, and we never met."

Garrett and Kate

"When I met Kate, she was working on the 2008 Obama campaign."

"Still proud of it."

"Yeah, she dragged me into it, even though my parents raised me to be a good Republican."

"Oh, please. There was a closet liberal in you, just lurking beneath the surface, waiting to break free and flourish."

"I thought she was insane, but she was the most interesting woman I'd ever met, so I agreed to lick envelopes if she'd go out with me."

"I totally got the better end of the deal. I hate licking envelopes."

"By the time the campaign was over, I was ready to marry her."

"But I beat him to it. Got tired of waiting and popped the question myself."

"Of course, I said yes. Gotta love a woman who knows what she wants."

Aro and Caius

"We grew up in the same small Italian town."

"We bonded over our ridiculous names."

"I've never understood my name, but I rather like Caius. It has a nice ring to it."

"Hmmph."

"We moved to Rome as soon as we were old enough. Coming out in a tiny, ultra-Catholic town is never a good idea, in my book."

"Yes, it was nice to avoid the cursing and flying objects."

"Anyway, we've lived quite happily together for forty years now. All's well that ends well."

Sam and Emily

"I grew up in the city, but Sam lived on the reservation. We didn't meet until I visited my cousin one summer."

"Her cousin that I happened to be dating at the time. I feel terrible about it to this day, but I couldn't help pursuing Emily. The moment I saw her, I just…knew. She was the one I needed to be with."

"My family didn't like it – they didn't want me to end up on the reservation."

"They didn't care for it on the Rez, either. The slightest conflict can divide a small community like that."

"But we wouldn't give each other up. They had no choice but to accept us."

"And we were right."

Irina and Laurent

"I found him at a strip club."

"I was one of the strippers. She took a fancy to me. I wondered what such a beautiful woman was doing in a strip club. She could have any man she wanted."

"I liked to see men take their clothes off without all the fuss. And he was one of the most beautiful I've ever seen."

"She hung around until we closed and went home with me."

"I thought we'd have a one-night stand, but after the first time, I knew I'd have to have him again."

"She's been 'having' me for five years now."

"And I will for many years to come, I promise you."

Ben and Angela

"We went to high school together. I had the hugest crush on her."

"I always secretly liked him, too, but I was with someone else."

"I saw her again in the dorm dining hall. I hadn't even known she'd decided on U-Dub."

"When I saw him walking toward me, I thought he was coming to talk to my new roommate, Marie. Guys were always crossing rooms to talk to her."

"But of course, I was coming for you. I've always thought you were the prettiest thing I'd ever seen."

"I couldn't resist him anymore. I broke up with my boyfriend that night."

"The next day, we went on our first date."

"Best decision I ever made."

Edward and Bella

"In the beginning, we hated each other –"

"No, you hated me. I had no problem with you. Liked you a lot, even."

"And then we became friends. Really good friends."

"We were friends for a long time –"

"– and then we weren't."

"And then we were lovers."

"It sounds simple, but… it's not."

"Okay, so maybe there was that time we slept together and I left a not-so-eloquent note, and you freaked out, and we didn't hash it out until a couple months later, but everything worked out in the end."

"I'm just glad he was so persistent."

"One of us has to be."

"Anyway, we got married nine months later."

"Ten years and nine months, actually."

"And the wedding wasn't the torture I thought it would be."

"I really did try to talk her into a Spanish Inquisition theme, but she wouldn't go for it."

"The honeymoon was great, too. Perfect. Except for that day a French guy selling adult magazines tried to feel me up, and I had to bail you out of French jail for assaulting him."

"Ugh, I'd repressed that memory. If the police hadn't arrived so quickly, I would have thrown him into the Seine."

"Sure you would have, sweetie."

"What? I would have."

"No, I believe you."

"Oh, this woman. So hard to impress."

"Well, we're sitting here today, aren't we? You must have done something right."

A/N: So this is it, the end of this story. This is the last chapter. I'm so happy to have accomplished this challenge in just two months, and even happier that so many people have so enthusiastically come along for the ride! I've loved every minute of it, mostly thanks to you, the readers. I'll be sad to end this story, and I know many have said they'll be sad to see it go, but now I can get back to Bonne Foi full time. I'm hoping to begin the EPoV of Only Human soon, too, so be on the lookout.

A quick explanation of the timeline, as I know there will be people wondering – the story begins with Bella and Edward driving to college in 2006, as it occurs in canon. They become friends nine years later, in 2015. They get married in 2017, and the previous chapter then takes place in 2027. I set the couple interviews in 2020 for a sort of in-between date.