We all see things differently. In canon, Edward belonged to Bella and Bella alone, and she knew that. When he said mate, he embodied what that meant, even when he pushed her away. In this story, Edward ran off with another woman and had a long sexual relationship with her while Bella was left behind at his whim. In other words, to forgive him as quickly as she did in the original would make Bella an absolute moron!

Actually I'm Switzerland, but I think Edward gets more than he deserves, and Jacob gets a bad rep he doesn't deserve.
(I just found out this isn't the last one of your's to read. I'm glad there's more, and I'm not done yet.)

I just realize I hadn't commented on the story, so I have to go back to another chapter.
You gave both Bella and Edward time to grieve. For Edward, more time to really regret his lack of trust inn Bella, that he had truly manipulated her. For For Bella to grow up, and to show that she had made her own decisions. But you also gave her a life with Jacob. For both, but especially for him, one they deserved. He died doing the one thing he wanted, fighting for Bella. (As you can maybe tell, I'm team Jacob.)

I'm not a fan of third person. It makes it hard to get involved with the characters. It meant it took awhile for me to accept the changes in their situations. By the middle or so, I was able to I get it together. As you can see, I read it clear to the end.
I have read all of stories, and this is the last one. I'm happy for everyone.

No better than before.

so i cant understand how he could love her so much forever yet able to bed tanya
so easily...just a few days later for distraction sake, he was having sex giving up
his virginity to tanya...something he saved for a century...
if he was so easily distracted with sex to forget bella for those minutes, who is
to say he cant do it again?
next time something dire happens and he needs some distraction and bella is not
available and tanya is...
i cant understand how bella was able to forgive so easily...even with those conditions,
it's stupid how she gave in so easily...
she should have just left him for a while...let him think and brood about his mistakes
let him beg on his knees or something to that nature...
i'm not sure how i feel about this story...
it was well written but the content... not sure if i agree nor like it very well...

I loved this story! Thanks so much for sharing it

Thanks for the tip on the Arctic Monkeys version of that song – I do like it.

I like your variation on Alice’s Bella-Barbie hectoring: "Bella, put that book down!” Very Bella.

Loving happy Edward:
‘“You can't fly commercial," he pointed out. "It would be a bloodbath. Either that or we'd get arrested," he added with a smirk.’

A wonderful idea: ‘It was the first time they had been alone together indefinitely, not accountable to parents or teachers, not disturbed by siblings or friends. In Siberia they had world enough and time to play, to enjoy each other, to study, to talk about anything and everything.’
Smiling sigh.

Good job on Charlie’s thoughts upon seeing vampire Bella for the first time:
‘Had they joined a cult? Made a pact with the devil? How could she look like that? "Bella, what did he do to you?" Charlie choked out, taking a step back.’
I definitely appreciate that you brought Charlie back into their lives.

Snicker: "I'm in for at least a century of frog jokes now."

Oh my gosh, Emily and Sam’s twins being named after Bella and Jacob. That even got to ME!
‘A familiar wave of grief for the friend who should be here, who should be anticipating descendants of his own rather than being memorialized in the children of his comrades.’ So true.

A good point, though – a cost of immortality:
‘In accordance with the Cullens' way of life, she had intended to avoid precisely such entanglements. Now there will be another precious soul to love and worry about and eventually to lose and to mourn.’
Two more, right?

Wow, great phrase: ‘Jasper's voice reciting the words of the ritual that bound together what his own lapse had once sundered…’

Perfect balance of appreciating what the wedding means to Bella and the others without drowning us in organza details.

A nicely done epilogue to a tale that insisted on following its own premises faithfully, even when some parts were indigestible by some of your readers. It was always intriguing and engaging. Thank you for this one-of-a-kind story!

Smile: “I just told you I felt like the luckiest man on earth, and then right away I asked for more…”
Yes, he did. Very human of him.

An effective variation on the “dead heart” trope: ‘…the joy and wonder that hit him feel powerful enough to jolt his heart back to life.’

Hmm, after what they’ve been through, I can see this motivation to marry: “…it's a way to make a break from the past. To show that this is a fresh start. We belong together, and I want everyone to know it."

And then later, she thinks that in high school ‘she would have scoffed at the idea of marriage. Marriage seemed so earthbound and temporary, not at all in tune with her feelings for Edward. But witnessing and enduring death—Victoria's and Jacob's and her own—have given her a new perspective. … She wants to do things now, because there is no guarantee of tomorrow even for immortals.’
Very well done.

Aww, sweet: "Bella, you just agreed to be my wife. You're safe, and nothing can take you away from me anymore. I feel like I've landed in Oz. My life just changed from black-and-white to brilliant color.”
And more vibrantly expressive than we’re used to from Edward!

Cute that back in high school he already scoped out the easiest way to get married.

My favorite bit of the whole chapter: ‘…conspiring together creates a different kind of happiness. It feels so comfortable. Their relationship had begun with sharing secrets and experimenting with behavior that went well past prudence, and now they're back in business.’

I enjoyed that Edward discovers he can distract Bella from her lust for human blood with lust for his body. And it makes perfect sense given canon human Bella’s inclinations!

Nice: ‘She has an inkling now of the extreme control he had exercised every moment in her presence. Now it's her turn to exert herself for something they both want.’

Good conversation, too, “catching up” on their lives while they were apart. Edward is understandably curious about some things, without any territorial nonsense. And I notice Bella doesn’t raise any questions about Tanya – wise choice.

Yummy:
‘Eventually, Edward pauses to check whether Bella is sufficiently distracted. He leans his forehead against hers. "Do you think you can handle it?"
In reply, he gets a single word: "More."
Her ragged tone inflames him. "We have to do everything we can to protect innocent life," he murmurs as he slides his lips along her neck and arrives back at her warm, delicious mouth.’

I love a playful Edward. We got so little of that in canon.

I loved that you used the “Tell Him” song for this chapter. Yes, that’s all that’s left.

Nice: with Bella’s new vision ‘Everything about him is utterly familiar and yet astonishing.’

Well said: ‘And why would she want to be with someone who treated her the way he had? The ground has shifted under his feet. The old convictions have been exposed as empty and swept away, and he has to become a new man to have a place in this new world.’

In a way this is a relief for her: that day in the forest “I wouldn't have listened. My mind was made up. There was nothing you could have said or done.”

Unexpected, but entirely believable:
“I didn't trust your love to last. What I was most afraid of I did to you, so I would never have to face that possibility. I just didn't think I deserved happiness. So I gave it up before you could snatch it away from me."

An unusually mature viewpoint from Edward:
“I don't have good things in my life because I'm worthy of them. I don't know why I have good things in my life. There is no reason. Because I'm lucky."

Smile: “I'll never stop trying. And I have forever now. Even if you'll only see me once every hundred years, I'm yours."

Wow, re Jacob:
“I consider him one of the best friends I'll ever have. He kept you safe when I didn't. I owe him everything, and I'll never forget that.”
Good for Edward.

Much better:
“I'm not going to run your life. I want you by my side, I want your help to run my own. I've been a fool, but I can change."

Hmm, Tanya helped hold Edward together the same way Jacob helped hold Bella together. I hadn’t thought of it that way.

Excellent point: "Edward," she says tenderly. "I didn't fall in love with you because you always did everything right."
That would certainly have been a surprise to canon Edward.

Nice: "But I'm not warm. I don't feel the same."
"You make me feel the same.”

Good description of all the ways their physical connection is even better than before.
I almost laughed out loud that he’s still on “Marry me first”, though. So he could screw Tanya countless times, but with Bella he wants to wait till after marriage? Sigh, he’s still warped in that special Edward way.

Excellent description of Edward’s thoughts as he and Bella run through the woods. He’s got a lot to process!
Especially good: ‘He feels at home in this place. And Bella is with him. That precious state of affairs is also familiar to him. But she's not riding on his back. She's running beside him. Because she is a vampire.’

I like the way you imagined this: ‘Bella's presence is making every cell in his body rejoice. Her scent is the same exquisite siren's call, compelling him to draw nearer and take possession, but it's purified, distilled to a transcendent essence.’
Makes perfect sense to me that a singer's scent, though altered by absence of human blood, would retain its powerful draw.

Smile: ‘He doesn't look at her, because if he did, he'd have to stop running and do nothing but feast his eyes for as long as she would allow.’

Well done flashback, Edward and Tanya driving close enough to Alice & Jasper’s house for him to pick up Alice’s thoughts of Bella asking her to be changed. So that’s how Tanya knew all this! And eventually ‘Tanya texted Edward to go ahead [to Forks] without her.’

Wow what an interesting conversation (debate?) between Alice and Edward.
Good insight from Alice: "My talent is an advantage in many ways," she acknowledged. "It's a blessing, but it also forces me to be humble. I see what will happen, and often I can't change anything, like it or not.”

Excellent take on the limitations of Edward’s gift:
“In the land of the blind the one-eyed man thinks he's pretty special. But he only has one eye. You know more than other people but you don't know everything."
Especially when it has anything to do with Bella, because of course his gift doesn’t work on her.

As good an explanation as any, from Alice:
"I went along with your leaving her because relationships take two, and if one person wants out, that is the end of it, no matter how stupid the reasons are.”

Perfect:
‘"There are some populations from whom it's not possible to gain informed consent. They're not considered competent."
"That's what you think of Bella!" she shot back indignantly.’
Damn straight.

I do kind of agree with him about this:
"At present she's in danger from Victoria. We should remove that threat before we even consider any permanent steps."
Victoria’s threat certainly skews Bella’s present view of the world.

Another good bit of filling in the blanks. Edward and Alice are reeling from her vision no longer including the decisive victory over Victoria:
‘As these terrifying thoughts gripped him, a fresh shock hit him: Tanya's scent, only a few days old. With his mind reeling, he stopped running, and Alice did too. Tanya had been here? … What was she doing? Why didn't she tell him she was here?’

Oh no: ‘Edward saw [Victoria’s] recollection of Bella clinging to the broken body on the beach…’
What a lot of disconnected fragments he and Alice have.

Good job on Edward’s shock at seeing vampire Bella: ‘The image and the scent crashed over him simultaneously, throwing his surroundings into shadow. She was stunning; literally, he felt dazed, as though he'd been slammed by a battering ram. …he had to be in heaven. He didn't know how he had gotten here.’
Nice echo from canon.

Ah, now we find out what Edward was whisper-yelling at Tanya immediately after the fight. Hmm, and even now that he knows Bella came through safely, he can’t endure seeing her change in Tanya’s memories.

Wow, from Tanya: ‘No more half measures and second best. You need her, and I love you enough to want you to have her.’

I liked how Edward rode through the pack’s thoughts of Jacob after Bella dedicates the bonfire to him.

Good for him: ‘He had to talk to Bella immediately, without knowing the future [from Alice]. There would be no shortcuts or inside information.’

I especially enjoyed Edward’s gratitude to the pack, Alice, and Tanya before he takes off with Bella. Quite appropriate.

Very well said, Tanya to Edward:
‘I don't have any regrets. Not for the time I spent with you. Not for changing Bella. But it's up to you to make it count.’

It’s satisfying that Edward seems to be dealing with his new reality, rather than getting caught in endless recriminations about what he and others should have done.

Wow, so the transformation is over and done! I have to admit I’m sorry to see it became so “transactional” in this story. Maybe “practical” is a better word. Doing it this way was well justified and all, it’s just that there could hardly be a more intimate act between two people, so I always hate when it isn’t Edward that changes her.

Well described: ‘Bella is just overwhelmed by all the signals from her body. Copious amounts of information are flooding in from every direction, yet the keen sights and scents and sounds barely register in the face of her blazing thirst. Is this what [the vegetarians] suffers all the time?’

I liked this detail too: ‘She's racing through the forest with total confidence. She'd laugh out loud, but she's already zeroed in on her prey.’
Priorities, after all.

Nice, from Tanya: "I've never heard of someone who chose our life as you did. You are a very special person. I can see why Edward singled you out from all the humans he has encountered.”

I loved your idea of having the wolves monitoring Bella’s early hunts. Of course they would!

It took me a moment to figure out what was going on - Edward and Alice have also returned to Forks, to deal with Victoria. And as you’ve previously established, they have no idea that Tanya is there or what she’s been up to. This should be interesting…

A very reasonable conclusion from Edward: Alice ”can't see what happens. We don't know why. I'm afraid it means she will get hurt, that the visions are missing because her own future is in jeopardy.”
As you mentioned in a PM, it’s quite a job to keep track of who knows what, which of course affects what they choose to do.

I do feel for Tanya, wanting to help Edward and Alice with Victoria and Laurent while trying to ride herd on a volatile newborn and three wolves. It’s downright weird to have Tanya explaining to Edward that the wolves are on their side, but of course he has no idea.

Quite the action sequence, well done! Of course Victoria takes advantage of Edward’s distraction when he first spots Bella. And this makes perfect sense: ‘Bella drags Victoria out of range of Edward, but she has no idea what to do next.’ An inexperienced newborn with a tiger by the tail. And oh geez, Edward hangs onto Victoria’s wrist and kicks her body away – brutal! And thank you for letting Alice handle Laurent all by herself. Sometimes it frustrates me that the female Cullens are treated like cheerleaders instead of warriors.

Excellent:
‘For Bella, every experience brings fresh proof of her new reality. She endured the blazing pain of the venom spreading through her body and felt the exhilaration of running and hunting and the marvelous relief of quenching her thirst. She instinctively attacked Victoria. Now Alice has leapt onto her and not knocked her over. She must be a vampire.’

I have to admit I gave a little sniffle when Bella burned up Victoria and Laurent “For Jacob”. Sigh.

A lovely, unexpectedly light moment between E&B:
‘She can't decipher his emotions; she can see only that he has strong feelings. Finally, his eyes drop, and her favorite crooked smile flashes across his beautiful face.
"I was about to ask you to ride on my back," he confesses. "I guess those days are gone."’

Promising. Plus he didn't act like an idiot during the fight and try to protect Bella at the cost of everyone else.

I like how you portrayed Sam, and the pack in general.
“I had to send Paul and Jared away; they're far too impulsive.” We didn’t see responsibility like that in canon. Then, although Bella has to convince him that Tanya is safe, at least he CAN be convinced.

Oh that’s right, Bella did see Tanya with Edward in the school parking lot. Makes sense that Bella would be afraid and Tanya wouldn’t understand why.

I also liked how you handled the Cullens learning about Victoria murdering Jacob, and her threat to Bella. “[Edward] feels responsible for this threat to you and the people in this region.” He should.

"I'm here as a friend to both of you." You’ve made Tanya into such a full, well-rounded character.

“…we are discussing your future. You may have many thousands of years ahead of you. It's good to put everything on the table, your expectations for your new life."
Thank you!

Perfect reaction, when Tanya tells Bella that Edward loves her:
‘"What are you talking about? Why would you say that?" Her tone is almost hostile.’

Well said, by Tanya: “…he had a reason to lie, and I don't. If what he said were true, I wouldn't be here right now."
Yes, because he wouldn’t be permanently “stuck” on Bella.

Thank goodness for this: “His family tried to tell him it was wrong to decide for you.”
And I always found this so annoying: “He always used to say that he loved me way more than I loved him."
How the hell would he know that?

Very well constructed explanation by Tanya:
"I want him to be happy. Since we've been together, the only thing I could do is help him be a little less unhappy. But now I think, if you are changed, …there is a chance, yes? If you feel only a fraction of what I know he feels."

And here’s the bottom line we’ve been waiting for: “Bella, if you still love him, if you can forgive him, it would be everything to him."

Interesting: “He doesn't care for me that way. And that means my mate is still out there.” So Tanya still has a bit of hope for herself. I wonder who ever guaranteed that there’s a mate for everyone?

Excellent: “I've been keeping a drowning man afloat, but now I can pull him out of the water entirely.”

Good choice to have Bella be up front with the pack about the choice she wants to make.

I especially liked this:
‘Sam appeals to the others for support. "Obviously I'm not getting through to her. Help me out here. Does anyone have anything to say?"’

Groan, so Seth has a crush on Tanya. Is this going where I think it’s going?

Go, Leah:
“…I think [Bella] should be able to decide her own future. None of us had a choice. We are werewolves, like it or not. We're slaves to our blood, to the Alpha. We're slaves to our imprint if we have one. Bella has a choice. I think she's making the wrong choice, but she should be able to make it."

In canon I thought it wasn’t emphasized enough that none of the Cullens chose to be vampires. But it’s certainly equally true of the wolfpack. Well said.

Ooh, what Billy said was heartbreaking. Makes sense that his opinion would carry a lot of weight.

I loved Sam’s “conditions” for allowing Tanya to bite Bella. Makes total sense that he would want to observe. And Tanya is smart enough to back him up.

Good: “And I hope eventually I'll be able to be around [Charlie] somehow." And no one disagrees with her. I disliked the “don’t ask don’t tell” policy in canon, but I do agree that the staged death business isn’t necessary.

Great description of the battle between Jacob and Victoria! Truly, human Bella would have little idea what was going on.
‘She yells for help, almost expecting to see Edward dash into the scene to save the day. But the cavalry doesn't come.’
Wow. You not only have Edward spending all his time except when he’s at school having sex with Tanya to dull his pain, but you also kill off Jacob. What’s next, Carlisle cheating on Esme?

I have only a little investment in Jacob, so it’s not nearly as upsetting to see him killed as the Tanya/Edward thing. But it really is sad. Also, I have to agree that your scenario is perfectly reasonable. A surprise attack when no one can get there quickly enough to help? I guess in this timeline there wasn’t all the interaction between Bella and the Cullens to let them figure out in advance that Victoria was after her and set up the “protection details”. (or Laurent’s big announcement in the meadow)
Well done: ‘"Victoria!" she gasps. Someone she saw once, so briefly, so long ago, in a previous life, it seems.’

Powerful sentence: ‘For a while there was someone she was ready to die for, and then she had someone she wanted to live for, and both of them are gone.’

I like that the pack doesn’t blame Bella for Jacob’s death. What a reason for their mission: ‘If [Victoria] gets past them to Bella or to another of their tribe— they know she is an indiscriminate killer— Jacob will have died for nothing.’
Heartwrenching, from Billy: "Jacob was a soldier defending his homeland and his loved ones. Sometimes soldiers die. It's not your fault, Bella."

Makes sense to me: ‘She would become a wolf if she could.’ Very well constructed final paragraph, why Bella chooses to become a vampire.

This is so different from canon, too. Although Bella frequently expressed her frustration at not being able to help defend herself and her family, her overriding reason was always to be with Edward. It’s both sad and satisfying to see her have her own independent reasons, Edward or no Edward.

Terrific phrase: ‘that handful of days when he believed that his life could be and would be full of wonders.’
Wow: ‘She means the same to him as she did the night he invaded her room and heard her speak his name: everything.’

Now this shows some maturity: ‘Tanya knows she is not his first choice. But she is his choice.’
A good twist on canon: Tanya is ‘Perhaps a mere distraction for him…’

Nicely said: ‘She admires him for continuing, for trying to salvage a life from the wreckage. He's like a survivor of a natural disaster. He could just stop making any effort. But he puts one foot in front of the other and pushes the rock up the hill.’
Hmm, as opposed to canon Bella, who pretty much gave up.

Unexpectedly selfless of Tanya: “I just wish… That you could have what you want."

OMG: ‘Even the unsophisticated comments of his classmates, comparing the characters in Pushkin, Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky to those they're familiar with from television and movies, can be entertaining.’
Now that takes patience!

Interesting: ‘He and Tanya have fallen into the habit of speaking only Russian to each other, so he never hears the echo of Bella's words.’

Oh very good: ‘Compared to human authors, Tanya can type faster and work longer hours, but she still has to coax her stories word by word from inspiration to completion.’

Clever idea: ‘Eventually, they developed a favorite pastime: trading days.’ Makes good sense for vampires with perfect memories.
Ouch: ‘But there are some days he never mentions.’