Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns the Twilight saga and its universe. No profit is made here and no offense intended.

Epilogue: Twilight

"Yield?" I asked quietly, my teeth at my opponent's neck. He growled in response, trying to throw me off his back, but I held on, not releasing my grip on his throat.

"Yes," he said at last. "I yield."

Smiling I hopped of Emmett's back. "What's the score now?" I asked teasingly. "Twelve to zero?"

"Fifteen to zero, actually," Jasper corrected, as Alice and Rosalie exchanged money before heading back into the house. I didn't understand why anyone would bet against Alice, especially given my track record, but if it made them happy...

"Again," Emmett insisted.

I sighed. "I don't see why you keep on insisting. Unless you learn something new, it's going to end the same way."

He harumphed. "Tomorrow, then."

I shrugged. "Whatever you want."

I always beat Emmett in our matches, but the others, not so much. No one could win against Alice, of course, given her vision, and, much to my dismay, Jasper beat me the majority of the time, though we were a lot closer than most of the other pairings, other than Edward versus Jasper. Everyone else, I won against, at least, in physical matches.

There were other matches, too. Chess games were Emmett and Jasper's other favorite, except their version included nine chess boards stacked together. They taught me that version, but I could never beat either of them in those games of chess.

"Cate! It's time!" Alice shouted from upstairs, though we could have heard perfectly well if she had whispered. I sighed, but complied, knowing that if I didn't, Alice would turn her impossible-to-resist puppy eyes on me. I'd tried to mimic the expression a few times, but I could never do it as effectively as Alice did.

Within seconds, I was upstairs in Alice and Jasper's room, where we usually got ready for special events. A second later, Edward opened the door for Bella, and her human scent entered the house. I spent most of my time at the Cullen house, now, instead of at Charlie's house, where I would have to hide my vampire nature, so I was less used to her potent aroma. I cringed as the burn in my throat flared again, but swallowed. It was bearable. I used to live with the smell, I reminded myself.

"Why are we here?" I heard Bella ask Edward.

"Come upstairs," Alice called down. She grinned, ecstatic at the idea of dressing Bella up like a Barbie doll. Bella groaned when she heard Alice's voice, but came upstairs.

"Cate, I thought you were on my side," Bella complained.

I shrugged in response. "Alice." Bella sighed, but understood. Alice was an unstoppable force of nature.

"Bella," Alice began, a pouty tone in her voice, her face morphing into an expression that made it impossible to say no. "I don't have any human experiences of my own, you know. You wouldn't want to deprive me of this, would you." I was glad Alice had come to terms with her past, enough to use it as ammunition against us.

"Of course not," Bella said quickly, before frowning and thinking back at what she'd said. "But-"

"So sit," Alice replied smugly. Bella sat.

It took almost the entire day, with Alice working at a human pace, but by the end, Bella looked absolutely spectacular in the expensive blue dress. She wore stiletto heels, or a heel, on one foot, and her normal cast on the other. She had faint makeup on, enough to compliment her natural beauty but not too much to seem fake. Her hair was done up in a fancy style only Alice knew how to do, that looked elaborate but not overly complex. When she went down the main stairs, accompanied by me so she could keep her balance, Edward didn't breathe for a moment. Bella seemed to only have eyes for him, her mate, dressed in a stunning tuxedo.

"At what point exactly are you going to tell me what's going on?" I heard Bella say as they entered Edward's Volvo. I didn't hear his response, because Alive was hissing at me.

"Come on! Cate! Rose! She's not the only one going to prom!"

I sighed again, but obediently put on my new deep green dress, bought after a day of shopping in Paris (that had been Alice's idea, of course. I may have liked shopping, but not that much). "I'll do your hair?" I offered Rosalie - there was no point in offering to do Alice's or my hair, after all. She nodded, already dressed in her splendid scarlet attire, elegant and outrageous, all at the same time, exactly Rose's style. Alice's dress, too, an interesting black dress, fit her perfectly. As for me, I couldn't judge for myself, but Alice and Rose had assured me that I looked perfect in it.

The boys, Jasper and Emmett, were already in the car, having taken half the time it took us girls to get ready. We were taking Rosalie's red convertible to school. Of course, speeding at over a hundred miles per hour, we got there within minutes, before Edward and Bella arrived, though they'd left before us.

We walked through the doors as a group, hiding the fact that I didn't have a date (not that I'd wanted one in the first place). I'd never been to a dance before, but somehow, I'd always imagined them as more… formal events. The decoration was, frankly, childish and gaudy - there were balloon arches and garlands of tissue paper all across the room (the gym, not some sort of fancy hosting location), though the fairy lights across the room were nice. Emmett and Rosalie immediately paired up, and though Alice looked hesitantly at me, I waved her towards Jasper. I didn't mind that I didn't have anyone to dance with. Within moments, both couples were dancing in a waltz-style that didn't exactly fit with the style of music (some sort of energetic pop song), but looked amazing either way.

A boy, the poet who'd tried to ask me to the spring dance a while ago, started to approach me, abandoning his date, so I quickly started dancing by myself. I started self-consciously, but soon gave myself over to the rhythm. I was reminded, faintly, of my rhythmic gymnastics days. It was fun, in a way, to dance again.

Before I knew it, Edward and Bella were dancing besides us, too. Bella looked frightened at first, but, with Edward as her partner, she didn't trip once, not even with the boot on her still-healing foot. She actually looked to be enjoying herself for a while.

Jasper and Emmett took turns dancing with me, as well, throughout the night. I almost didn't notice when Edward abruptly stopped dancing, and turned towards the door. Almost.

I recognized the boy who walked in: Jacob Black, one of the Quileutes. He looked self-conscious as he walked towards us. No, towards Bella.

Edward snarled quietly, though I didn't quite know why.

"Behave!" Bella chastised him.

"He wants to chat with you," Edward responded.

I pretended to be totally absorbed in my dance with Jasper, but paid close attention as Bella and Jacob swayed to the music.

"Wow, Jake, how tall are you now?" Bella asked casually, friendly.

"Six-two," he said smugly. I felt a faint twinge of jealousy - that was over a foot taller than I'd ever be.

"So, how did you end up here tonight?" Bella asked. I was curious, too. Why had he come? Did it have anything to do with the Quileute vampire legends?

"Can you believe my dad paid me twenty bucks to come to your prom?" he asked. Yes, it certainly did have to do with the legends.

"Yes, I can," Bella replied. She probably was thinking the same as me. "Well, I hope you're enjoying yourself, at least. Seen anything you like?" she teased.

"Yeah." He sighed. "But she's taken."

I almost whirled around. He was talking about Bella?! I turned my head slightly to look at them. The blushes on both their faces, and the anger in Edward's, seemed to confirm that. I almost laughed. Did he really think he could win Bella from Edward, when they were so obviously mates?

Edward looked at me. Up for a little competition? I teased, before focusing on their conversation once more. Jasper went to dance with Alice again, and Emmett stepped in gracefully.

"You look really pretty, by the way," he added. I snorted. Pretty didn't even cover the work Alice and I had done for her.

"Um, thanks," Bella said, self-conscious as always about receiving compliments. "So why did Billy pay you to come here?"

"He said it was a 'safe' place to talk to you. I swear the old man is losing his mind." They both laughed weakly, neither of them really believing the words. If only Billy's ideas were untrue.

"Anyway, he said that if I told you something, he would get me that master cylinder I need." I had no idea what a 'master cylinder' was, but I could guess that it, along with the twenty dollars, were something Jacob Black needed.

"Tell me, then. I want you to get your car finished."

"Don't get mad, okay?" Jacob said, sounding ashamed.

"There's no way I'll be mad at you, Jacob," Bella assured, sounding like she was telling the truth. I began to wonder what, exactly, the relationship between her and Jacob was. "I won't even be mad at Billy. Just say what you have to."

"Well - this is so stupid, I'm sorry, Bella - he wants you to break up with your boyfriend. He asked me to tell you 'please'." I could have laughed. Did Billy really think that Bella breaking up with Edward could keep him from killing her, if he really had wanted to?

"He's still superstitious, eh?" Superstitions, right. Both Billy and Bella knew that the legends were no stories; only the messenger had no idea.

"Yeah. He was … kind of over the top when you got hurt down in Phoenix. He didn't believe …" I could finish the sentence. He thought Edward had turned or killed Bella.

"I fell," Bella lied. Right. She had fallen, but that had been while getting tortured by a sadistic vampire.

"I know that," Jacob said quickly.

"He thinks Edward had something to do with me getting hurt." Bella sounded angry. I agreed that Edward had had nothing to do with her getting hurt, but vampires in general? Not so much.

"Look, Jacob, I know Billy probably won't believe this, but just so you know, Edward really did save my life. If it weren't for Edward and his father, I'd be dead." Definitely true, just missing the part about vampires.

"I know," Jacob claimed, sounding like he really did believe her.

"Hey, I'm sorry you had to come do this, Jacob," Bella apologized. "At any rate, you get your parts, right?"

"Yeah…"

"There's more?" Bella asked incredulously. I wondered what else Billy wanted to say.

"Forget it," he mumbled quietly. "I'll get a job and save the money myself."

"Just spit it out, Jacob."

"It's so bad."

"I don't care. Tell me." Yes, do tell us, I thought.

"Okay, but, geez, this sounds bad. He said to tell you, no, to warn you, that, and this is his plural, not mine, 'We'll be watching.'"

Bella laughed, and I felt like doing the same. Of course they would be watching. It wasn't like we were going to kill Bella, of all people.

"Sorry you had to do this, Jake," Bella said.

"I don't mind that much. So, should I tell him you said to butt the hell out?"

"No. Tell him I said thanks. I know he means well." I didn't agree, but Bella had always been too forgiving.

The song ended, and Emmett went to dance with Rosalie again. I stepped to the side, watching the scene in front of me more openly now.

"Do you want to dance again? Or can I help you get somewhere?"

"That's all right, Jacob. I'll take it from here," Edward answered politely.

Jacob flinched at the sound of his voice directly behind the two.

"Hey, I didn't see you there. I guess I'll see you around, Bella." He stepped away, waving slightly.

"Yeah, I'll see you later." I wondered when Bella planned on doing that.

"Sorry," he repeated as he turned away.

Edward and Bella started dancing again, but I'd stopped dancing for too long. Poet-boy came up again, looking determined. I looked to the other Cullen men, but they were mysteriously focused on other things.

Traitors.

"Hello, Katherine," he said, trying to be smooth. I almost started at the name - the Cullens had been calling me Cate for so long that the other name sounded weird. I thought that, if someone were to call me Caitlin again, I wouldn't recognize the name much, either.

"Oh, hi. What's your name again?" I asked innocently, trying to discourage him.

"The name's Stephens. Lee Stephens," he said unfazed. I almost groaned. James Bond impersonation, anybody? I wasn't that inclined to anyone named James at the moment, either.

"Look, Leo," I began, purposely messing up his name.

"Lee," he corrected.

"I'm not interested, okay? Just leave me alone. Stay with your girlfriend." The girl, Samantha Wells, was approaching, an angry expression on her face.

"Playing hard to get, eh?"

I closed my eyes delicately. "Lucas-"

"Lee."

"Whatever. How many times do I have to say this? Get this through your thick head. I would rather date a three-headed chimera from the planet Thetis than you."

He paused, confused. He obviously wasn't that smart, either.

Samantha reached us, and cleared her throat.

"He's all yours," I told her cheerfully. Her eyes narrowed for a moment before he pulled her away. Once they were out of earshot, I turned to the others.

"What was that for?" I hissed angrily. "Edward! Alice!"

Emmett laughed boisterously, and ruffled my hair, messing it up even more than its already impossible-to-control state.

"It comes with the last name, Catie," he said. "You'll get used to it."

I groaned, but smiled at the same time. If over excited boys was the price I had to pay for joining the family, I'd gladly pay it.

Outside, the sky dimmed to twilight. Another day gone, but a new life just beginning.