AN: Sorry it took so long, I had health issues and could not figure out how to end this.

EPILOGUE

The inadequacies of the human eye were never more evident as it was when staring at the kaleidoscope of colors the sun created as it went down. He would soon be entering his third year as a vampire, and yet he still marveled at the wonders of the world. If only humans could see the world with the clarity that he did, they'd be less inclined to destroy it. Immortality was a stark reminder of how much the world needed to be protected, he'd still be around in a thousand years and needed the earth to be still habitable to survive. Surviving a nuclear apocalypse or some such end of world disaster was pointless if there was nothing to survive on. Dying a slow death was not in his plans.

He heard a noise and looked down; he was perched on the tallest tree he could find and did not worry about being seen. "Have you seen Billy?" Sam asked.

"No," Jacob answered. He had moved out of the Billy's after his callousness over Paul killing Bella.

"Is he still trying to convince everyone that Charlie is a vampire," Jacob asked, not that he cared.

Sam sighed, rubbing his face vigorously. "I do not know what he hopes to achieve with that, but it is only pissing everyone off. We all stayed in his house when he screamed, seconds later, we were in the room; the only thing we could smell was him and nothing else."

"Yeah, as if we could all miss the stench of a leech." Jacob sneered. Despite his actions getting him kicked off the council, and old Quil taking over as interim chief until Jake was ready, Billy was still peddling the story of Charlie Swan haunting him. They all missed Charlie, but none could blame him for deciding Forks was no longer home. His beat friend had acted as though the death of his daughter meant nothing. Billy had put a cold-blooded murderer over Charlie. Charlie was long gone and wanted nothing to do with any of them, and none could fault him for that decision.

Charlie chuckled to himself from his spot in the tree. Being a physical shield certainly had its uses, and not just against the Volturi, it hid his scent even from the wolf's noses. He had spent the first eight months of his vampire existence glued to his mates, unable to go more than a few hours without sex. Life father, like daughter, Emmett had joked for months, as only Emmett could.

He was earlier than usual, but it made little difference. The rest of the tribe avoided Billy like the plague, and it worked in his favor. He moved from tree to tree using the harsh winds to cover his movement. A few inches of snow covered the ground, but around Billy's property, it seemed to be piled higher than usual. He scoffed at the idea that snow was what would catch him out. He leaped right in through the window and patted himself on the back for not having broken or chipped a thing. He could hear Billy snoring as he made his way towards the bedroom. He planted himself right next to Billy on the bed.

Billy's eyes snapped open and sighed. It had become apparent to him that Charlie had no intention of physically hurting him. No, he simply came to torment him, and worse, no one believed him. "I hear you are no longer chief. Say it isn't so," Charlie quipped.

"I'm sorry," Billy whispered. Angering Charlie even more. Without a word, Charlie got up and walked out of the bedroom. He grabbed all of Billy's beer and emptied it down the sink.

"You are not sorry." He bellowed. "The only thing you are sorry about is the fact that I am fucking up your life. I am taking from you everything that matters just as you did me. He pushed my daughter down the side of a cliff, and you helped him ran. You are far from sorry. I can see and hear in ways you can't even imagine, and more than ever, I can tell when I'm being lied to, so don't bother. Oh, by the way, Bella is alive, her mates got to her before she hit the sand." Billy's eyes widened in shock. "Yeah, I know." Charlie chuckled.

To Billy's surprise, Charlie went out the front door. He wheeled his chair out and sighed in defeat when he found no footprint in the snow. He didn't leave a scent or even a footprint. No one was ever going to believe him. If he tried telling anyone Bella was alive, one of those boys might just shift and rip him to shreds. When Charlie had sworn to make his life a living hell, he had scoffed at the idea little realizing how true those words would be. He watched as Jake and Sam walked out of the forest, Jacob looked his way, but it as though his son was looking at a stranger. A small part of him couldn't help wonder if the boys knew what Charlie was doing, but was helping Charlie punish him. How they could not smell him was beyond him.

"Carlisle, what is the plan?" Edward asked. He'd heard something in Carlisle's mind.

"New York, Ithaca, we do have a home there. It might need a little work, but it would be a good place to get back to things. Bella can now go out among humans without any problems."

"No," Bella said, shaking her head. "If this about us getting back into the whole going to high school gig, then absolutely not." She stood facing Carlisle. She would think about college in a few years, but not now.

"Bella, this has been…" Carlisle attempted to argue.

"Then maybe it's time for a change because I am not stepping into another high school again." She stomped her feet, which for a vampire did some damage, not that she'd noticed or cared. "What is the point of it? Maybe you haven't noticed, but they didn't exactly make an effort to fit in. They might just as well have been the eighth wonder of the world with the way the other students saw them. They made no effort to fit in or blend in, looking like runway models on a daily basis. What about Jasper?" She turned towards the Texan, who up until that point had his head buried in a book trying to hide his amusement. "He walked around Forks high as though someone had shoved a hot poker down his throat. Let's not forget the constipated look from attempting not to breathe." Emmett let out a laugh then promptly slapped a hand over his mouth. "All those teenage emotions, Jasper deserves a break for at least a century."

"I do, I really need one." He nodded for emphasis.

"Why do we have to live among humans when we make no real effort to blend in with them?" Bella could see that none of it had ever occurred to Carlisle. "If you want to continue to threaten humans, then you do that, but I am not spending, however long repeating high school. The world is too exciting for that. We are vampires, and it's about time we started behaving like it, whatever that entails. There are places we could not go because it was too dangerous for me, well not any more so my mates and I are going to see the dangerous places this world has to offer.

"Right," Carlisle whispered. "And the rest of you are in agreement?" In truth, he had missed the fact that while he and Esme liked human interaction and made an effort, the rest hated it. Maybe instead of assuming it was what they wanted, he should have asked.

"A break would be good." Emmett piped up.

"I was just waiting for the day I lost it and massacred the entire high school population." Rosalie snarked.

"This place is isolated enough, why can't we settle here like the Denalis," Bella asked.

"The wildlife population will suffer," Alice warned.

"Well, isn't that a given," Bella said with a shrug. "In fifty years, we might have to take into consideration if our feeding habits are about doing the right thing. The right then would be to start drinking human blood."

"You are kidding, right," Rosalie growled.

"No, look at the wildlife population now compared to fifty years ago. Take into account the growth of the human population. Deforestation to make way for housing, growing of food, some of which do irreversible damage to the soil. How many wildlife will there be left for us to continue to feed? Above all else, do you want to be a contributing factor to the extinction of several species of animals? In a century, we cannot continue to live the vegetarian lifestyle unless we have no qualms about destroying this earth." She looked around and found horrified faces looking back at her. "Are you telling me this has never occurred to any of you?"

"No," Rosalie whispered.

"We could hunt the way Peter and Charlotte do." Alice offered. However, she could see it did not appeal to the rest.

"It might be time to start our own blood bank if the notion of killing criminals does not sit well with you." Bella shrugged as she left to hunt.

On her way back to the house, she found Rosalie. "Carlisle is wondering if he could open some sort of research facility taking contaminated blood from hospitals and…" Rosalie's voice trailed off. Bella's insight had really put a dampener on things.

"I can't believe none of you ever thought about it." She muttered in disbelief.

"Ignorance, I guess is truly bliss," Rosalie whispered.

"Yeah, and we would also have gotten to the point where finding a meal would have taken days, then the conversation would have come up. It would have been a little too late. I'm not going to lie to you, Rose. The idea of going after the predators in human society does not phase me in the least." Bella finally looked at her, Rosalie leaned forward kissing her deeply.

"Nothing you do will ever make me stop loving you." She wrapped her arm around the brunette's waist.

"Even if I jump into bed with Kate." She teased.

"I will still love you even after I have killed you." The blonde replied with a kiss to Bella's temple to boot.

Bella cracked up laughing. "I love you too." The retort was just what she expected from Rosalie. She buried her face in Rosalie's neck, and her tongue snaked out. "Isabella, do not get any ideas." The blonde warned.

"Too late, I had ideas before I climbed up here." The two were sat at the top of one of the many mountains in Alaska. Before Rose could reply, Bella had the blonde straddling her thighs. Bella's hands gripped her ass, keeping Rosalie in place.

"Bella," Rosalie whined, despite the small movements in her hips. Bella's lips were on hers before she could utter any more weak protestations.

Charlie walked through the door to find his mates standing there feet, tapping arms crossed. If there was one signal in the world that a man he was in trouble, this was it. The fact that Eleazar, Carmen, and Kate were nowhere in sight told him he was in a hell of a lot of trouble. "How was your hunt?" Irina asked in a saccharine sweet voice.

"It was good." He responded with a nonchalance he did not feel.

"Do anything else?" Tanya asked. They knew he did not know how but they knew. He had messed up somewhere, and they'd caught him.

"Erm.. went for a run?" It sounded more like a question than an answer.

"Are you asking us?" Irina looked incredulous.

He cleared his throat needlessly. "No, I went for a run, thought I'd check out the old house." He added.

"Really, we thought we'd meet our mate for a little hunt and found his scent headed in the direction of Forks."

"See." He said as he moved to the couch and settled down with an arrogance his mates found amusing.

"Except, your scent was nowhere near your old house; instead, it disappeared at the border into La Push," Irina said with a smug look that said it all.

"I went to visit an old friend." He mumbled.

"Charlie…" the concern was evident in Tanya's voice.

"He deserves it. He deserves whatever misery I can heap upon him. He was my best friend, and looked me in the eye and made it clear that my daughter's death was inconsequential. It was Bella's own fault for finding love and happiness with their sworn enemy. So, yeah, I will make his life a misery until his dying day."

"Make whose life a misery?" Bella asked as she walked in.

"It's all yours." His mates left him to it.

"What did you do?" Bella asked, resigned to knowing she would not like what she heard.

Charlie stood on the balcony and watched as Bella shot out of the ocean, somersaulting in the air before disappearing back down into the sea. "Why does she have to be naked." He grumbled.

"Makes it easier to slip a finger or…"

"Tanya." He warned. No matter how much time had passed, he would not hear such comments regarding Bella. She was his daughter, that human aspect would forever remain with them.

"Just saying." She whispered as Irina bit her lip to keep from laughing. You could always rile Charlie up by bringing up Bella's sex life.

"Well, I don't want to hear it." He groused as he collapsed on the couch in the corner, picking up a book. He was never much for reading in his human life, nor the first few decades as a vampire, but immortality had a way of forcing you to pick up new habits. He found he loved reading, despite the advancement in technology, he found just like Bella he preferred a physical book, which was ne'er on impossible to come by these days. There were still a few publishing houses that printed a handful of physical books, but those were as far as Charlie was concerned a little too expensive even if money wasn't an issue.

"Charles, come to bed." Tanya purred, despite wanting to join his mates Charlie stayed in his seat. Irina laughed, knowing he was determined to prove a point. He could be as stubborn as his daughter. Bella's refusal to live the way the Cullen's had been for decades forced a massive change, one that was welcomed by all. Surprisingly, Carlisle had made the most of that change, Bella's eye-opening revelation on their feeding habits had prompted Carlisle to find another source of food for vampires. It had taken him the better part of half of a century to come up with a suitable replacement of blood. One the Volturi forced all vampires to adopt twenty-five years later, when they found themselves in trouble, one that threatened to expose vampires to humans.

It was somewhat ironic that the Volturi, the makers, and enforcers of vampire law had come the closest to exposing them. One of the many tourists they fed on turned out to be the son of a prominent political figure in DC. How they could have made such a mistake, no one knew. The boy's father had raised hell when his son had disappeared during his holiday, the Italian police force descended on Volterra, determined to know what happened to the boy.

Emmett created a false trail that led the investigation out of Volterra, much to Aro's eternal gratitude. Hunting had become a problem for vampires long before that, human technology and advancement in surveillance made it near on impossible. The constant near-miss of vampires getting seen by humans had gotten to the point that the Volturi had set up an entire department whose sole purpose was deleting any incriminating evidence off the internet. Emmett and his mates flew to Volterra and helped set it all up. One human duo had made it their mission to get the world to believe the existence of vampires. The pair were now the very ones helping the Volturi hide the secret after the Volturi found them and turned them.

Even nomads could not escape the modern world, getting spotted in one place and then another the next minute without any evidence of how you got there did not bode well for them. All modes of transport these days made it easy for travelers to be monitored. Face recognition systems were a dime a dozen in every corner of the world. Humans had also taken their curiosity further by now exploring corners of the world once thought too dangerous to venture.

Their home had come under threat from a developer a decade earlier. The only thing that stopped him was the discovery of endangered and threatened species in the forest surrounding the Denali property. The fact that the land was private property belonging to the Denali's did not deter the developer. The Denali's got the land declared a protected area, how long that would remain so remains to be seen.

Carlisle's blood substitute was wildly welcomed, but the need to hunt and bite was not one anyone could do away with. Some vampires still hunted, but with great care. Most stuck to the diet of 'scum of the earth', no one investigated those disappearances too closely. The Volturi believed crime had been vastly reduced because of it, and most vampires were inclined to agree.

Isle Esme had expanded significantly, after all, they were a large family of mated vampires, and well, bedrooms were required. Carlisle had also built a facility on the island for research and production of his blood substitute. Both the Denali and Cullens divided their time between Denali and Isle Esme. The plan had been to spend a century on Isle Esme, they were seventy- five years into that plan. Of course, on occasion, some would leave and travel for a decade or so then come back. They'd all adopted Rosalie's idea of traveling around in a modified SUV or truck; it made it easier to get around without attracting too much attention. It was also made easier by the fact that they could, after a few years, swap it for another vehicle and a different set of identities and carry on. Of course, the three were traveling the world in a yacht that was now docked at the newly built harbor.

Charlie looked up from his book when h heard the helicraft, he growled lowly, knowing who it was. "Bells, put some clothes on," Charlie grumbled. Bella leaped onto the top deck of the yacht, and pulled her robe on with a chuckle, just as the helicraft made an appearance over the horizon. Alice had left the island to pick up Edward, he was the only one who left often, and in truth, no one could blame him. He was the only one unmated, and that made it difficult for him. It hadn't helped when Alice revealed she had seen everyone's mate long before they found their mates; she just knew not to interfere. She had yet to see a mate for Edward. That afternoon, Edward had, for the first time in a long time, raged at the unfairness of Rosalie and Emmett taking Bella from him. Unkind words had been thrown around, resulting in a physical altercation that ended with Edward losing limbs. He had difficulty besting Emmett, especially when Bella had her shield over him. His inability to hear Emmett's thoughts put him entirely at the massive vampire's mercy. Bella was sure Emmett would have killed him if it wasn't for Esme's pleas.

Edward had left that evening and visited only when Esme asked, and she made it a point to only ask every decade or so. Unfortunately, his attitude to her mates had never changed. Edward truly believed without them, Bella would have given him a chance.

"I can't believe Esme would ask him here on today of all days," Emmett whispered. Bella sighed, wondering the same.

"This is his home as much as any of us, and if anyone has the right to ask him home, it's Esme," Rose said, surprising them. "As long as he keeps his glares away from us, I have no issue with his presence. One would think after a century together, it was clear Bella was far from a plaything." She added. Despite her words, they all knew Edward would never see beyond his want of Bella, and it was only made worse by the fact that he hadn't found his mate despite his extensive travels.

The three disappeared below deck before the helicraft landed, they needed to get ready for tonight. They were renewing their vows after a century together, it was cause for real celebration as far as they were concerned. Bella would admit, she understood why Rose and Emmett regularly celebrated their union, it was addicting. They were taking the yacht to Seattle the following morning and spending a few months at the Four Seasons.

Bella caught the way Emmett was staring at her as Rose undid her robe. "Do we have time?" She asked.

"They will wait." The blonde replied as she pushed the robe off Bella's shoulders. Bella chuckled at the blonde's indignant tone. Her hand snaked behind Rose, undoing the tie that held her bikini bra together.

"What choice do they have." She murmured as her lips ghosted over Rosalie's. Bella walked her back until the back of her knees hit the bed. Emmett's arm came around her waist and pulled her onto the bed. Bella climbed on straddling Rosalie's thighs, only to find herself pulled further up, straddling the blonde's face instead. Rose's tongue licked the length of her pussy, earning a rather loud moan from Bella.

Emmett settled between Rosalie's legs, he went straight for the kill, his actions benefitted both women greatly.

They were three hours late for their own renewal of their commitment ceremony, but that they cared. "There is fashionably late, and then there is this," Alice complained.

"We were having a private commitment celebration." Bella snarked as she poured herself a large glass of blood and some for her mates. She was beginning to sound more and more like her mates combined. Sarcasm and humor merged together in a sentence. Bella noted Edward wasn't present in what had become a sort of outdoor communal area, with a fire pit in the middle. Bella found it amusing to have something so dangerous to them and wholly unneeded be the focal point of the room. She settled comfortably between her mates and drunk her blood. "Who would have thought my refusal to go to school would bring about all this." She teased.

"Damn good thing you did too, or else we would have been slow to adapt to the changing world." Jasper intoned.

"Indeed, the Volturi are a perfect example of that," Carlisle added.

"I actually consider that a good thing. Without them killing that politician's son, we would not be living so freely." They were now a very large coven with extremely gifted vampires in their midst. Thanks to Charlie and Bella, they were also immune to other gifts. Had the Volturi gone against them, it would have been an annihilation, but then who would rule the vampire world, a job no one wanted. As it stood, Carlisle's blood substitute and Emmett's technological prowess had kept them hidden from human eyes.

"It doesn't mean they don't worry about us." Eleazar murmured. "It's not just our size, Carlisle owns the formula to the blood substitute. Emmett owns the technology that keeps us hidden and covered the tracks of the few who refused to adapt. Aro knows the vampire world would be in complete chaos without you two, and he hates it. Had it been any other coven, he could simply take it from them, but we are far stronger than they are." He added.

"Maybe one day, he will realize that despite that, we have no interest in ruling," Peter grumbled. He and Charlotte joined them on occasion. It was thanks to their visit that Kate met her mate. Peter and Charlotte had brought Garett to Denali one afternoon, and the rest, as they say, was history. It was the afternoon Alice had revealed seeing that moment when she first met Kate, and the afternoon Edward had nearly lost his head.

"Whether Aro realizes or not makes little difference to us," Rosalie growled. Rose was not a fan of the Volturi, Aro's excitement when he met Bella had been enough to put them on edge. Emmett had gone there to set up a monitoring system for them, and it had turned into something else. When Aro tried to have Jane use her gift on Bella, the growl from the three vampires had been enough to make Aro surrender. Of course, the entire visit Bella kept feeling the jabs to her shield. Chelsea, Corin, and Jane had all attacked her shield numerous times and failed. None had stepped foot in Voltera since, despite Aro's persistent invitations.

When the clock struck midnight, the three stood in front of Carlisle, who officiated the ceremony. "I remember the first time I heard about Bella, I knew she was going to be an integral part of our lives. Everyone talked about her, strangely except Rose and Emmett, they didn't have much to say. I suspect it was because they had no idea what to make of the human." Carlisle chuckled.

"You don't say," Emmett whispered, not that it was much of a whisper.

"Soon, it became clear. She was the one to complete them, that missing link they'd been searching for. With Bella came Charlie, and happiness for two of our cousins." Bella looked over at her father who was sat in between his mates, both hanging on to him. "A century on, and my gratitude for your acceptance and lack of fear of us still astounds me." He shook his head in disbelief. "To Bella, Rosalie and Emmett, and the next century." The room joined in the toast. New rings and kisses were exchanged.

"So while everyone went home talking about me, you two had nothing to say." Bella teased.

"As Carlisle said, we didn't know what make of you, and we didn't want to alienate you from the rest of the humans," Rose argued.

"Well, I did, I just didn't want to cause an upset by saying I wanted you," Emmett admitted.

"You were always sure when it came to Bella." Rose realized. Emmett pretty much jumped in head first when it came to the brunette. Had it not being for him, Rose was sure she would have screwed things up. God knows her issues with her past almost did that. It took her a while, but she was finally at a place where her past, though a significant chapter in her life, no longer ruled her. "Yeah, I guess I was." Emmett murmured, smiling down at the brunette, who leaned up and kissed him softly.

"I think we have shown our faces long enough." Bella murmured. The three looked around, and with no eyes on them, they disappeared from sight. They'd be back in a few years.

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