A/N: I wrote this a while ago, before I realized that there will be sequels to Stephanie Meyer's Twilight. Actually, I first read the book about a year ago as an Advanced Reading Copy... and loved it. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this; please read & review and I'll write more! Thanks.

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight; that's all Stephanie Meyer.

And he leaned down once more to press his cold lips to my throat.

He did it, then. My breath froze and my eyes closed, and a sharp, clean pain seared out from under my jaw. I could feel the tension in his body and I stiffened in his arms. Then he raised his head, and I could see his strained face and his deep black eyes. His expression was so beautiful and torn – hope and despair, hunger and love. My breath quickened, a fire beginning to spread through my veins, a fire that I had felt before. My vision began to blur, and willing my eyes to focus, I looked at Edward. "Thank you," I panted, my breath coming in great gasps. He stared back at me with slightly incredulous sadness. My eyes drifted shut, and with my last ounce of consciousness I whispered, "I love you."

Then, the fire consumed me.

I woke up in darkness, and yet I had no trouble seeing. I easily identified the room as Edward's; it was seeped in his scent. I was covered by a blanket, and vaguely wondered why. I felt quite comfortable..

And I could hear Edward. He was speaking with Carlisle, both of them conversing in quiet tones in what I thought to be Carlisle's study. Suddenly, they stopped.

"Her heart," Edward said.

I was at the door in a second, my hand on the handle, just as Edward moved to open it from the other side. Somehow through a combined effort we got the door to open, and there he stood. For a second he simply stared at me, an indescribable expression on his face. Then, my arms were around him, and with a growl that I only distantly realized was coming from me, we kissed as we had never kissed before.

When we surfaced, Edward gazed at me with wonder, joy, sadness, and something that made my motionless insides palpitate – love. He gently picked me up, walked over to the couch, and set me down without ever turning his gaze from me. I looked from him to Carlisle, who suddenly appeared at my side.

"She's one of us now," he said, studying me. I realized the truth as he said it, and felt like laughing. The changes I felt somehow seemed so inconsequential.

"Yes," Edward said, though his brow seemed almost puzzled. "But how can it be that she smells as she always did – and her skin seems warm?"

"It may be her gift," Carlisle answered thoughtfully. He reached to touch my skin, and I realized that his touch felt cold – not icy like it had before, though cooler than mine. Carlisle considered me carefully. "Perhaps she is more lucky than any one of us," he pronounced, though he did not appear to be speaking to me. Then, lightening, he asked, "How do you feel?"

"Well, I suppose," I blanched slightly at the remembered pain. Looking at the darkened sky, I realized, "It must be Tuesday evening?" Edward nodded, smiling. I was quite eager to know what else had happened, and he sensed my unasked questions.

"I carried you to the car right away, and drove you here. No one saw. It was foolish, really, though if I hadn't done it then I don't know when I might have – I'm sorry." I didn't know if he was apologizing for his timing or for what he had done, though I only snorted in response to his apology. "Carlisle had the foresight to expect something like this, and he called Charlie to let him know we were going on a early spring break, and that everything had been settled – we had wanted to surprise you, so you didn't know anything about it."

I felt a spike of alarm. "Charlie! When does he think I'll be coming back? Will I be able to? And what do I tell him about my leg?" I gazed at my leg, which was perfectly healthy, in fact – it had never been better.

"Relax," Edward said smiling, "Though you might have thought of that before. He doesn't think you'll be coming back till Sunday, and you might as well pretend your leg's still broken. As for being able to come back to him – I think Carlisle and I have a theory about. And of course we'll have to go hunting first." A small thrill went through me at that. I realized that there was a part of me which burned to run, to hunt, to feed – the sensation was interesting, though not unmanageable.

I smiled as pieces fell into place. However, I still burned with questions, though I felt Edward would answer them. "Tell me the rest," I simply said, looking around. I realized Carlisle had disappeared.

A brief shadow fell across Edward's perfect face. "I knew you were going to ask. The last three days were horrible... knowing what pain you were in, and knowing I could do nothing to help it. You only screamed once – how I admire you for that you can't ever know. Getting you here was the most horrible. Of course, Esme and Carlisle knew before I got here, and they helped me... with you. Alice, Jasper, Rosalie and Emmett came home soon afterwards – I think they sensed what had happened. They're all here now, dying to see you" – I could sense the truth in his words as I felt the others nearby – "They were all quite happy about it. Alice, of course, knew it would happen all along, and even Rosalie is thrilled now."

I smiled. Everything seemed so right now, it had always been destined to happen this way. As I looked into Edward's beautiful eyes – they were dark now – I had no regrets, and felt only joy. His eyes looked into mine, and he laughed. "Your eyes!" he said.

"What?" I asked, puzzled.

"Your eyes – they're very dark," he said laughed, "You must be hungry."

"Oh," I said, realizing it. I felt hungry, yes, although there was also a different hunger... a thought crossed my mind, and I looked at Edward from beneath my eyelashes. He looked puzzled for an instant, and then I jumped on him.

The suddenness of my move knocked him over, backwards onto the couch, and I straddled him. Holding his jaw between my hands, I locked my lips on his and kissed him, hard. Startled at first, he kissed me back, deepening the kiss until we both felt faint, breathing hard, inhaling one another's scent. My nerve endings seemed to have multiplied by the ten fold, and his touch electrified me. I leaned back down and kissed him, his mouth cold against mine and yet much warmer than usual. We could have gone on forever, but he reached out to stop me. "The others," he said in a rough voice that made me smile. I realized that Edward's siblings were waiting for us, and could probably hear everything going on in the room. Smiling, I extracted myself from his grip, and he groaned as though loathe to let me go. Reaching for his hand, I pulled him up, and kissed him once more, fiercely.

"Come on, then," I said, smiling, "Let's go see your siblings. But I'm not done with you yet, here." Laughing at me in turn, Edward followed as I led the way out of his bedroom.

We walked down the staircase together, slowly, I felt. The others all sat in the spacious living room, the inside lights reflecting of the glass that made up the south wall. Edward and I stopped at the bottom of the stairs, and Alice stood next to us and had her arms around me in an instant. "I'm so glad! I knew it would happen." she whispered, her smile bright. Looking at me, she said seriously, "You know, you really don't seem that much different. Aside from the fact that you're a vampire, of course." I grinned at her, and looked up to see that the others had joined us, Carlisle now standing next to Esme and smiling at me again. Esme simply looked blissfully happy and wordlessly clasped my hand for a minute. Jasper and Emmett looked at me grinning, Jasper adding mirth to the joyously solemn atmosphere, and Emmett clasping me into a brief brotherly hug. Rosalie had hung back, but finally stepped forward, glancing at Emmett, and turned to look at me with an unfathomable expression. At long last, she sighed and said, "I'm sorry." Emmett and Jasper whooped, and Edward looked mollified. The others merely glanced at her and grinned. We left it at that.

The others be darned, I really wanted Edward. He and I, after a moment, simply got into the silver Volvo and started driving. I felt I knew where, though I couldn't be entirely sure and didn't really care. The fact that Edward's driving no longer bothered me struck me as the most odd of the changes that had come over me.

He smiled at me. I could see so much better now, sense everything keener, and his smile affected me more than it ever did. I smiled at him. My hand flashed over to his, the movement much more rapid than humanly possible. For a moment, his grin widened, and then became more somber. "It's night," he said, sadly, "And it will be night for us from now on."

"Silly Edward," I said, smiling, "We live in Forks. Plenty of rainy days, and we can always go to the clearing."

"That's not what I meant."

"I know. But I'm more happy now than I deserve." Edward looked at me in slight disbelief, his eyebrow arched. "Believe me, I never thought that you could possibly be for me. Now I have an eternity to look forward to."

"Yes. An eternity. Think about what that means," Edward said, solemn, though I could sense his quiet joy.

"I have, and I'm delighted," I replied, grinning at him. He squeezed my hand tighter.

"You're not so breakable anymore," he said smiling, "I'm not afraid of breaking you."

"I'm glad," I said. Of course, I was aware of the ramifications of that and delighted, though I didn't want to make it quite so obvious.

"How different is it for you?" he asked me, looking curious.

"Being a vampire?" I asked. I thought about it for a moment. "Not that different, I suppose. Maybe we have a great deal of ability to adapt. I don't notice being able to see, hear, smell, feel better – it seems natural. Though sometimes I catch myself and realize this is extremely absurd."

"You're not afraid of my driving," Edward quipped, eyeing the speedometer.

"No," I laughed, "I'm enjoying that."

"And your walk, it's different," Edward continued, "Your face is whiter, though I think it looks good on you. Your features – you're still Bella, except now you look like one of us. A perfect predator."

I paused for a moment. "I am hungry," I said finally. "Are we going to get something to eat?"

Edward nodded, grinning.