Disclaimer: I do not own anything.

A/N: Congratulations to the Mad Fisherman for being my first critic ever! Lol. You're right of course. This story is in many ways a verbatim of the book, except without Alice.

Characters and their thoughts and feelings stay the same because I was more focused on exploring a change in plot and was not really planning on giving everyone yet another version of Bella's feelings on the same thing. Once again I apologise for the stolen sentences. It's just that I'm a pretty slow writer and doing this makes it faster for me to write and update. Thankfully you won't have to put up with it for much longer as my story soon diverges from the original.

But really, I think I gave everyone a pretty fair warning in the author's note... And I'm pretty sure my disclaimer makes it clear that nothing belongs to me. Either way, if anyone else feels 'insulted or mislead' do speak up. I can easily paraphrase everything (I am a uni student after all – in fact I can even provide you with references and footnotes...) if you're really going to be all that bothered by it.

Claimed

It was only once I had calmed down that I was finally aware of the situation that we were in. We were in Italy, being held by a very large group of 'non-vegetarian' vampires who would continue to hold us here until I was changed. I had left Forks and Charlie without an explanation and the only person who had any information was a currently angry teenage werewolf. I hadn't seen Alice since I had left the car and I had no idea where she was. Yet despite all those things, all I could think about was the fact that I was really here, in Edward's arms, however fleetingly, and that we were not – at this exact moment – about to be killed.

"Oh Edward," I cried, and I was sobbing again. My vision was blurred as thick tears pooled in my eyes, making it impossible to see his perfect face. It was such a stupid reaction – completely inexcusable. I only had until the sunset for sure. Like a fairy tale, with a deadline that ended the magic. Once he fulfilled his promise to change me he would no doubt leave. So I blinked the tears away, allowing them to spill onto the blankets below me as I stared at him, willing my human brain to memorise every detail of his face. Would he stay until I was fully changed or would he leave before? I couldn't decide if it would be better or worse to have him branded into my memory for the rest of eternity.

"What's wrong?" he asked. His voice was gentle and coloured with concern, and I felt a sharp stab as I was thrown off guard by its beauty. If he was aware of any changes in me he said nothing, rubbing my back with gentle pats.

"Is it really sick for me to be happy right now?" I asked. My voice came out small and broken as I wrapped my arms around his neck. I tensed as I waited for his strong, stone arms to grasp my own. To disengage me or push me away.

Surprisingly enough he didn't. Instead, he pulled me tightly into his chest as if he knew that he was somehow holding me together. "I know exactly what you mean," he whispered. "But we have lots of reasons to be happy. For one, we're alive."

"Yes," I agreed. "That's a good one." And it was. He was alive. Wasn't that all that mattered at this point? I had come to save him from his incredibly rash behaviour and I had succeeded. Mission accomplished.

"And we're together," he continued. His breath was so sweet it made my head swim.

Unable to speak, I simply nodded, sure that he did not place the same weight on that consideration as I did. Instead I continued to stare at him, silently willing that time would somehow stand still. It was like opening your eyes after a seven month long nightmare to find things still the same. Perfect and untainted, in that precise moment. And I would have traded my soul for that moment to last forever, or, if it couldn't, I wished that I would stop existing when it did, because surely there would be nothing left of me when that time came.

So I did the only thing I could do to make the moment sweeter. I pretended that he felt the same way. It was stupid, but it was easy. His eyes, though black as pitch, were soft, and burning with something that could have passed off as concern.

His fingertips traced the circles under my eyes. "You look so tired."

"And you look thirsty," I whispered back, studying the purple bruises under his black irises.

He shrugged. "It's nothing."

"Are you sure? I could move," I offered, unwillingly; I'd rather he kill me now than move once inch from where I was.

"No, I'm alright." He sighed; his sweet breath caressed my face. "Just as long as you don't bleed."

I felt him shudder against me and I momentarily imagined what he would have pictured in his mind. Was this the suppressed pleasure of the bloodthirsty creature within him, or was this his response to what would happen if I did start bleeding?

I forced the question from my mind and chose to remain silent, holding my tongue against the multitude of questions that threatened to bubble from my lips. Here in his arms, it was so easy to believe that he wanted me.

I knew that he probably only acted this way to keep me calm. He probably just felt guilty for being the cause of the current situation, but I did not care. I was grateful. Maybe the time apart had been enough that I didn't bore him for the moment. It didn't matter. I was so much happier pretending.

So I remained silent, postponing the inevitable in order to buy a few extra hours. Whether he changed me or not, I couldn't believe that he would leave without at least talking to me. And it would have been a good time to talk, to get the answers I needed to finally understand, but instead I shied away, afraid of the pain I would inevitably receive.

I was tired enough to sleep, but I fought against the weariness. I wasn't going to miss a second of the time I had with him. Now and then, he would lean down suddenly and kiss me—his glass-smooth lips brushing against my hair, my forehead, the tip of my nose. Each time it was like an electric shock to my long dormant heart. The sound of its beating seemed to fill the entire room.

Edward seemed perfectly content to hold me in his arms, his fingers tracing my face again and again. I touched his face, too. I couldn't stop myself; though I was afraid it would hurt me later, when I was alone again. He continued to kiss my hair, my forehead, my wrists… but never my lips, and that was good. After all, how many ways can one heart be mangled and still be expected to keep beating? I'd lived through a lot that should have finished me in the last few days, but it didn't make me feel strong. Instead, I felt horribly fragile, like one word could shatter me.

And maybe Edward could sense this, because never once did he speak. Maybe he was hoping I would sleep. Maybe he had nothing to say.

But instead he remained silent, nuzzling my neck, breathing in my scent as if it didn't make his throat burn. Appreciating the bouquet while resisting the wine, as he had once put it. And he wouldn't have to resist it for much longer.

But as soon as that thought came, I quickly shoved it aside as I lay quiet in his arms, re-memorizing his face and pretending with all my heart…

For once my dreams took me nowhere near an eternal forest. There were no trees, no endless foliage to stumble through. No all consuming silence to mirror the absolute nothingness as I searched for that which no longer existed. I did not wake up screaming.
Instead, this time he was there, standing on a familiar stretch of beach. He was standing against a large tree, on the very edge of the shade as the midday sun burned white in the sky. Giant wolves bounded towards him.
"No!" I heard my own voice yell as I ran forward on slow human legs. But I was too late to stop them.

And then suddenly the beach disappeared and they were all gone. I was alone, pressed up against cold stone walls as blood red eyes loomed out of the darkness. I pressed myself closer.
Then a sharp pain exploded from my hand and I looked down to see a bloody crescent, torn into my pale skin. I had been bitten.

The feeling of venomous flames seared up my arm and I couldn't help but scream as it quickly spread through my chest. It felt like a thousand white-hot needles piercing my skin, and for once I felt my will dissolve. He wasn't coming. I wasn't going to be saved this time.

Then everything went black, and the only sounds that remained where the half broken sobs and the echo of his name as I called out to him through the darkness.