Epilogue

Carlisle's POV

I have taken the position as head of surgery at the Volterra hospital as well as spending spare time between my beautiful wife and the ruling council. Bella has gone to and finished medical school at the top of her class while scouting for and consulting with the new guard. When there is a student with the right gift she even helps to teach a projecting class with the guard so that they can learn to use their gift with a wider range. Esme and Charlie got married not long after Bella and I. I am very glad that they both found their happiness. Charlie has taught patrol and policing strategy as well as is head of the patrol unit in the guard, while Esme mostly just mothers everyone in sight. Jasper has taken over strategic and battle planning while teaching it to the guard and he and Emmett collaborate on physical combat training. Alice works in the planning department of course as she can see any problems that may arise while Rosalie covers all of the administrative duties. Basically everyone is happy and flourishing.

It was ten years today that the battle of Volterra took place and my family took Caius' seat as one of the Volturi. We have made many changes. The 'vegetarian' diet is now widely known and every vampire has a choice. There still aren't too many on the diet, but there are more than there were. If a vampire finds their mate in a human they are allowed to tell the human of the vampire world as well as tell the human's immediate family. The law is still there that if they speak a work to anyone they are eliminated. As much I hate that fact it is necessary. My theory that with adequate knowledge and preparation the newborn state of mind isn't necessary has been proven which is the main reason for the lax secrecy laws. Since Bella has gotten a better handle on her gifts she can now predict gifts in humans, which allows us to approach humans who have useful gifts to offer them a place among the guard.

No matter how happy we are here, we don't belong. We aren't used to staying in the same place for long. It's time to move on. We still will have to visit for a few weeks every year and be available for phone consultations on a regular basis so we will always keep our friends here. We finally agreed on a new cover story for our next town. Since Edward is gone the only person who has trouble passing for a twenty-something is Alice and lets face it sometimes people just look young for their age so we are all recent college graduates, roommates, and best friends. Even Charlie can pass for younger now since his change smoothed out all the lines in his skin and returned the shine to his hair.

There are a lot of emotional goodbyes as we prepare to leave Volterra, but Aro is the worst. He has always been slightly emotional and it has only gotten worse since he had to order his brother's death. He says he's not ready for us to leave, but I know that he will never be ready. Sometimes you just have to pull off the bandaid. At least this time he knows that I don't have much choice to visit every year and as an immortal a year is so short a time. That makes it easier for him I think. Unfortunately it means that he will have to see that empty throne to his right every day that I'm not there. It will not only remind him that I'm gone, but it will remind him of Caius' death as well. If it becomes too much for him and he feels the need to fill the seat with someone else that's okay by me. I even told him so. He swore that he would never replace me, but he may change his mind someday and my family and I are prepared for that.

Finally we head out for our next home in Maine. Bella and I have found jobs together at the hospital on the same trauma team even, and Charlie has a job as a detective using his new criminal justice degree. The others don't have jobs yet, but that can wait until we get there. We won't be able to stay long since the kids are starting out so old, but we need to get back in the swing of things and Bella isn't quite ready to be 'mom' yet.

75 YEARS LATER

Bella's POV

We are finally back in Forks. We have missed it here so much. I look at the big house where I first learned of the vampire world and can't believe how much my life has changed. I finally decided a few decades ago that I was ready to be a 'mom' and so now we have two families in one. Our human charade has changed a bit. Carlisle and I are the parents of Emmett and Alice Cullen and Charlie and Esme are the parents to Rosalie and Jasper Hale.

The first thing we have to do is get the kids enrolled in Forks High again. Emmett and Rose will be starting as Sophmores and Alice and Jasper will be freshman. They look a little old for their ages, but that's okay. They will look young again soon enough. Carlisle and I are starting at twenty-seven and Charlie and Esme are starting at twenty nine. I just passed my hundredth birthday and I'm just as happy now as I was the day I was changed. I will always be grateful to Edward for bringing me into this world and even more grateful to Carlisle for keeping me.

Tomorrow morning we have to go to the reservation border. We don't know if there are still wolves here or not, but if there are we need to discuss the treaty. If there aren't I'm sure there are still some left from the old crowd so once they hear we are back they will hopefully come and say hello at the hospital. We spend the night getting to know our home again, reclaiming our bedrooms, and going for a quick hunt close to home. It's amazing how little has changed.

Finally we are all headed to the reservation border. We stop near the treaty line and a large wolf comes out from the trees. He phases back to human and looks at us somewhat strangly. Carlisle speaks first. "Hello. I am Carlisle Cullen and this is my family. We had a treaty with your ancestors and have returned to the area and were hoping to introduce ourselves to your current alpha and open friendly relations with the tribe once again."

As soon as Carlisle said his name the man gasped. When Carlisle finished speaking the man said. "Follow me." and began walking back towards the reservation.

"Are we allowed on the reservation now? Last time we were here we were not."

"Don't worry. The Cullens are always welcome on the reservation now. We were instructed to bring you to the chief if you ever returned. He said he wanted to meet again with his old friends." The man explained.

We all looked at each other in confusion but shrugged and followed him. When we reached a large house that apparently belonged to the chief the man whose name we learned was Jeffrey, knocked on the door. A middle aged man came to the door but we recognized him immediately as Sam. I sqealed and jumped in his arms for a hug. "Bella, so good to see you again. How are you?"

"Wonderful. I've never been happier. How are you so young?" I asked him.

He laughed. "I just stopped phasing a few years ago so I just began aging again. We have a new generation of wolves now though some of the old crew is still in the mix." He then looked to the others. "How are all of you? I hoped you would come again while I was still here to see you."

They all took their turns embracing Sam. Having a friend here made it feel even more like coming home. Sam then looked to Jeffrey. "Round up everyone. We are having a bonfire tonight to honor the Cullens and their return."

To say we were all shocked was an understatement. When we left we had just begun to be on friendly terms with the tribe after a hundred years of mistrust and now we were honored guests. Sam invited us all in and we spent the rest of the day catching up before the bonfire.

When we got to the bonfire we really were the guests of honor. All of the children looked at us like heroes and all of the adults just wanted to shake our hands. Jake, Seth, and Embry were still phasing and still as young as ever and we had a tearful reunion. Jake was now the alpha and there were almost thirty wolves total in the tribe. It seemed that a lot had changed since we were last there, since all of the tribe knew about the wolves and thus about vampires. They didn't consider themselves mortal enemies of our kind anymore though. They still protected people from vampires, but only hunted them when someone was in danger.

Finally we all settled down for the legends. Sam was the storyteller now since Billy had passed on many years ago. We heard the legend of how the wolves came to be followed by the legend of the cold ones. Then came the one that interested us.

"Then one day our ancestors came across a group of cold ones who swore they were different from the rest. They only wanted to be left in peace and would never harm a human. Our ancestors were skeptical but drew up a treaty stating that if any of this coven ever bit or killed a human it would mean war and in return we would never tell anyone what they were. There was much hatred and mistrust between the tribe and that coven, the Cullens, but they held to the treaty. Almost a hundred years after that day the first breach of the treaty took place. One of our young people told an outsider of the legend of the cold ones and she found out what the Cullens were. They could have killed us all with good reason for that, but they decided not to. We didn't even find out about the breach until a few years later. By that time I was the alpha wolf and was beginning to respect this strange family. We learned more about them and sat down together in peace and even became friends. Then one day there was trouble in the coven that ruled all vampires and the Cullens raced to the aid of an old friend who happened to be one of the rulers. Together with him they quashed the coup and took a seat on the ruling council. They have helped to bring reforms to the vampire world that benefit us all and saved us from a madman that would have called all vampires to destroy us and any humans they could. We decided then that the Cullens would always be friends of the tribe and welcome on our lands. Now eighty-five years later they have returned and we look forward to a new era of peace and friendship with them."

Once the story was over we were all stunned. It seems we are heroes in the supernatural world. We were all a bit uncomfortable with the attention. Well all but Emmett anyway. Emmett is too busy challenging the wolves to wrestling matches to be uncomfortable, but we were glad that we wouldn't have to worry about any hostilities. We could finally settle into Forks in peace. We would still come back as much as we could and stay as long as we could, but now it was even more home since there would always be those here who knew us and respected us. It is nice having friends that know what we are without being one of us. Life was good before, but now it is perfect.