hat ought to do it," the nurse muttered as Bella's eyelids drooped.

The nurse promptly left the room, eyeing me suspiciously.

Even though she was obviously losing consciousness I rushed over to Bella to place my hands on her face, to hold her head still.

"Stay." Bella slurred.

"I will," I promised. "Like I said, as long as it makes you happy..." I hesitated, not long enough for Bella to notice. "As long as it's what's best for you," I added to my statement.

"'S not the same thing," she mumbled more inarticulate words.

Watching her trying to beat off the medication was kind of...hilarious. I laughed.

"Don't worry about that now, Bella. You can argue with me when you wake up."

A cheesy grin spread across her face as her eyes became small slits. '"Kay."

I continued to try and suppress laughter. I was very glad Emmett wasn't here, the jokes would never end. Looking down at my now drunken beauty, I brought my lips to her ear.

"I love you," I whispered.

"Me, too."

"I know," I laughed quietly at my joke, remembering her saying that when I finally sucked the venom out of her wrist and told her I loved her.

Again, I tried to suppress laughter as her head lulled sideways, her lips puckering at a funny angle, facing the opposite direction of my face. I shook my head and brought my lips to hers. "Thanks," she sighed.

"Anytime," I chuckled.

She went limp in the bed, but was still struggling to reach reality.

"Ed..war?" she tried to say my name, but it came out all wrong.

"Yes?" I smiled down at her

"I'm betting on Alice," she mumbled, her words clearer this time.

My humor vanished, a frown replaced my smile. This argument was far from over, but no matter what, our deadlock would remain. I kissed her forehead and sat down next to her to hold her hand until she wakes again.

Epilogue: Dream

The month after Bella's accident flew by. After Charlie had cooled down and quit blaming me for her 'accident' - which he had every right to do since it was my fault - things had been comparatively free of danger...besides the obvious danger that I always presented.

Regardless of our now quiet and semi-uneventful life, I was quite content. It had only become habit for me to stay in her room every night and each day absorb every word that came out of her mouth - sarcastic or not.

Looking into the mirror I could see my dark eyes and deep blue circles under my eyes from where I hadn't hunted in a while. It was hard to take myself away from Bella for any period of time, so my hunting habits had become less gluttonous than usual. Before the prom, though I would hunt.

In the corner of my eye I caught the black bag with a post-it note with my name written on it. Alice had purchased for me a new tuxedo. Unzipping the bag, I grabbed the coat to examine it. It was made by some famous and outrageously expensive designer. But clothes, no matter what kind of an occasion, were her specialty and you just learned to not argue with her. Putting the black coat back into the closet and making sure all my accessories were there, I decided to give Charlie a call.

The phone rang a few times before I heard Charlie's gruff voice on the other end.

"Hello?"

"Good evening, Charlie. It's Edward," I said politely, using my smooth voice.

"Ah. Yes." He coughed and cleared his throat before whispering into the phone. "She's upstairs right now." He laughed lightly. "She has no clue."

I returned his laugh. She sure seemed a little slow about something so obvious. What could she possibly be thinking we were doing tonight? Surely she had noticed all the posters around school with today's date and the words PROM plastered all over every inch of the school building.

"Thanks, Charlie. I will be there in a few minutes."

"I'll make sure she's downstairs and ready," he chuckled under his breath, still whispering.

When I arrived outside of her house I could hear her complaining to Charlie.

"So, Bells, what do you have planned for the evening? Alice showed me the dress you are wearing tonight."

"I don't know, dad. Alice wouldn't tell me, and Edward wouldn't budge either. For all I know they could be taking me to the Grammy's," her voice was clearly irritated at the lack of information we had given her.

Honestly, I was probably enjoying this much more than I should be. Usually, she is the one unlocking my secrets and me giving her all the answers. But the past two weeks have been kind of fun, especially every time she gave me her pouty face, which was absolutely adorable and almost impossible to resist. I decided before hand that if she gave me that irresistible face, I would just kiss her pouty bottom lip.

"I don't know about that. I told him to keep it in a fifteen mile radius."

"Ugh!" Bella groaned. "Did he tell you?"

During their banter I had made it quickly up the sidewalk and was standing outside the door, thoroughly enjoying their conversation.

"Nope. Not even a hint," I heard him chuckle.

"This is so annoying," she huffed.

I knocked lightly on the door, which was quickly yanked open to a smiling Charlie.

Bella was sitting on the couch, her head placed on top of her hands - which were intertwined like she was praying - with a look of pure devastation on her face. I laughed.

"Are you going to tell me now?" Her chin jutted out.

I shook my head, chuckling.

She folded her arms. "Fine."

Stepping around Charlie, I brought Bella into a deep embracing hug, like I hadn't seen her in months. Her tiny arms wrapped around me fiercely and she smiled reluctantly.

"Alice is waiting for you," I kissed her forehead and let her fragrance tingle my throat pleasantly.

Alice had become the best friend to Bella that she always envisioned, minus the scarlet red eyes - which I continually refused to give her, regardless of Bella and Alice's pleas. Though it pained me to see Bella's delicate leg casted on a daily basis, I knew that my sister was taking care of her during hours I wasn't allowed into the Swan house.

I shook my head to try and dispel thoughts of Alice, now, who is planning on entrapping Bella in her gym sized closet for hours today while I go out hunting with Jasper and Emmett. Her not-so-sneaky-way of telling Bella about the transformation process of how to become a vampire was her way of taking the strain of that kind of conversation off of myself by having Bella ask me. What she seemed to not be able to comprehend is that I didn't want to have that conversation, not just because I didn't want to bring it up, but because I never wanted to have that conversation in the first place.

"You take care of my girl," Charlie commanded. "Have fun at prom," he whispered so low Bella couldn't hear.

"Yes, sir."

Charlie shut the door behind us as I let Bella brace all of her weight on me and then helped her into the car.

After I dropped a scowling Bella off at my house, Emmett, Jasper and I went hunting. The trip was short lived and desperately needed. It had been almost two weeks, and I was thirstier than I thought. The warm blood of the elk soothed the ache, though it would never fully rid me of it.

"It's prom night..." Emmett chuckled on the way back home. "You know what that means?"

Oh, haha. Funny. Jasper laughed along with Emmett.

I frowned at them.

"Oh come on, Edward!" Emmett raised his hands in faux exasperation. "Did you get a hotel room or were you planning on doing it in the car?" Emmett guffawed stupidly for several minutes at his own joke.

"I'm not going to...have sex with her, Emmett." I said through clenched teeth.

"Well what do you do with her all those nights in her room?"

Jasper and Emmett were doubled over in laughter now.

"That's it!" I snapped. My foot slammed on the break and Emmett's head hit the roll bar on the jeep, putting a deep dent in it.

This time, I laughed.

"Dammit, Edward!" He screamed at me while Jasper continued to laugh insanely loud.

I looked in the rear view mirror. "You're next!" I warned Jasper.

He put his lips together in an attempt to stop his laughter, but couldn't hold it in any longer and his breath came whooshing out along with more cackling. Instead of getting even, I couldn't help myself and I joined in on the laughter while Emmett glared at me.

Rose is going to kick my ass for this.

"Yup," I replied and Emmett mock punched me in the arm.

The rest of the drive continued like this...Emmett making a sex joke, Jasper nodding in agreement and grinning widely at me in the rear view mirror while I swerved once making Jasper's head break through the hard top on the Jeep.

When we finally arrived back home, we found Rosalie scowling in the garage in her scarlet dress that fell flawlessly over her body. Emmett jumped out of the Jeep and whistled. He tried to give her a hug but she backed away.

"Ew! Take a shower and get changed. Bella is already ready," she sneered her name. I frowned at her but she just turned and got into her M3, her dress not covering an inch of her back. "I'll be waiting!" She shouted at Emmett who was already running up the stairs to their room.

When I finally walked inside and up to Alice's closet, I saw Bella. She was leaning against the wall behind Alice, her hair in intricate curls, her silk blue dress clinging just right onto her extravagant body and her free foot in delicate high heels with lace wrapping around her lower ankle. I literally had to put my tongue back in my mouth. She was stunning, though her facial expression was clearly not in league with her appearance. She had a deep scowl on her face and there was a tiny pucker between her eyebrows.

"Get dressed!" Alice demanded, though she was still wearing pants.

Kissing Bella lightly on the forehead I shot upstairs to the third floor to quickly take a shower and put on my tuxedo.

"By the way, you're late!" Alice yelled up the stairs. I'll take Bella downstairs. I'm going to get dressed and Jasper and I will meet you there.

By the time I was done, Alice and Jasper were gone and Bella was sitting on the couch downstairs talking with Esme. Rushing towards her, I pulled her up into my arms and brushed my hands lightly through her intricate curls.

"This is for you," I showed her a white lily which Alice had left on my dresser.

Blood rushed up her face, coloring it a delicious pink. The scent was spectacular.

"Thanks," she whispered.

"Here," I said while pinning it into her hair. "Now you're perfect."

Her blush turned an even darker shade of pink.

"You're not so bad yourself," her lips twitched up into a smile.

Wrapping my arm around her waist we proceeded to the door.

"Are you going to tell me where we are going now?" She looked sideways at me, anticipation obvious in her eyes.

"Not a chance," I grinned.

Her lips turned down as I helped her into my car. Carefully, I made sure that she was secure, including her dress, before I shut the door. Alice would kill me if I got her dress dirty before we even arrived at the school.

"At what point exactly are you going to tell me what's going on?" She asked tersely.

Really? Had she seriously not figure it out yet? I threw her a derisive smile.

"I'm shocked that you haven't figured it out yet."

She took in a deep breath and held it for several seconds before she spoke.

"I did mention that you looked very nice, didn't I?" She double-checked.

"Yes." My smile deepened.

Her musical heart began to pick up in pace. In anticipation or nervousness, I wasn't sure. She looked down at her attire and frowned.

"I'm not coming over anymore if Alice is going to treat me like Guinea Pig Barbie when I do," she complained.

My phone vibrated lightly before it rang. If it's Alice, I'm not answering. I put my hand into my inside jacket pocket, pulled out my phone and looked at the number. It was Bella's number. It was easy to tell who was calling me since Bella was sitting next to me. Curious as to what he was calling for, I answered.

"Hello, Charlie."

"Charlie?" Bella's frown became more prominent on her face.

"Um. Yeah." Charlie paused, obviously unsure of how to continue. "Tyler is here to pick Bella up for prom." He said the words slowly, delicately.

I could feel my eyes widen in disbelief.

"He says that Bella told him 'yes' when he asked her to go to prom."

A grin slowly crept up my face. It was about time that Tyler get the point that Bella is taken. That she is mine!

I laughed. "You're kidding!"

"No...definitely not," I could hear Charlie's voice cracking. He was trying not to laugh.

"What is it?" Bella demanded at the same time Tyler asked, "Who are you talking to?"

This was like a dream come true. It was bad enough that I had to hear every guys fantasy at school. It was time for payback.

"Why don't you let me talk to him?" I offered.