The last chapter. Enjoy!

Chapter 6: At Long Last...

She sat, trembling, on the edge of the pew, staring blankly ahead. She was vaguely aware of the ornate architectural details of the vast cathedral, vaguely aware of the beautiful flowers lining the aisle, vaguely aware of her beautiful midnight-blue gown and matching heels.

What she was utterly, fully, and totally aware of was Edward, looking devastatingly handsome in his tuxedo at the front of the church, face respectably calm, a polite half-smile on his lips. Try as she might, she simply couldn’t take her eyes off of him. A million regrets washed over her. To think, this could have been her own wedding, with her Edward waiting for her, so that they could start on their happily ever after.

But it wasn’t.

As the priest called for the rings, she felt bile rising in her throat. She bit her lip and clutched at her stomach as discreetly as she possibly could. She couldn’t do this now. No. She had come too far, dammit.

She played the entire scenario out in her head. In mere moments, Edward and Rosalie would be married. Rosalie would no longer be Rosalie Hale – she would be Rosalie Masen. And Edward would no longer be Bella’s Edward. No, Edward would become Rosalie’s Edward.

The thought made her stomach churn.

A rustle of satin – Edward and Rosalie were standing now. She swallowed and gathered up her courage. She would be strong. She would withstand this. Any moment now, they would say their I do’s, slip the rings on each other’s fingers, and they would – they would –

Oh, God.

And then they really would move off to New York and live in a giant house. They would both work in a large corporate building and make millions of dollars. And then they’d have children. Beautiful, beautiful children, with blonde hair and green eyes.

They would look much better than any child with bronze hair and brown eyes, she thought resentfully.

The priest was talking. She shook her head to clear it of all her imaginings.

“…speak now or forever hold your peace…”

For a brief moment, she entertained the thought of shooting up from her seat and declaring her undying love. The scene in her head made her snort quietly to herself, but she sobered up quickly as the priest moved onto the next part of the ceremony.

“Do you, Edward Anthony Masen, take Rosalie Lilian Hale to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and cherish until death do you part?”

Two more words. Two more words until her heart was forever broken, smashed into a million fragments. And the irony of it all was that it was entirely her fault! She had no one to blame for this but herself. Stupid, ignorant Bella Swan, screwing up her life as usual.

It would only take two words. Two syllables. That I do would break her beyond repair.

It suddenly occurred to her that she could not – would not – just – could not stand to see this. If he was going to marry her, then fine, very well, but she could not sit here and watch the – the love of her freaking life marry somebody else.

God, but she felt so sick.

She shot up from her seat, clamping a hand to her mouth. With that one action, everybody turned to stare at her, wide-eyed. Alice’s mouth dropped open.

Before anyone could ask any questions, she managed (she wasn’t quite sure how she did it, but she did) to stammer out “I will be right back, so just – keep going. Keep going.” And without waiting for a reply, tore straight down the aisle.

Inevitably, she tripped, but luckily, was able to grab onto the large wooden double-doors of the cathedral. So close to escaping. Behind her, she was all too aware that the ceremony had completely halted. She raised her head to see Edward’s piercingly green eyes staring confusedly at her, a hurt expression on his countenance. She flinched and turned away.

Don’t look at me like that.

She ran out, flinging the doors shut behind her. She cursed as she reached the steps that led down to the sidewalk, grabbing onto the railings for dear life. Dammit, dammit, dammit!

The doors swung open behind her, revealing Edward, gazing intently at her with an unreadable expression on his face. It was amazing how quickly his face could shift to accommodate his emotions – but she didn’t have time for that now. Looking down, she saw that her heel had broken and she ripped the shoe off her foot.

“Bella –” he began, but she cut him off.

“Edward!” She was amazed she could still smile. “I think – the tuna? It didn’t agree with me. I know you told me not to have any, because I’ve never been a tuna person, but, well, when have I listened to you, right?” Lies were pouring out of her; she was so frantic. Gripping her broken shoe in her hand, she hobbled down the remaining steps. “I will be right back, you ought to go back there, you can’t miss your own wedding!”

“Bella –”

“Edward!” The tears were so close to coming now. “Please. Please. Go back. Go and get married. Get your happy ending. You deserve it.” Her voice shook. “Please go? I don’t want you to see me like this. It’s going to be horribly messy. I’m going to throw up everywhere, and you don’t need to see that on your wedding day. Night.” She tore her eyes away from him to stare at the night sky, glittering with scattered stars. “Please.”

He shook his head. “I can’t leave you here.”

“Yes, you can, and you will!” She was nearly screaming. “You have to go back because this is your happy ending! I didn’t think it would work at first, but god, it will! It will be so freaking bloody perfect I’m surprised there aren’t fairy godmothers and pixies flying around already! You two will be beautiful together and the entire world will love you. Your company will do very, very well, and your father will be so proud of you.” She took off her other shoe, preparing to run. He still stood there, determinedly unmoving. “For the love of god, Edward, go and get fucking married already!”

She caught a glimpse of startled green eyes before she took off running.

It took her a few seconds to realize that he was running, too.

“What the hell!” she exploded. She was pretty sure she hadn’t cursed this much before, but desperate times called for desperate measures. She’d down a bottle of tequila if she had one.

“What in the world is wrong with you?” he demanded, easily catching up to her. Still, she pushed herself to go faster, despite her heart’s protests.

It didn’t matter.

Three…

Two…

One…

Checkmate.

His large hand gripped her shoulder, pulling her to an abrupt stop.

“Tell me what’s wrong,” he said, eyes glinting harshly at her.

“Nothing is wrong,” she spat.

“Oh, don’t even try.” He was breathing heavily, but it couldn’t possibly be from the run. There was something else, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. They were close, much too close. He was intoxicating. Her heart pounded against her chest, and she wondered if he could hear it, too. Her eyes roamed his face, stopping at his lips. Lips that had kissed her on the forehead, on the cheek, so many times, like – like an older brother. Only as an older brother, never anything more. He was leaning down now, but he wasn’t moving towards her forehead or her cheek, no, he was steadily coming towards her own lips, and the look in his eyes was decidedly not of a brotherly nature…

She hardly knew what she was doing, but she was moving closer to him, too.

“Edward?”

A quiet voice, but it was enough to break the spell. She forced herself to look away from him, only to see Rosalie standing in the doorway, clad in her beautiful white gown. The reality of the situation crashed down on her. Nothing had changed. The wedding was still on, as it rightfully should be.

She pushed him away, taking three steps back. She turned around and ran, dropping her shoes as she did. The concrete was cold and hard, but she pushed on, ignoring the complaints from her feet.

He didn’t go after her this time.

Somewhere in the middle of the road, she lost all her adrenaline and fell to a slow, pathetic walk. She could just imagine the sight she must be – haphazard, tangled hair; wrinkled midnight-blue dress; blisters all over her feet; make-up probably smeared all over her face.

She couldn’t bring herself to care.

After trudging along for a good length of time, she found herself in the middle of the playground. Numbly, she made her way over to the swings, sinking heavily into the cold metal seat, fingers clutching the metal chains for dear life.

He was probably married by now.

She closed her eyes and kicked off from the ground. The chilly winter wind stung harshly against her face, but she didn’t mind. Nothing really mattered anymore. She pushed, harder and harder, until the swings creaked noisily in protest.

She… didn’t want to think of the consequences. She didn’t want to think of what happened after. Edward and Rosalie had their happy ending. Bella was all alone. And so the story ended. She felt like one of the ugly stepsisters, left to clean up the mess they’d made.

What if she’d told him her feelings? Would it have changed anything? She snorted derisively to herself. Highly unlikely. She was hardly Hale Publishing Co. material.

How was she going to live with herself now? Would she be able to get over this? Would she be able to handle them being… husband and wife?

Oh, god. They were – they were –

Well, that was it then, wasn’t it? She laughed, a bitter sound. All that was left to do was to get her act together, wish the happy couple congratulations, and take the first flight back to her college campus – because she couldn’t take this any longer.

She didn’t know how long she was there before the snow began to fall. She opened her eyes, blinking dazedly as the powdery-fine snowflakes began floating gently towards the ground.

And she couldn’t say exactly why, but watching the pure, pristine beauty of it all brought tears to her eyes, and soon she was sobbing openly, loudly, for all the world to see. The swing gradually came to a stop, and she slipped out of the seat, collapsing on the sand.

Oh, god, but it hurt. She took in huge, gasping breaths.

She wrenched her eyes shut, but the tears leaked through anyway. She felt them cascading down her cheeks, mingling with the snow falling from the sky.

All too suddenly, she heard footsteps approaching. Through the haze of her tears, she saw the outline of his figure. What else had she expected? Through it all, he’d always managed to find her no matter where she hid.

He kneeled down in front of her, brushing her hair away from her face, wiping the tears away with the pad of his thumb.

“Why won’t you tell me?” he whispered, cupping her cheek in his palm. “Why won’t you tell me what’s been hurting you?”

In response, she only cried harder.

And he only held her tighter.

And with her face buried in the crook of his neck, his arms wrapped so securely around her, she knew that there would never be a way out of this.

“I love you,” she sobbed. There. It was out. “I know it’s crazy anticlimactic, and probably doesn’t mean anything at all to you, but there it is.”

He stiffened for a moment, and she was so afraid he would push her away. She clutched onto his shirt. He relaxed, but pulled back to meet her eyes. She shivered at the passion she saw in his.

“The reason I wanted this wedding rushed, why I didn’t tell you on purpose,” he began quietly, never once looking away, “was that I knew, without a doubt, that once I set my eyes on you… I would never be able to marry anyone else.”

She froze. “What?” she said, weakly.

His lips quirked up into that familiar crooked smile. He pressed his lips against her forehead.

“Silly girl,” he said. “It’s always, only been you.”

Bella shook her head at him, but drew closer to brush his bangs out of his eyes. “I can’t believe it,” she said, a teasing smile on her face. “You’re almost never sick. How in the world did you manage this?”

He shrugged, noncommittal. “Flu season?”

She snorted. “In the middle of July?” She reached inside a plastic bag and pulled out a Styrofoam container. “I bought you some chicken noodle soup.”

“You didn’t make it yourself, did you?” He joked, reaching out for it.

She bristled, mock-angry. “That’s no way to treat someone who went out of her way to visit you.”

His smile softened. “You didn’t have to.”

She waved it off, digging out a plastic spoon from the bag. She lifted the lid off the Styrofoam and ladled a spoonful into his mouth. He swallowed.

“Aren’t you busy with something?” he asked. “I don’t want to keep you from anything.”

“Nothing at all!” she chirped. Her smile fell as a thought occurred to her. “I feel horrible about yesterday, though. I mean… I just completely lost track of time… I’m so sorry.”

He smiled weakly at her. “It’s not the end of the world.” He took the soup from her, and drank a couple of spoonfuls before continuing. “After all, you have a boyfriend now. It’s only natural that he takes precedent.”

She scowled at him. “Jake will never ‘take precedent’ over you, Edward Masen, so be quiet.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said, still smiling. What Bella would never know was that he’d spent the entire afternoon waiting for her, in the pouring rain.

She never wanted to leave the security of his arms. Gulping back sobs, she managed, “But – the – the wedding –”

He waggled his fingers in her face. “See anything?”

She squinted through the tears – and there it was. His fourth finger, blissfully blank. “I – I don’t understand –”

“No, you don’t, do you?” he said cheerfully. “It was rather mortifying, really. I’m quite glad you weren’t there; I would have probably looked like a lesser man to you –”

“Never,” she said, earnestly.

He chuckled in response. “Well, would you believe it? Right after you left, Rosalie kept asking me if this was really the right thing to do, wasn’t there someone else, would this really work out? And… I couldn’t figure you out, Bella, so I regret to say that I actually did say yes. So we’re up there at the altar, ready to say our vows, when the priest asks if anyone knows a reason that this wedding shouldn’t take place…

“It was like a movie, really.” He rolls his eyes at the memory. “Emmett – yes, Emmett, stands up, and pretty much declares his undying love right then and there. Rosalie punches him in the face and then kisses him. I’m standing there, at a complete and total loss for what to do until Alice grabs a bouquet of flowers and throws them at my head and tells me to run after you.”

He cups her chin in the palm of his hand. “And so here we are.”

“Here we are.” She sighed. Then sniffled. “I just – god, I can’t believe this is all happening.” She let her head collapse against his shoulder. He rubbed soothing circles on her back. Around them, the snow fell quietly.

Silly girl. It’s always, only been you.

“How long?” she whispered.

“Years,” he admitted.

A dry, hysterical sob erupted from her throat. All those years…

“Probably from the day you threw your doll at me,” he went on. “Hit me straight in the heart like Cupid’s arrow.”

She punched him lightly in the arm. “That was cheesy.”

“Sorry.” He didn’t sound like it.

“Why are you apologizing?” she wondered, pulling away from him. He was so handsome that it hurt to look at him. The moonlight shone on his bronze locks of hair, illuminating his dazzling green eyes and angular jawline. She must look like a complete mess next to him, she thought. “I should – god, Edward, I can’t even begin to… I never – you should have told me…”

“What good would that have done?” he returned. “You were incredibly happy with Jacob – no, you know you were. He made you so happy; he was good for you. And I didn’t want – I couldn’t take that away from you.”

“I’m so sorry,” she murmured, pulling herself closer to him. “I’m so, so, so sorry.”

“Don’t be,” he said, resting his chin comfortably on top of her chin. She could smell his cologne. “We’ve finally made things right, haven’t we?”

Made things right. Here, in his arms, she found that it was all… just simply, undeniably right. She’d never felt the same sense of security with anyone else, not even with Jacob. This – this was what she had been searching for. What was meant to be.

After so many years, it all finally made sense.

“Yes,” she said, wrapping her arms around him. “Yes, we finally have.”

THE END

So I'd just like to take the time to thank ALL of you for reading this. It was my first ever Twilight fic, so that's definitely something special, isn't it? :D Yes, I know it was a long and tough journey, but hey, they made it through in the end, didn't they?

I think I've probably got enough inspiration in me for one more Twilight fic, so keep your fingers crossed! We'll just have to wait and see what happens with that one...