Hi. It's been a long time. A long time since I started this story and a long time since I updated. This is the final chapter to Fate & Forgotten Secrets. I want to say thank you all for picking up my little story. I'm happy to have become friends with many of you. F&FS is near and dear to me for many reasons. Thank you for giving it a chance.

I want to especially thank a few people. cclore and PhoenixMP3 for their support of me and their friendship from the very beginning. Most of this story would never have made it out of my head without their support. To Julieblys who I miss tremendously. All her graphic love has been inspirational to me and her friendship was there when I needed it. Finally to KhariZZmatiK who pinch-beta'd this last chapter for me and was on my ass, checking up on me to see if I would make any progress on this epilogue.

This is super bitter-sweet for me. Thank you all.

xo

snshyne

Fate & Forgotten Secrets

Chapter 50 - Epilogue: Just The Beginning

Edward Cullen POV

To say the last few months have been easy is a bold-faced fucking lie. Both Bella and I have been dealing with our own shit as well as trying to help one another through everything. I meant what I said to her that night under my piano a few months ago-she's it for me. I know that for us to move forward together, we have to work on the shit that weighs us down. She has more to work through than I do, but we have each other now, and some day the fun times will outnumber the difficult ones.

She didn't want to leave my condo after that night and neither did I, but we knew we had to. We had to get out and face the rest of the world. She was scared-she told me she still felt like he would come after her-and that enraged me. I didn't want him to have that hold on her. We'd spent over two weeks holed up in my place, but the only way she would overcome that fear or I would get a grip on the anger rippling through me was if we got out and faced it.

Slowly, Bella makes it back to work, where they welcome her with open arms. She quickly gets back into her routine and continued her therapy sessions, where her main focus is working on ways to cope with the catastrophes and changes she's been through. Ali and Bella still attend their self-defense classes, and Bella's doing a fantastic job being more comfortable socially. Soon, the shadows disappear from her eyes, and she starts eating more, bringing back the healthy curves I love.

I still struggle with a fuckton of guilt that I can't seem to shake, and I deal with it every week in therapy. Guilt that causes me to shut down at times, but Bella is good about giving me space to deal before helping to bring me out of it. I don't deserve her gentle love, but I need it. Guilt that makes me angry, but my therapist is good at understanding where that comes from, and he doesn't make me waste my energy beating up a goddamn chair with a fucking tennis racket.

I don't think either of us will ever have completely peaceful sleep, since the mind is most vulnerable when your control is down, but when I wake up from a terror and she's there, I calm down easier; and when she wakes up screaming to find me holding her, she's able to find safety in my arms.

At first, Bella has a hard time coming to grips with her inability to sleep in her room again, but one night she decides enough is enough. She adamantly insists I drop her off so that she can prove she can do it. She all but kicks my ass out the damn door to send me back to Seattle.

I tell her she doesn't have anything to prove to me, that it is perfectly normal for her to be afraid, to feel fear, after what happened to her. But Bella is as stubborn as a fucking mule, so there's no way she wouldn't at least try.

So I drop her off and let her think I'm going home when in reality I just circle the block a few times. I pay attention to her window and note when she turns off her light, signaling she's going to try to sleep.

I wait as my heart races, its beats feeling like they're bruising my ribcage from the inside. For her sake, I hope she can do it, and I hope for mine that she's okay trying. The doctor had placed her on a pretty strong combination of a sleep med and neuro-relaxer, which would quickly knock her out. The question is whether or not she can stay asleep and if her sleep will be peaceful.

About forty-five minutes into my vigil, she screams. I run for her as my phone starts to ring in my pocket, the picture of her smiling face coming up on the screen.

"Edward! I can't. I tried. I can't!" she cries into the phone. My heart breaks for her-she wants this so badly.

"I'm coming, baby," I soothe as I hustle up the stairs and push open the door. She stands on the bed and flings herself at me when I appear.

"Take me home," she whispers into my neck.

We never really talk about it after that. It is just understood that Bella is moving in. It actually works out for the best, because Jasper wanted to ask Alice to move in. He knew Alice wouldn't do it if she thought Bella needed her, and Bella would feel bad if she held Alice back, and all this other mixed-up girl shit I can't even begin to understand. So we end up avoiding it all, and over drinks one night, Bella jokes that we can thank James for that. I think she's had a few too many.

Here's the thing, though... who knew Bella had so much fucking shit?

One hundred and four boxes in total, and the bulk of them are kitchen or fucking heavy book boxes. Ten pieces of furniture. Two antique mirrors, fifty framed photos, eleven lamps, and three black hefty bags full of hangers. That doesn't include the "necessities" she packs in a large-as-a-fucking-trunk-suitcase or the small things that somehow manage to not end up in a goddamn box.

Why do girls need ten bottle of shit to wash their face? I'll never understand that shit.

I remember moving her out of that fucking asshole Mike's place, and that had taken all of us a few hours. Moving Bella into my place took all fucking day and well into the night. Neither of us are supposed to do any heavy lifting-not like I would let her anyway-so we spend most of our time supervising. I move stuff when she isn't looking...or when someone puts shit in the wrong place. I watch as box after box after fucking box pile up, and I am starting to freak the fuck out.

"No, those go over here!" Bella shouts to Seth, and I hear a loud thud as he drops two huge boxes on the floor in my living room. She smiles blissfully, but I'm too flustered by the chaos to be fully excited by this. "Thanks."

"J, help me get this chair through the door," Emmett calls out, and Jasper drops whatever is in his arms It hits the floor with a clang.

"Hey, E, does this belong to something?" Seth asks, and another guy he brought with him, Jacob, has a sheepish look on his face. I just stare at the knob in Seth's hand, one that a moment ago was attached to my bedroom door.

"Alright, everyone get the fuck out. Go!"

"But you haven't shown her..." Alice starts.

"I don't give a damn! You're all driving me insane! You're breaking my shit! There's a fucking long ass gash in my hardwood floor! Is that shattered glass?" I ask in a panicked voice that I hardly recognize as my own and point in the direction of the kitchen. Looking away from it, I point at the exit. "Out!"

Everyone wraps up what they're doing and wavebye to Bella as they mumble nonsense to me that I can't give two shits about. I just sag down in the leather chair in the corner of my living room, the only thing that seems unharmed. I hear the door click shut, and I'm aware that Bella is moving toward me; there's always a warming of the air the closer she gets. She's as quiet as can be as she approaches, settling onto my lap and resting her head on my shoulder with her face in my neck.

"Feel better?"

"No."

"Maybe this was a bad idea."

"Stop," I say, looking down at her. "It wasn't. I just should've hired professionals. Those motherfuckers have no respect for people's shit."

"That's such a waste of money, though. All those big, strapping men are free."

"That's your type, huh? Big and strapping?"

"Edward, don't be jealous. You know I like my men to be cocky and lean." She laughs and I laugh with her before kissing her firmly.

"So what do you want to do about all this?" She gestures to the labyrinth of boxes around us.

"Well, I kind of have a solution, but I need you to close your eyes."

"Why?"

"Don't you trust me?"

"I don't trust cheesy movie lines."

I stand up and drag her with me, pulling her back against my chest and covering her eyes with my hands. She places her hands on my forearms as I guide her down the hall. The whole time she asks where we're going and when she can open her eyes, but I keep silent. Playing around, I circle my condo to confuse her already whacked sense of direction before taking her to our final destination.

"Alright, you can open your eyes now!"

"Where are we?"

"In your space," I say, and I can hear the smile in my voice as I tell her. Bella looks at me, her face a mask of confusion. My smile falters a little as I try to explain. "The unit was empty. I bought it and had a wall knocked down while you were on that spa trip for Ali's birthday."

"I don't get it. I thought we were going to live together?" It pains me to hear the hurt tone in her voice, and I realize I may have royally fucked this shit up.

"We are, but I thought you'd like your own space. I mean, not to live. Fuck knows I can't tolerate the idea of you not sleeping in my bed. But I was thinking about the kitchen and all your tools and how you like shit set up. So..." She's silent for a minute. One goddamn, long as fuck minute and I have to fight back my growing anxiety.

"That's the sweetest thing." Bella says, touching my cheek and standing on her toes to give me a soft kiss. "You really didn't have to. We could make all of our stuff fit in your condo. It's big enough."

"I know we can, but I also know I can be difficult, and I don't want you to feel smothered."

"You mean you don't want my razor to show up in your shower." Bella laughs and I just roll my eyes, because I know she's being playful.

"As long as I get to see you in the shower, you can put whatever else you want in there."

"Even my purple loofah?"

"I prefer my hands on you, but yeah." I pull Bella to me and kiss her deeply to stifle her giggle. "Wanna look around?"

"Hmm, I kind of want that shower now. We can look later." I don't need any more incentive to pull her with me and kiss her all the way to our bathroom.

~F&FS~

"Rosie and I have been toying with the idea of babies. I can't wait to have kids to spoil, but she wants to finish her career so she won't have to travel as much."

"Ankle biters already? I can't even fathom kids yet," I say to Emmett and Jasper, completely caught off guard by the idea.

"That's what happens when you're in love and ready to spend your life with a person," Jasper interjects in his know-it-all way.

"I guess. This is my first time, though, so excuse me if I'm not a goddamn pro."

"If you love her, you need to marry that girl." Emmett has been on me about this for a month. It's getting old.

I love my friends, but sometimes I feel as though they don't have a fucking clue. I don't love Bella. I mean, I do, but what I really mean is that what I have for her transcends love. She's my twin soul, the in-between beats of my heart, the verse to my song. Do I want to marry her? Sure. If that's what Bella wants, I'll tux up right now. But do I need it? Nope.

"We've talked about it, and Bella says 'someday'. So I'll wait."

"You, wait? Who are you and what have you done with my best friend?" Jasper asks.

"Nothing's changed, asshat. She's been trapped under so much for so fucking long, and she deserves to not have anything else to worry about. I'm not going anywhere."

"Where aren't you going?" Bella walks into our home, drops her bag by the door and comes over to me, standing on her toes for a kiss. I lean down to meet her half way.

"Edward was just telling us how pussy-whipped he is," Emmett says with a toothy grin as Bella leans against me. Her small frame nestles into mine as I lean against the counter, and I wrap my free arm around her waist.

"No more than the rest of you," Bella says playfully, and Emmett falls back, pretending he's been wounded.

"Bella Bear, where's the love?" he jokes with her, and she laughs, waving him off.

"The market was so crowded today." Bella exhales out of exhaustion. "My demonstration was so packed that we actually had to turn people away."

"That's because you're the best and hottest demonstrator they have." She ignores me and takes the glass of wine Jasper offers her, sipping it and leaning more into me.

Every other Sunday, Bella volunteers at the Home Grown Outdoor Market to put on a cooking and tasting demonstration with local ingredients. She also took a gig teaching one Monday night class a month with Blue Ribbon. This is in addition to her regular job as an editor and her side project of her own cookbook. I keep telling her she should try for her own cooking show, but she swears she's too shy for that. She's full of shit, of course, because I watch her at her demonstrations and in the class she teaches, and she completely dominates with an ease and grace I've never seen her have before. She's a natural.

~F&FS~

"That's so awesome! Did you just find out?" I listen to Bella as she walks through the door, talking on her phone and absent-mindedly dropping her stuff as she goes. I know she's talking to Alice from the lack of full sentences in her conversation. The girls are so in sync that they always complete each other's thoughts.

"He feels... oh my god, that's great! Yeah, no...obviously!" She laughs as she turns and sees me on the couch, her eyes meet mine. I can see that her laugh and smile don't reach deep into her soul. She waves at me, and I wink at her, causing her to blush a little as she goes back to her conversation.

I watch her walk in a circle as she continues to talk to Alice. She's wearing these shorts today that are kind of dressier than normal, and they fit her perfectly. She looks sexy as hell in the shoes she's wearing, and I'm suddenly needing her to get off the phone.

"Okay. Yeah, that makes sense. Alright..." Bella says as she kicks off her shoes and moves over to the couch I'm sitting on. She leans over and gives me a quick peck on the lips before making room for her head in my lap. Her eyes widen when she feels the growing bulge in my pants, but she goes back to her conversation, shaking her head as she stifles a laugh.

"Yeah, I'm home. Just got here, Edward is happy to see me." She laughs into the phone. Whatever Alice says, it makes Bella laugh harder before they hang up. "Ali's pregnant."

I know, of course. Alice told Jasper today, and he came to Eclipse happy but in a daze, blurting out, "I'm gonna be a daddy," before downing a double shot of Jack.

"Alice called me 'Auntie Bella' when I answered the phone. I knew why immediately. It's so awesome for her."

"It wouldn't be awesome for you?"

"It's different for Ali. She's always known, you know? She's wanted to get married since she was born, and when she found Jasper on the playground, it all became crystal clear for her. First the engagement and now the baby. When we were kids, Alice and I had pretend weddings. We always got married at the same time and then raised our baby dolls together. I pretended to carpool them to school, and she always had playdates at her house. Now she's there, but I'm not. It feels... I don't know..."

"What?"

Bella lies still with her head in my lap and her eyes closed. From the flicker of her lids and the way she's biting her lip, I can tell she's trying to get a thought out but she's tripping herself up.

"I'll propose to you right fucking now if that's what you want, but the look on your face tells me it's not time. I love you, Bella. I don't need goddamn papers for that. I can wait."

"I know. I love you too, more than anything. It's just... I want what my mom and dad had. That passion that lasted decades and a sense of completion. I haven't fully found myself yet...I don't think..."

"Whatever you want, Bella, it's yours. You don't have to figure it out now. We have our whole lives ahead of us."

She peeks open her left eye and looks up at me, then she opens the other and nods. We gaze at each other for a long moment before she reaches up and places her hands on my face. Wrapping her arms around my neck, she pulls my lips down to hers for a soft but passionate kiss.

"You are real." She sighs, and I chuckle at her.

"I'm very real, baby. Real and ready whenever you are." She smiles brightly at me, and I capture her mouth with mine again.

A promise of forever sealed with a kiss.

~The End~