2. Meeting of the Minds

BPOV

Instead of unpacking, I had been reading constantly since I first started Twilight. I only stopped when absolutely necessary. Charlie probably thought I was crazy. I had hardly even spoken to him since I got here. I would have to make it up to him tonight. I was completely enthralled with this story of my "life." If only it were real. But, really, vampires and werewolves? I wasn't born yesterday. I was so relieved to get to the last chapter of Breaking Dawnand enjoy the happily ever after this Stephenie Meyer person had granted my character. I did always enjoy a Disney style fairytale ending. I was lingering over the last sentence, when I heard a gasp. I glanced up into the eyes of an angel.

I recognized him instantly. Pale skin, dark circles, butterscotch eyes, bronze messy hair, flawless features. I noticed he was staring at me just as intensely as I stared at him. For a moment, I blushed and felt self-conscious. He smiled when I blushed, and I relaxed, knowing from the books that he saw me the same way I saw him. In his eyes, I was beautiful, an angel. I might consider him delusional, I might not see it myself, but I would not doubt his feelings for me. Look how much trouble my low self-esteem caused my character in the story.

"Edward!" I breathed, hardly daring to believe my eyes. Perhaps I had actually fallen asleep and was now dreaming? I pinched myself to be sure. Yep, definitely awake.

"Bella!" he murmured reverently. "May I enter?" I smiled at his friendly formality.

"Please do." I closed the Breaking Dawn book and set it down on my nightstand. Edward climbed in and casually strolled toward the bed.

"How are you handling your thirst?" I wondered, confused. He smiled and gestured toward the books.

"I received the same four books in an anonymous package. I snuck into your house earlier and grabbed your sock from the laundry hamper. I've spent the last six hours becoming accustomed to your scent. It really is overwhelmingly delicious," he confessed with a crooked grin. My heartbeat sped up at the sight, and his grin got wider. I blanched at the idea of him sniffing my dirty sock, but I was thankful for anything that allowed him to be this close to me. Then his first words registered.

"You've read the whole Twilight series too?" I asked in astonished delight. He nodded solemnly. "Well, that certainly makes things easier."

He nodded again, reaching for my books. "May I?" I nodded, curious. Was there something in particular he wanted to ask or point out to me? He sighed as he quickly flipped through them, then handed them to me. I was dismayed to see they were all completely blank.

"What happened?" I shrieked in dismay.

"The same thing happened to mine when I finished reading them. I don't know why."

"Because we've already changed the story," I whispered, having a brief epiphany.

He looked surprised, then nodded thoughtfully. "You're right, we have. Frankly, I'm relieved. There are several major things I'd like to change. It's good to know we can."

"Please don't leave me," I begged, thinking back to New Moon. He grabbed my hand and squeezed it gently.

"I won't, I promise," he claimed firmly. "I already know it would be an absolute disaster. And I will change you when the time comes. Now that I know you won't regret it, I'm not afraid."

I beamed at him. Two major victories already, and we just met! I silently sent up a prayer of intense gratitude and blessing for Ms. Meyer's forethought in sending us the books.

"I'm already in love with you, Edward," I confessed, hoping he felt the same.

"I will love you forever, Isabella Marie Swan," he professed. "I'm very thankful you're real and not a fictional character." I laughed, knowing he had started falling in love with me through the books, just as I had done for him.

"I will gladly marry you when the time comes, and I would love to have a child with you."

His face became radiant with joy, and he practically exploded with excitement and happiness.

"Absolutely!" he eagerly agreed. Then his face became serious. "What about Jacob?"

"Yes, Jacob. I definitely don't want to hurt him or you like that. However, he is clearly meant to be part of our lives. I thought about where it went wrong with him, how he got knocked off the best friend track and onto the romantic interest track. I'm fairly certain I messed everything up when I flirted with him at the beach to learn more about you. I used him then, deliberately leading him on to get information. I sent him the wrong signals, leading him to think I might be interested in pursuing a romantic relationship with him, and causing him to consider me in a romantic light. I won't do that this time."

"Hmmm, you may be right. I hesitate to have him anywhere near you though."

I smiled at him, squeezing his hand reassuringly.

"I will always choose you, Edward, and since you aren't going to leave me, I won't need him to stitch me back together. But we need to befriend Jacob. We need the support of the wolves, and he is the true Alpha. Besides, there is a good chance he'll be part of our family someday."

"Don't remind me," he muttered, wincing at the thought of Jacob imprinting on our newborn daughter.

"Yeah, this time we move before the birth and don't let any wolves near her until she's older. I'm willing to share my child with our family, but I'd like to keep that special devotion all to ourselves for a while."

He grinned, silently agreeing with me. It had been incredibly irksome in the story for her to be just as attached to Jacob as she was to her own parents.

"I think we should befriend Jacob, Quil, and Embry as soon as possible. According to the books, we have a whole year for them to get to know you and your family before they become wolves. That could change if they start spending time with the vampires, of course. However, if they were already friends with all of you, if they knew you were people too, think what that could do to the alliance. Also, we'll need permission for you to change me, so we don't violate the treaty. I know we could do that if we have Jacob on our side," I encouraged. I waited for several minutes while he mulled over my idea.

"So, what do you think?" I asked when I couldn't stand the silence any longer. He flashed me a wide grin.

"I think you're brilliant! Well, obviously you won't be watching my family play baseball any time soon. I want you to join us for lunch tomorrow at school. I made sure we all went hunting last night. What other suggestions do you have?"

"Instead of asking Jasper to keep his distance, he should spend lots of time around me so he can acclimate to my scent, just like you do. Then he won't lose it so easily if I get injured around him. Also, we should actively help him increase his control. He did that in the book after my birthday, and his control increased dramatically," I suggested. "Besides, if he feels your emotions, have you ever considered he might feel your thirst too? Can you imagine how difficult it must be for him if he must master not only his own thirst, but also the thirst six other vampires add to his own? You consider him the weakest link, believing he struggles so much because he drank human blood for so long, but it's possible he's actually one of the strongest, resisting despite the amplified thirst he feels around the rest of you. Yet he doesn't even realize it. He thinks of himself as weak, not understanding why he struggles more than the rest of you do."

I watched him mull all this over for several minutes. "I've realized a lot of things about the way I behave and the way I treat others. I agree with your logic. I've hurt my family in different ways, and I intend to make amends, starting with Rosalie," he mused.

"I will reassure Rosalie that I intend to have a child and want her to help raise it. I'd like to name

Emmett and Rose godparents to our child," I recommended cautiously.

"That's an excellent idea, love," Edward agreed enthusiastically.

"Do you feel weird that we are seriously discussing godparents for our future child when we only met a few minutes ago?" I asked, concerned I was moving too fast. He laughed and tapped my nose with his index finger.

"During the past few days, I've lived through roughly two years with you. I already know you better than I did in the book, since I had access to your thoughts. I was very thankful the books were almost entirely in your point of view. Besides, vampires mate for eternity. I've already fallen in love with you and made the crucial changes. Your hold on me is irrevocable and unbreakable. I will always love you, no matter what."

"I feel the same way. I learned a great deal about myself too. One thing I realized is you and your family gives gifts as an expression of your love and affection. It's obvious money is no object for you guys, that money is virtually meaningless to your family. Thus, the gifts you give are never about money, but are always from the heart. You are taking your valuable time and attention and expending an effort to think about me and what would make me happy. I can see that my pride and feelings of unworthiness are what prevented me from accepting gifts. Reading it as an outsider, I suddenly realized that when I reject your gifts, part of you feels like I'm rejecting you, your love and affection, that I don't consider your time, attention, and effort to be worthwhile. So I'm going to forget my money qualms, knowing Alice can always make more, faster than even she can spend it." We both laughed at that, knowing her shopping obsession, but also knowing her psychic skills with the stock market paid for it a thousand times over.

I continued thinking aloud, "Also, while I don't really like to be the center of attention, I realize it's part and parcel of being with you, since you're so gorgeous, and you're worth it, worth all the whispers and stares we're going to get. Besides, I really don't give a flying flip what those kids at school think. At least I already know Angela and Ben are the only ones worth knowing. Plus, I'll reassure Rose I won't give away your secrets, and I won't be changed until I'm dying. That way, she'll know I'm not just throwing my human life away. Hopefully, that will help her get over her jealousy and hard feelings."

"I'll do my best to help with that. It seemed in the story that I didn't express my feelings for you clearly to her, probably because I was so conflicted in the beginning, trying uselessly to ignore you. Once Rose understands I love you the way she loves Emmett, I hope she'll come around. I don't want to tell the family all about the story, if you don't mind. Maybe you could just say you got a package from some psychic named Stephenie Meyer, who wrote you all about us, but the words disappeared after you read them. I'll say I got one too that told me all about you and offered some warnings of things to avoid, but the words disappeared after I read them, so I had nothing to show anyone else. I don't want to scare them or cause unnecessary hard feelings, especially since we're doing things differently this time around. What do you think?"

"Yeah, I agree sometimes ignorance is bliss. You know I can't lie at all, but that story tells the truth and nothing but the truth. It just doesn't tell the whole truth. I can certainly work with that."

"Okay, I need to get back to my family before they get suspicious. If you don't mind, I'd like to come back tonight after Charlie is asleep." He was visibly nervous, wondering if he had stepped over the line.

"I'd love that!" I exclaimed happily. He gave me his crooked smile, leaned forward to gently press his lips to mine, and was out the window before my brain could even process the fact that he'd kissed me. Wow! Yep, I was hopelessly in love with a vampire. I jumped out of bed, eager to start my day.

EPOV

I stood still for a brief minute under Bella's window, touching my fingers to my lips. They were still tingling from our kiss. I felt like shouting for joy. I finally found my mate after all these years, and she was absolutely wonderful. I struggled to get my emotions under control as I ran slowly back to the house. I wasn't ready to reveal her existence to the family yet. Tomorrow would be soon enough. I couldn't force myself to feel detached like I did before. Finally, I thought about leaving her, not permanently—that was too painful, but for a two week hunting trip. Yep, that brought my mood plummeting to a more normal level for the pre-Bella me. Jasper would probably still be confused with my array of emotions, but it was the best I could do.

I heard voices inside arguing, with accusations of cheating being flung about. I rushed into the house. My siblings were fighting while Carlisle and Esme sat on the couch watching.

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