What a great way to wrap this all up with a ribbon of goodness! I do so love a happy ending! I'm proud of Edward for getting over himself, and tickled it was probably Emmett that helped him see the light! I'm also proud of Bella for not staying where she wasn't wanted, so she thought! Happily, good sense prevailed! The only fly in the ointment was no proper goodbye for Charlie, who I love also. Such a good dad! Bottom line, I loved this story, you did a great job!

After the misery of being without her for a year, the longing to help her memories return, and still he's a damn blockhead? Who would think  a supposedly smart vampire mind like that, with intelligence far beyond human, would be so stupid? Edward Cullen is an idiot, and if you don't believe me, ask Alice!

Scary as the sudden blinding headache is, I think we are about to find that key Bella has been searching for, and it's her lullaby, maybe?

Now I really am going to smack him! What in the hell was he thinking, dropping it on her that way? It's a wonder Alice doesn't rip him up one side and down the other!

Here it comes again, that urge to slap Edward, get his attention, and yell at him! God, it's exactly as Alice said, he is such a bundle of angst, it practically drips off him! Get it together or get out , damn it! Poor Bella, loving a guy like this, even if you don't remember him!

So that's where the green nightmare comes from! Bella has the right idea, going back to Forks will be the only way to regain the memory og those lost months. Even asleep, she relaxes enough in Edward's embrace to get a decent night's sleep!

What a great story.  I'd love to read an epilogue,  but there is nothing wrong with leaving a bit to the imagination of the reader.  From start to finish, this story was engaging and creative.  I cant tell you how many multi-chapters I have started and cut out of in the middle because the impulsion of the story just fell apart.  This one hooked me from the start.  Ever since, I've been being reeled in like one of Charlie's finest.  Thank you for your effort.

This was awesome. I really loved it and am glad that I investigated your page after reading your other story.

Alaina

Author's Response:

Thank you! I'm so flad you enjoyed it :D

 

‘Every step I'd taken from the moment I arrived at her window three nights ago had been a mistake, a tragedy in the making. ‘  Of course he would go there.  As if Bella's actions, Bella's choices had nothing to do with it. 

 

[Emmett:]  ‘There's one thing you're forgetting, Edward," he said from the doorway. "Rose never chose this life. Bella did.'  Exactly. 

 

I like your idea that Bella was able to use her shield to protect her from the worst of the pain of transformation.  Makes sense to me. 

 

And leave it to these two to misunderstand each other, to decide that the other regrets her transformation.  Sigh.  I did like how she just jumped through the window - simple and direct! 

 

‘I felt his warm hand on my arm, smooth fingers on the inside of my wrist, gentle pressure as he tangled our fingers together.'  To me this is always the most delicious part of her discovering her new body - that she and Edward are the same now, as soft and warm as if they were both human. 

 

This was nice:  ‘I was shocked when he laughed--a true laugh, the type I hadn't heard from him in what felt like forever--and then looked into my eyes, his familiar crooked smile curving his lips. "Bella, you are so absurd."' 

Now we know everything will be OK.

This is an excellent point:  "Well, Renee's never had any problem making the decisions that are best for her. So how can she...[object]"'

 

And of course their vampire sexing was fun and hot and ultimately fulfilling.  ‘"I will always regret taking your human life from you, Bella," he said softly...'  I totally believe that.

"I will regret that, Bella," his smile widened even further as he spoke, "but I think I can learn to live with my regrets, in time.  After all...there are compensations I never expected."
  [Eyes rolling] such a guy!  Although I also find it hard to believe he didn't expect the compensations, having spent decades with his siblings.  Maybe he never let himself think about them with Bella, though - too gentlemanly or something. 

 

‘I gestured towards the fragments of clothes surrounding us on the forest floor, none larger than a handkerchief.
'  Good image...  Also funny that she asks about her truck - very Bella.

 

"I was just wondering what you were going to do with all your free time now that you don't have to worry about me anymore?"
  Excellent - such a sense of freedom for him now.   You did a really good job in the space of one chapter, capturing what her transformation means to both of them. 

 

Thanks so much for sharing this story - I have you on author alert now so I won't miss future stories! 

Author's Response:

I'm so glad you've enjoyed the story. I've thoroughly enjoyed reading your detailed reviews. They've made my day and made me smile. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts with me!

You did a great job conveying her disorientation when she regains consciousness - after the bizarre images her mind created to deal with events - in a cross between an elegant living room and a hospital! 

 

‘Cold and warm. Hard and comforting. The touch to my cheek set the monitor beside me pinging out of control.'  Very nice.

 

The conversation she remembers, starting with "You said you loved me" - makes me want to run back to the books and find the exact context. 

 

She is SO overwhelmed when all the doors open at once.  I loved the rich details you selected, they bring back so much to us as well as Bella.  A very evocative collage of so many moments we know and love - well done.

 

‘His soft, sweet voice was a caress, a tether, as it had been then, as it always would be.'  Sniffle.

 

‘I was smiling before my eyes opened, both thrilled and relieved to have his voice so close... my hand reached out, searching blindly until at last it came into contact with his cool, hard skin. I sighed, though it sounded more like a purr.'     Completely charming. 

 

I appreciate her remorse for having walked away from him after Phoenix, even though she didn't really get a choice.  I was so often frustrated that canon Bella didn't give Edward's feelings as much thought as she could/should have.  Your Bella immediately understands what he went through.  And of course, echoes of NM.

 

‘He kissed my apology away with a desperation I'd never felt from him before...'    Wow - that's promising.    

 

"You were thrashing," he said and the pain he'd gone through in that moment was evident in his voice, and etched in every line of his face.  "When you opened your eyes again, you looked at me and started shaking. We didn't know, I didn't know, what was wrong. It got a little tense there for a bit," he paused, the hint of a wry smile on his lips, "I might have punched Carlisle, I don't remember."     Great account of what the family went through while she struggled on her end. 

 

‘But I'd never seen his eyes like this--hungry in a way that had nothing to do with blood, mine or anything else's.'  Yummm!

 

Oh, no, and then back to the same old arguments!  She did a great job of recapping the essence of the choices that faced them.  And then walking out was the only option she had left.   "If you change your mind..."  leaves the door open, but not with much hope. 

 

Loved hearing Charlie's thoughts - I always thought in canon that it wouldn't have been quite so easy to fool him.  Unless he chose to be fooled for Bella's sake. 

‘The irony wasn't lost on me; the fact that Charlie's acceptance came just as it was no longer necessary.'  Wow, that's a slap in the face! 

 

‘"I was afraid, when Carlisle called and told me you were ill and staying there, that the time had come when you'd go with them, wherever it is they go when they move on. I'm happy that I was wrong about that, that I've got the chance to see you again.'    OMG - I didn't expect him to figure out THAT much, although he has had a year to think about it and he's no dummy. 

 

‘I curled into myself and cried for all I had gained, and everything I'd lost.'   Killer closing line.  

 

‘Alice's small hand raised and she smacked herself on the forehead. I was surprised; I'd expected her to smack me.'  Good one.

 

When she doesn't remember that he comes in the window, it's a startling reminder of how much she has lost.  ‘What had we...had we? Was it possible that I'd forgotten not only my first love, but my first lover as well?'  Wow.  A natural question, of course, but so not E&B!  And good for her, telling him she's not ready.

 

‘I know this wasn't your fault," I explained, indicating the scar, "I know you didn't do this."
  
"But I did, Bella. And it was. It was entirely my fault."
'  Ugh, I'd like to throttle that boy!

 

"Why did you stop me from changing? I mean, if we were...together then, why not just let me truly be with you?"    Now she's hit on the million dollar question.  Nice that she is able to ask it innocently this time, rather than whining.  Typical Bella to conclude he didn't feel the same way about her. 

 

"Carlisle and Alice both had to restrain me, in one of the weaker moments, from simply snatching you out of that hospital bed and running you straight back here myself."  So easy to imagine this.

 

‘Embarrassing and arousing as it was, the feel of him hard against my leg did as much to convince me as his words and tone. ... it had nothing to do with a lack of desire to do so. On either of our parts.'  Thank God she at least understands that much - canon Bella's assumption that he didn't want her sexually was so painful to her. 

 

Oh, the venom may have caused the amnesia - very interesting! 

 

Aww, and she tells him she loves him.  I love how confident she is about her feelings, and about Edward himself, even though she doesn't have the memories yet.

 

What a shocker, when Edward's humming causes such pain - and unconsciousness!

 

Funny line:  "I might have big blank spots, Edward, but I'm pretty sure I'm not the outdoors type."

Interesting perspective: "It was easier last time... There I was, fully prepared to keep you from ever knowing, and without warning you announce that you'd already figured it out."  I never thought of it that way.

This is SO yummy:  ‘Then he leaned closer and I knew my legs were going to give out. "I just...just once more...before..." With each word he'd moved nearer until the last word was spoken against my lips.'   And sad at the same time, since he's thinking it could be his last chance.

I like that he decides to just say it.  (You know, out loud.)  Then all the evidence strikes her at once:  not only his hard body, lack of a heartbeat or breathing, and sparkly skin - but the matching sparkle on her scar.  Wow!  How awful to have the aftermath of James' bite be one of the first memories she recovers. 

‘Whatever Bella was going through, whatever her silent mind had been thinking when she'd looked in stunned disbelief at my glittering face, it was powerful enough to have her running away from me.

  I would abide by her decision.'   OMG, he doesn't know what she remembered!  

 

‘The doctor was in on it'.   Don't precisely remember that line from the book, but it's easy to imagine this idea coming up when Carlisle minimized / ignored Edward's role in the van accident.  Very Hitchcock-sounding line.

‘I watched him as closely as he watched me'.  I can just see this scene.  And it sounds as if Edward is still hovering out of her line of sight.  Oh, and then Carlisle slips and almost calls her Bella!

‘I tried to hold each image... but each time they slipped from my mind like sand through my fingers.'  Nice.

‘I knew both Cullens well enough that their beautiful faces, musical voices, and cool skin were not strange to me. 

Knew them, but apparently not well enough that they'd help me sift through the random pieces I had to complete the puzzle. Both had nearly run from me, the doctor's face clear in his relief to be away.'   Aww, kind of sad.

‘I'm not afraid of you.'  What a key phrase to remember!  The rest of Bella's section is such a good evocation of fun moments - flying - descending into the terror and the courage of her choice to go to the ballet studio alone, and its consequences.

Particularly good lines from Edward's musings:

‘I could hear every harsh intake of breath, every tear fall...'

‘Would she even miss these lost months ten or twenty years from now?'     But we know they'll always be crystal clear to him.

‘Could I handle watching her regard me with confusion and suspicion again? Her warm, brown eyes seeing nothing but a stranger?'

‘with the echo of her wrenching grief still ringing in my head, the soft reminder that her life was as bereft without me as mine was without her...'

Sigh, poor Edward.

 

Great like from Alice:  ‘Honestly, if angst were an Olympic event, you'd be setting records.'

Good characterization:  ‘Charlie, not on good speaking terms with female emotional bursts, had apparently decided not to ask the question he didn't want answered.'  Also snicker-worthy.

Made my skin crawl when she finds the streets in Port Angeles where she was pursued by the thugs.  This was terrific:  ‘The breath rushed out of me in a whoosh as I walked straight into a wall.'   Only it turns out to be anything but a wall! Squee!