Jacob's POV

"So, it was a combination of things there at the end, but what it really boiled down to was... Aria and Bella," Edward was explaining what had made the Volturi scum run away with their tails between their legs, and it was so satisfying to listen to.  

My beautiful girlfriend was cuddled up on my lap, her family and Seth with us. She had a smug smile on her face, though, Edward kept giving her reassuring looks every few minutes and then her expression would falter. There was something hiding in her eyes... like she was scared, and it had been there since Alice had shown Aro his future. 

The night had now fallen upon us, the moonlight was streaming in through the big windows, adding a mellow light to go with our conversation as the white light bounced off the snow on the ground below. 

Before we'd even finished celebrating our victory out in the clearing, Dracula One and Two had vanished into thin air. Though, I supposed there was nothing else here for them, they came for a fight and a fight only after all.  

Benjamin and Tia, who I actually quite liked in the end, were quick to follow their elder coven members. They were eager to let them know the outcome of our confrontation, but we hoped we would see them again soon - Benjamin and Tia at least. I didn't like the disgusted glare that took over Amun's face whenever he looked at Aria. 

The nomads dispersed quickly, only Peter and Charlotte remained for a brief few minutes to talk with Jasper, and then they were gone too. The Amazons were quick to leave as well, they missed their beloved rain forest but made us all promise - to my surprise - to visit them one day and we agreed, it would most likely be a fun trip. 

Next to leave were the Irish coven. 

"Well done, Siobhan." Carlisle complimented as they hugged goodbye, his hopes of her gift had clearly pulled through. 

"Ah, the power of wishful thinking," she said sarcastically in her thick accent, rolling her eyes. And then she was serious. "Of course, this isn't over. The Volturi won't forgive what happened here." 

Aria, at that point was still kind of stunned into a silence, let Edward answer that. "They've been seriously shaken; their confidence is shattered. But, yes, I'm sure they'll recover from the blow someday. And then..." His eyes narrowed painfully, and I swear Aria flinched. "I imagine they'll try to pick us off separately." 

"Alice will warn us when they intend to strike," Siobhan said in a confident voice. "And we'll gather again. Perhaps the time will come when our world is ready to be free of the Volturi altogether." 

"That time may come," Carlisle replied. "If it does, we'll stand together." 

"Yes, my friend, we will," Siobhan agreed. "And how can we fail, when I will it otherwise?" She let out a great bellow of laughter that would put Emmett to shame. 

"Exactly," Carlisle said. He and Siobhan embraced, and then he shook Liam's hand. "Try to find Alistair and tell him what happened. I'd hate to think of him hiding under a rock for the next decade." 

The goodbyes continued until the Denalis were the last ones to leave, Garrett even went with them. He'd started something with Kate and would now most likely be with his new coven forever. Despite the gaining of a new member, the girls were still mourning the loss of their sister, the happy atmosphere was too much for them. 

Our two winning pieces of evidence remained with us late into the night. We had assumed they would leave with the Amazons due to living within close proximity with one another, however they had decided to get to know us. 

Carlisle, Esme and Huilen were lost in deep conversation, Nahuel sat close beside her, listening to our own conversation about how we won the conflict. 

"Alice gave Aro the excuse he needed to get out of the fight. If he hadn't been so terrified of Aria and Bella, he probably would have gone ahead with their original plan." Edward went on to explain and I glanced down at my girlfriend who was half hiding behind her own dark hair, in that moment Aria and Renesmee have never looked more alike. 

"Terrified?" Bella burst out confused. "Of me? I understand his fear of Aria, but not me!" 

I went back to looking at Aria, her bright blue eyes held the same fear that was first there after the Volturi left. I reached towards her and moved the hair that was covering her face and tucked it behind her ear. "What's wrong?" I whispered. "We won; you should be happy." 

"I'll tell you about it later." Her hand on my arm let her silently transfer the message to me. Then suddenly her expression changed into one of relaxation and happiness. I wasn't sure if it was Jasper's doing or if she was putting it on just for show. For the sake of her emotions, I decided not to push her, she'll tell me whats wrong when she's ready. 

"When will you ever see yourself clearly?" Edward's endearing tone brought me out of my thoughts as he smiled at Bella. Then his voice grew louder, addressing us all once again. "The Volturi haven't fought a fair fight in about twenty-five hundred years. And they've never, never fought one where they were at a disadvantage. Especially since they gained Jane and Alec, they've only been involved with unopposed slaughtering. 

"You should have seen how we looked to them! Usually, Alec cuts off all sense and feeling from their victims while they go through the charade of a counsel. That way, no one can run when the verdict is given. But there we stood, ready, waiting, outnumbering them, with gifts of our own while their gifts were rendered useless by Aria and Bella. Aro knew that with Zafrina on our side, they would be the blind ones when the battle commenced. Our numbers would have been pretty severely decimated, but they were sure that theirs would be, too. There was even a good possibility that they would lose. They've never dealt with that possibility before. They didn't deal with it well today." Edward grinned a little smugly, and I was sure most of our faces mirrored that. 

"Hard to feel confident when you're surrounded by horse-sized wolves," Emmett laughed, punching my arm lightly. 

I turned my head back to grin at him. 

"It was the wolves that stopped them in the first place," Aria said quietly, speaking out loud for the first time in a while, I could tell her family were hiding their surprise. 

"Sure was," I agreed before pressing my lips against her temple and moving her closer to me. I wanted to sigh with relief when she hummed contently and rested her head against my chest. 

"Absolutely," Edward agreed. "That was another sight they've never seen. The true Children of the Moon rarely move in packs, and they are never much in control of themselves. Seventeen enormous, regimented wolves were a surprise they weren't prepared for. Caius is actually terrified of werewolves. He almost lost a fight with one a few thousand years ago and never got over it."  

"So, there are real werewolves?" Bella asked. "With the full moon and silver bullets and all that?" 

I snorted. "Real. Does that make me imaginary?" 

"You know what I mean." She waved me off and turned back to Edward. 

"Full moon, yes," Edward said. "Silver bullets, no - that was just another one of those myths to make humans feel like they had a sporting chance. There aren't very many of them left. Caius has had them hunted into near extinction." 

"So, you made Aria mention them to the Volturi during our first meeting knowing this?" Bella asked, her eyes blinking widely. 

"It was a good enough excuse at the time." Edward shrugged, a slight smirk on his face. 

Aria and Bella rolled their eyes in unison, and Alice laughed, leaning forward from the other side of Edward to wink at the girls. At the same time, once again, they glared back. 

The glare was completely half-hearted, both of them were undeniably ecstatic that the little pixie was back, they just hated her for keeping so many secrets. 

Alice sighed. "Just get it off your chest." 

"How could you do that to us, Alice?" Aria exclaimed, her hands suddenly very animated as pointed at herself and Bella. 

"It was necessary." Alice chided, looking at her pointedly. 

"Necessary!" Bella exploded. "You had us totally convinced that we were all going to die! We've been wrecks for weeks." 

"It might have gone that way," she said calmly. "In which case you needed to be prepared to save Nessie." 

"But you knew there were other ways, too," Aria accused. "You knew there was hope. Did it ever occur to you that you could have told us everything? I know Edward had to think we were at a dead end for Aro's sake, but you could have told us."

Alice assessed her answer and then hummed to herself before replying. "No, I don't think so." She said. "Neither of you are that good of an actress." 

"Excuse me, I lied for a good few months to the boys before they phased!" Aria defended herself at the same time Bella complained; "this was about our acting skills?" 

"One, Bella you do suck at acting, and two, Aria you hadn't been imprinted on then but now just one look from your puppy dog over there you would melt and spill everything. You guys need to take it down an octave. Do you have any idea how complicated this was to set up? I couldn't even be sure that someone like Nahuel existed - all I knew was that I would be looking for something I couldn't see! Try to imagine searching for a blind spot - not the easiest thing I've ever done. Plus we had to send back the key witnesses, like we weren't in enough of a hurry. And then keeping my eyes open all the time in case you decided to throw me any more instructions. At some point you're going to have to tell me what exactly is in Rio, Bella. Before any of that, I had to try to see every trick the Volturi might come in with and give you what few clues I could so you would be ready for their strategy, and I only had just a few hours to trace out all the possibilities. Most of all, I had to make sure you'd all believe that I was ditching out on you, because Aro had to be positive that you had nothing left up your sleeves or he never would have committed to an out the way he did. And if you think I didn't feel like a schmuck—" 

"Okay, okay!" Bella interrupted. "Sorry! I know it was rough for you, too. It's just that... well, we missed you like crazy, Alice. Don't do that to us again." 

The midget's trilling laugh filled the room, and it was weird that I actually missed it. She had to be one of the better Cullens for sure. I was happy I'd have her to side with for the rest of eternity. "I missed you, too, girls. So, forgive me and try to be satisfied with being the superheros of the day."  

As Bella hid herself in Nessie's hair with embarrassment, the same gaunt expression glassed over Aria's. Something in Alice's vision had definitely messed her up, to hell with giving her time, as soon as we are out of here, I'm asking. 

Edward went back to explaining every moment and tactic the Volturi tried to use against us. He declared that Aria and Bella's shields was the last resort, and it was what had them running away. As he went on, I could feel Aria pushing her body back into mine as much as she could, the wondrous stares were making her uncomfortable, like Bella, being the centre of attention wasn't her forte.  

One pair of eyes were making it difficult to get a read on them. Nahuel was staring at Bella and Aria in a longing kind of manner, it made me wrap my arms around Aria even tighter. But it also didn't seem like a romantic longing, it was hard to decipher... especially when his eyes fell on Nessie in the same way. 

After a while, the questions that were being fired at Edward began to die down and the group broke off into their own individual conversations. Gazing back down at my Aria, I had noticed that her eyes were beginning to droop, and her attention was lacking in the conversation we had been drawn into. We needed to go home, back to what would be a somewhat normality compared to what we had gone through this last year. We needed to be a normal couple, facing normal couple's issues. "Let's go home." I whispered into her hair.  

Aria looked up at me, her bright blue eyes shining. "Yeah, I'd like that." 

As we began to shift ourselves ready to stand, Bella and Edward did so too. "Should we take Nessie..." Bella began and Edward nodded almost as soon as the words left her lips. 

"That's probably a good idea," he agreed quickly. "I'm sure she didn't sleep soundly last night, what with all the snoring." 

He grinned at Seth who had been half asleep in the armchair next to us since we arrived back at the house. He rolled his eyes and then yawned. "It's been a while since I slept in a bed. I bet my mom would get a kick out of having me under her roof again." 

"That's only if she's not getting it on with Uncle Charlie." Aria mumbled to herself, and I think a little louder than she had first intended. 

"Gross." Bella and Seth said simultaneously as everyone else laughed. "Anyway, thank you, Seth." Bella reached up and touched his cheek.

"Anytime, Bella. But you already know that." He grinned and then sat up and stretched, kissed the top of Nessie's head, then Bella's and Aria's. Finally, he punched Edward's shoulder and then clapped hands with me. "See you guys tomorrow. I guess things are going to be kind of boring now, aren't they?"  

"I fervently hope so," Edward said. 

Then when he left, the five of us were quick to follow, Aria and I taking our time to say goodbye. I guess I had warmed up to all of them, even Blondie, but some time away from the sweet vampire stench was needed greatly. 

Pulling my hand, Aria led us to Esme and Carlisle first. "My youngest children," Esme began, placing her cold palms on both of our cheeks. "Be safe in your time away and behave we don't need any more drama." She smiled sweetly and then kissed both our foreheads before turning us to Carlisle.  

"I think it's safe to say your powers have no limit, Aria, but now is the time to relax... no more training. Well, for a while anyway." He laughed and she chuckled with him as he hugged her. "Now, Jacob, I cannot thank you enough for your help, please tell Sam of my gratitude as well. But I think I can now officially say welcome to the family." He placed his hand on my shoulder and gave it a squeeze. "Don't be strangers."  

"Like Alice would let that happen." Aria scoffed and Alice danced over and enveloped her in a hug. 

"When you come back, and I already know when you will, I'll have a whole new wardrobe for the both of you." She beamed, rocking Aria from side to side. 

"Wow. I can't wait." I mumbled sarcastically, and she winked at me over Aria's shoulder. 

"I'm not doing dress up again for a whole day Alice, I'm telling you that now." Aria warned, pointing her finger at Alice and her devilish smirk. 

"I'll make sure she holds her restraint." Jasper assured us, wrapping his arm around his mate's shoulders. "We'll see you two soon." 

Before either of us could respond, Aria was pulled away from me and up into the air. "Emmett!" She growled but soon enough her laughter broke out. "I've had enough surprises for one day."  

"I'm just preparing you for what to expect when you return." He shrugged with Aria still on his shoulder. 

"I wasn't going to expect anything less." She giggled, patting him on the back. 

"Good." He beamed and then set her back on her feet. "See ya later, kid." He smacked her on the back, so she stumbled. "Keep her in line." He continued to me. 

"Don't worry, I'll try my best to." I promised him and then he proceeded to slap me on the back, but I braced myself and held my footing. 

Next Rosalie strutted her way over, bumping past me to hug Aria. "Goodbye little sister, I'll miss you." 

"I'll miss you too, Rose. I'll be back soon." Aria hugged her tightly and then Rosalie released her and looked at me with her usual look of disgust. I smirked back at her but then to my surprise her face softened into a grimace. 

"I still don't like you, dog." Rosalie sneered, her eyes narrowing. 

"Rose..." Aria complained. 

"But" Rosalie continued almost regretfully. "I know you'll be good to her... and thank you for your help today."   

I decided to wind her up a little. "Thanks Blondie!" I smiled big and crushed her into a hug. 

"Ew!" She shoved me off of her with so much strength I stumbled back this time. "Don't ever do that again." 

"If you say so, Blondie." I shrugged, the smile still on my face as I grabbed Aria's hand again. "I guess it's time to go." 

Aria's POV

I couldn't help but smile at their banter, it would keep us entertained for the next few decades or so... hopefully it wouldn't last any longer than that. 

Saying goodbye to this family was slightly surreal. I didn't know how long I would be away from them, but I needed time with my human family. I wanted to catch up on all that I had missed over these last few months. I wanted to be a somewhat normal teenager again, maybe even go to college. 

I had a feeling Alice's vision would always haunt me, knowing that all those deaths could be possible one day. I was positive I was going to tell Jacob about what the vision meant, how after all this time he still couldn't keep a promise. But still, I couldn't blame him, he was doing the right thing. Even after he died, I went for Aro as well, it was just one of those things. 

"Oh, Jasper?" Bella asked, just after we all turned for the door. Bella and Edward didn't need to say goodbye, they would be back here tomorrow, living their now normal lives. 

Jasper was still standing beside Alice, and expectant smile on his face. "Yes, Bella?" 

"I'm curious - why is J. Jenks scared stiff by just the sound of your name?" She asked and I couldn't help the laugh thy escaped my lips. It was slightly obvious, in any case Jasper was intimidating. 

Jasper chuckled."It's just been my experience that some kinds of working relationships are better motivated by fear than by monetary gain." 

Bella frowned and from the look on her face I could tell she didn't like Jasper's approach to business deals. She would most likely take over in the future. 

They too were kissed and hugged as we left but there was a more causal feel to their goodbyes. They would be returning as soon as day broke. Nahuel gave Bella that longing look again as we left, and my sadness for him doubled. He wanted a mother, he was of course happy with his aunt, but seeing Bella proved there was a chance she could have survived. He wanted a family like Renesmee. 

The four of us walked in a comfortable, relaxed silence, like the weight of a great anxiety had lifted off of our shoulders and dissipated into the cool night air. Renesmee slept in Bella's arms peacefully, she had a few brief years left of childhood and she needed to enjoy it the right way. 

"I have to say, I'm thoroughly impressed with Seth right now," Edward said to us proudly.

"The wolves make quite an impact, don't they?" Bella said not understanding Edward's true meaning behind his words. 

"No that's not what he meant, Bells." I snickered as I rested my head against Jacob's bicep as we walked. 

"I meant not once today did he think about the fact that, according to Nahuel, Nessie will be fully matured in just six and a half years." Edward explained properly and I felt Jake and Bella cringe at Edward's words. 

It was strange but also heartwarming to see Jacob so protective over a child, especially one that was half vampire. "He doesn't see her that way. He's not in a hurry for her to grow up. He just wants her to be happy." Jacob promised urgently. 

"I know. Like I said, impressive. It goes against the grain to say so, but she could do worse." Edward joked, punching Jacob on the arm that I wasn't leaning against. 

That was weird to see them interact like that too. 

"Well, I'm not going to think about that for approximately six and a half more years." Bella declared, holding Nessie even closer to her. I was sure that if Bella squeezed her anymore, Nessie would wake up. 

The three of us laughed and then Edward sighed. "Of course, it looks like he'll have some competition to worry about when the time comes." 

Bella's frown deepened with concern. "I noticed. I'm grateful to Nahuel for today, but all the staring was a little weird. I don't care if she is the only half-vampire he's not related to." 

"Oh, he wasn't staring at her - he was staring at you." I told Bella and her eyes widened, and the frown disappeared. 

"Why would he do that?" She asked incredulously. 

"Because you're alive," I said quietly, the sympathy clear in my voice. 

"You lost me." She said, confused. Her frown was back. 

"All his life," I explained, "for one hundred and fifty years, he's always thought of himself as an evil creation, a murderer by nature. His sisters all killed their mothers as well, but they thought nothing of it. Joham raised them to think of the humans as animals, while they were gods. But Nahuel was taught by Huilen, and Huilen loved her sister more than anyone else. It shaped his whole perspective. And, in some ways, he truly hated himself." 

"That's so sad," Bella murmured. 

"And then he saw the three of you - and realised for the first time that just because he is half immortal, it doesn't mean he is inherently evil. He looks at Edward and sees... what his father should have been." 

"He is fairly ideal in every way," Bella agreed and Jacob and I scoffed at the same time. 

"Anyway," I exaggerated the word "he looks at you and sees the life his mother should have had." 

"Poor Nahuel," Bella murmured, and then she sighed. 

"Don't be sad for him." Edward said to her, resting his hand on her shoulder. "He's happy now. Today, he's finally begun to forgive himself." 

We walked until we reached the curve of the river, the point at which we would go our separate ways. As Bella and I's gazes met, she huffed sadly. "Why do I feel like I'm not going to see you for like ten years?" She asked me as she pulled me into a one-armed hug. 

"Because we've spent practically every day together since you came back from your honeymoon." I told her, mirroring her sorrowful smile. 

"That's true... I can't wait to have some peace and quiet." Edward smirked, looking pointedly at me as Jake laughed. 

"Well, I can't wait to be away from your bullshit." I stuck my tongue out at him. 

"Hey, hey, hey, watch your language in front of the child." Jacob scolded covering my mouth with his hand. I licked his palm, and he retracted his palm quickly. "Ew!" He scrunched his nose up and wiped his hand on his jeans. 

"Please, she's sleeping." I muttered, waving my hands about before leaning down to place a goodbye kiss on Nessie's forehead. "See you soon little one." I whispered, then turned back to Edward for a proper goodbye. 

"In all seriousness, you're the least annoying sister I have." He smiled a lopsided smile and pulled me in for a hug at a whirlwind speed. "I won't have you to keep Alice off my back." 

I shoved him off of me. "You deserve some Alice time because that's all that I'll be getting when I return." I laughed; I couldn't wait to see how mad he finally gets at her. 

"That's very true." He acknowledged before turning to Jacob. "I'm sure you have enough big brothers on your back about making sure you treat this one right, so I won't go into that. But thank you Jacob, really. For everything you've done for us." Edward held his hand out towards Jacob expectantly.  

Jacob looked down at his hand with an emotionless expression. "Never did I think I would call a vampire a brother." He began, taking Edward's hand in his own, ignoring the chill of Edward's temperature completely. "But you are and thank you for welcoming me into your family." 

I almost felt the urge to cry. For so long I had wanted this, wanted us all to get along and be a family and for everyone to accept each other, and now it was finally happening. 

"We should be thanking you for the same thing." He conceded as they released hands. 

I shared a look with Bella and the relief in her eyes seemed to match mine. 

"Yeah," Jacob laughed. "I guess so. Now, Bells, don't be a stranger. Bring the little one down as well, I'm sure our dad's and Robert would love to have her around, be nice for Sue to see her more too." 

"We will, don't worry." They shared a hug as well, and then Jacob placed a sweet kiss to Nessie's head. "I think it's about time we get her to her bed." Bella laughed lightly as she stared down lovingly at her daughter. 

"We'll see you around then." Jacob announced and then with another chorus of goodbyes we were alone. "I've been waiting to do this all day." He announced and within a split second his lips were on mine and his hands were against my back and waist. 

My heart became ecstatic as the electricity buzzed through my veins, the strongest connection to Jake I had ever felt. Maybe it was just because I knew we could live our lives the way we wanted to now, no distractions or impending threats. We could just be and live. But never had our kisses felt this powerful before. 

He began to move his lips against mine and I reciprocated, shifting myself closer and placed one hand on his jaw and the other on his chest over his heart. It was beating just as erratically as mine. He could feel the change in the air as well. 

His lips were like heaven to me... more so than usual. The movement of his lips was slow and sensual, not hiding in the kiss or his thoughts what he wanted us to do when we returned to my house. 

I moved so my body was pressed against his, letting him know I wanted the same. I ran my hands through his hair, moving to hold the back of his head to bring his lips closer to mine. He groaned, approving of my actions before he squeezed my waist a little tighter, exciting me that little bit more. 

We finally pulled away when the need to breathe took over. He looked at me, the most perfect smile on his face, that one look made all my worries disappear. He reached forward and ran his fingers over my cheek, the buzz of the connection between us lingered on the skin where his fingers had touched, and my eyes fluttered closed at the feeling. 

"It feels so nice when you do that." I told him, reaching up to take his hand and lace our fingers together. 

"I know." His smile was a little smug but still lighthearted. "Let's get home." 

A comfortable silence fell upon us as we walked. The snow crunched under our feet as the chilling night air began to turn the fallen snow into ice. The quiet gave me time to think, and unfortunately it also let Jake go over the events of today. Maybe I could change the subject. "I was really proud of you today." I said lightly, looking up at his face. 

"Being on the verge of death made me realise I shouldn't take things for granted." That wasn't the best wording he could have used... I refrained from cringing. "Your family, your extended family." He laughed and I cracked the slightest smile. "Are my family too, and they will be for the rest of eternity."  

My smile widened considerably. "You have no idea how happy it makes me to hear you say that. Like, the level of peace it brings is just impossible to explain." It was so surreal, everything had fallen into place, and it would be like this forever, completely perfect. 

I would never want to repeat what had been encased during the last few weeks, and most importantly today, but I had to admit it had made me appreciate what I had more than ever. Especially Jacob and his lack of keeping out the action. It wasn't funny but I should have expected that would be what he would do... be the hero. 

"Well, I'm glad you're happy now." Jacob said softly, stopping our walk as we reached the edge of La Push, it was cold but breathing in the salty sea air warmed my heart. I couldn't wait to see my dad and Catori. 

"What do you mean?" I asked him confused, just as the answer popped into his head. "Oh." The image of my shocked and scared face for most of the afternoon had worried him. 

"Yeah... wanna explain that?" His dark eyebrows were furrowed with concern, and I sucked on my bottom lip debating on whether I should tell him what happened. "Come on Ari, you can't keep this from me." 

"Fine." I huffed, resisting the urge to cry. "I saw, in Alice's vision, a lot of people die." I began and the crease in his brow softened. "Carlisle, Jasper, Leah, I couldn't get to everyone." My breath became shaky, and Jake took both my hands in his. "Alec attacked Jesse... and I couldn't get my shield around him in time to help him fight. Demetri got there first and killed him." 

"Aria I'm so sorry." Jacob breathed out, pulling me in for a hug. "I'm sorry you had to see that; but it was only a vision, and it has passed. It won't happen. He's fine." He tried to console me, and I shook my head. 

"It got worse. I changed into a version of myself I never want to know. I had a new and impossible level of strength, my eyes turned red... the whole iris. But something happened that increased the strength and rage tenfold, it even opened up a new gift." I wiped the stray tears and looked up at my gorgeous imprint, the emotions of having to go through losing him took over my body all over again. 

"What was it?" He asked, not entirely sure he wanted to know the answer. 

"You didn't keep your promise to me." I lamented watching as his eyes changed from concern to guilt. 

"Aria I — I don't know what to say." He stammered over his words, completely enveloped in guilt. "I'm so sorry." He held onto my face, his thumbs brushing away the tears as he looked like he was on the brink of releasing his own. 

"Jake, I forgive you." I said softly, reaching up to wrap my arms around his neck. He stood up straight, wrapping his arms around my waist as I lifted up with him. "I shouldn't have made you promise me in the first place. What I asked of you was asking you to go against your nature... besides after you died in the vision, I went for Aro myself as he was the one who killed you." I explained to him, still holding onto his body. 

"How did it end?" He asked, placing me back on my feet so he could look at my face. 

"Bella, Edward and I ended him. That's why they didn't fight because he, and all the other ancients, would eventually be killed." By the time I finished the smirk was back on his face. 

"We would've won." He couldn't hide his grin, and I frowned at him. "Right, right, right, at a great loss... but you would've been safe from their clutches, they would never come after you again... or the rest of your family." He pointed out and I had to agree with that. But I didn't know how I would live my life if Jacob died. Would I even want to live it?  

"Alright, I guess you're right. But I don't want to talk about the Volturi anymore. I don't want to talk about them for the next one hundred years at least. So can we just let them slip from our minds?" I asked hopefully. 

I was sure the Volturi would try again when they'd recovered from their embarrassment. They would come back bigger and so much more dangerous than what we witnessed today. They would decimate us, destroy us all without a trace that we ever existed... I wasn't even sure if they would save us gifted one's next time.  

We wouldn't live on edge though; we wouldn't be hiding in the shadows. We'd keep living as we always have, as the Cullens always have, and Alice will alert us of when they would come for us again. 

"We can." Jake assured taking my hand again.  

We continued our walk into the peaceful silver-blue night, our arms swinging between us. As we approached the tree line that opened up onto the yard, fresh snowflakes began to twirl down to the ground around us. 

I could hear the voices of our loved ones celebrating our victory from inside the house. It sounded like both packs were there and so were their families that were in on the secret, too. 

"Looks like our own celebrations will be delayed," he murmured sighing with annoyance. 

I shoved him lightly. "Don't be so rude." I squealed as he grabbed my hips tightly and spun me into him, so my back was against his chest. 

"I just wanna be with you." He mumbled against the back of my neck, pressing open mouthed kisses along it and it was making all the right places tingle. 

"You will be, but you might have to wait a few hours." I laughed as I pictured his grumpy face. 

He groaned and then suddenly span me back around to face him. "Then after that we have each other for the rest of our lives. Forever and forever and forever," he murmured as he leant down to brush his lips against mine. 

"Our forever." I whispered back to him. I stretched up onto my toes and wrapped my arms around his neck and pressed my lips against his sweet, soft ones. 

Our kiss deepened and I savoured the first moment of our beautiful eternity together. 

The end.