School went by slowly, which was dreadful. The only interesting thing that happened was in our class about Romeo and Juliet. Edward whispered to Bella about how Vampires can't exactly just commit suicide. How he was so worried about getting to her on time that day 6 months ago, that he contemplated what he would have done if he hadn't. He told her his choice would be to go to Italy and provoke the Volturi. One of the oldest groups of living vampires. He'd expose himself in the sun if they had refused to take his life.

His words got me thinking about Emmett and what his thought process was on it. If he would have done the same thing. It wasn't often we spoke of that day, mostly because neither of us wanted to relive it. It was a horror for both of us in completely different ways. Of course, even though Bella and I had begged them not to. They watched that stupid tape James had made of us. That only terrified both of them even more with the thought of losing us. Which is why Emmett had become even more protective after the incident. That included making sure we were taking every single class together this year. Our schedule's are the exact same. I knew exactly when I planned to confront him about it.

We were sitting in our study hall, not able to work on anything. Since we didn't have anything to work on. We were at our usual table, sitting next to one another in the far corner of the class room, so I knew it was safe to ask my questions without being over heard by other students or faculty members.

"Hey, Emmett?" I called out to him softly.

"What's up, babe?" He smirked at me.

"I know, we kinda had a silent mutual agreement not to talk about the details of the 'incident'. But I was wondering if we could talk about it..." I asked him quietly. He stiffened for a moment before sitting up in his chair and leaning on the table closer towards me.

"Well, what do you want to talk about?" He asked curiously.

"Well, I know you heard. Edward's story in literature class today. That's what I wanted to know about. I want to know what your thought process was before you got to me. What it was like during and even after. We've been together for 7 months now and never discussed the possibility of death and what that would mean for us. Given it's pretty obvious, it's a common reoccurring theme in our life." I shrugged and watched him carefully.

He adjusted himself in his seat again.

"I was terrified to lose you. I was even more upset when I arrived and I thought I had failed to protect you. Sure after some reassurances from other's I've been able to cope with it. But I still blame myself everyday... Specially when you had on that cast. It was like a constant reminder of what happened. How I failed to keep my promise to keep you safe." He paused and thought for a moment. "I'd like to think given whatever situation we ended up in. I'd have to have see it myself to know for sure, for it to be true. You know, if you really were dead. And if you were, I'd probably consider it. There's no point to my existence without having you in it." Emmett grabbed my hand and held it gently.

"I've told you a hundred times and I'll tell you again. You saved my life that day."I reassured him. "But, given that my choice is to remain human. That's pretty dangerous... I mean, there's always the possibility of a tomorrow without me and if something doesn't kill me first, then age will. What happens then? Are you really willing to go through life with me like that? Have a relationship with me like that? I'd be 80 years old and look like a wrinkly old napkin and you'd still be... well hot. For all of eternity." I chuckled.

"(Y/n) (Y/m/n) Swan, I plan on loving you for all of Eternity. Wrinkles and all if that's what you choose. I told you before, I'd love you human or vampire. And if there's an afterlife for our kind I'd still love you then too." He sweetly kissed my hand. I blushed at his gesture.

"Emmett Mcarty Cullen, I'm planning on loving you for all of Eternity and beyond too." I leaned into him and stole a quick peck on his lips.

School finished and I rode home with Emmett. I got changed in his room into the dress Alice gave me as a gift. It's a gorgeous dark (Y/F/C) dress, short sleeves, sweetheart neckline. It's slightly longer in the back, reaching to the middle of my calf's. The front, reaching just above the knee. Of course, Alice decided to do some make up for me even though I hardly ever wear any.

"Now, presenting Birthday girl number one!" Alice introduced me from the stairs. I walked down to see the family of Cullen's looking up at me. I blushed ridiculously and Emmett met me at the bottom of the stairs.

"You look beautiful." Emmett breathed in awe.

"Thank you. I feel a bit over done. But pretty none the less." I giggled.

"You can never be to over done." Alice skipped happily by.

"You looks so gorgeous, (Y/n). I feel like a proud older sister." Rosalie gushed.

"Thanks, Rosalie." I smiled brightly at her.

"My brother is certainly a lucky man." Henry laughed putting an arm around Rosalie.

"Thanks, Henry. I like to think I'm the lucky one though." I grinned at him putting my hand's on Emmett's chest. I turned and looked up at him. "Hey, where's Bella? Are they here yet?"

"Yeah, they got here like five minutes ago. I think they're in Carlisle's study. Want to go see what they are up too?" He asked.

"Yeah, that'd be great."

We walk down the hallway and reached Carlisle's study. I knew the room but never really had any reason to go inside before.

"Bella!" I greeted her joyfully. "What are you guys up too?"

"Edward was just about to tell me about this painting." Bella grabbed my hand and brought me over to a large painting on the wall.

"It's the Volturi. They are a very old, very powerful family. I guess they're the closest thing to royalty our world has." Edward began to explain about the painting. The picture depicted a ancient looking building in Italy, three members standing on a balcony above the rest. As Bella and I looked closer, there was a familiar figure standing in the back ground with the other three men.

"Is that...?" I start asking.

"Carlisle?" Bella finishes.

"Yeah, he lived with them for a few decades." Emmett said wrapping his arms around my waist.

"He described them as very refined. No respect for human life, of course, but respect for the arts and the sciences, at least. And the law. Above all, the law." Edward informed us.

"Vampires have laws?" I looked curiously at the two guys.

"Not very many. And only one that's regularly enforced." Edward said with a serious tone.

"What is it?" Bella asked curiously.

"That we keep the existence of our kind a secret." Emmett slightly tightened his grip on me.

"We don't make spectacles of ourselves. And we don't kill conspicuously." Edwards spoke seriously still, until a small smirk came across his face. "Unless of course you want to die."

"You've got to stop talking about that. I can't even think... about someone hurting you." Bella bit her nails nervously as she spoke. I rubbed her arm comfortingly.

"Bella, the only thing that can hurt me is you. And I don't have anything else to be afraid of." Edward reassured her.

Emmett and I excused ourselves from the room. We walked hand in hand around the house to the living room.

"It's time! It's time, it's time, it's time." Alice sang and grabbed my hand already having gotten Bella. She dragged the both of us to the room filled with lots of flowers and lit candles.

"Sorry about all this. We tried to rein Alice in." Carlisle chuckled softly.

"As if that were even possible. Happy birthday, (Y/n). Happy birthday, Bella." Esme hugged each of us. A camera flash went off from behind us.

"Thank you guy's." I looked at them all gratefully.

Bella and I couldn't be more blessed to have met this amazing family. Bella and I turned to see Alice holding my camera.

"I found it in your bag. Do you mind?" Alice gave me her usual puppy dog eyes, and batted her eyelashes.

"Sure. Mom wanted us to make a scrapbook anyway's." I shrugged and smiled happily at her. She squeaked with excitement and hugged me before taking a selfie with the camera of us.

"Dating an older woman. Hot." Emmett joked to Edward as they watch Bella and I interact. Bella shot Emmett a glare, which I could only laugh at. Edward shook his head and walked away from him joining Bella at her side.

"Good one, babe." I told him laughing.

"Well, it's true." He smirked at them. "I, however, am all man, baby."

"A really old man." I told him playfully. He kissed my cheek and laughed.

"Okay, okay. Rosalie you first." Alice piped up.

She handed two gift's to Rosalie who rolled her eyes. Rosalie handed the first gift to Bella.

"It's a necklace. Alice picked it out." She said plainly.

"Thanks." Bella nodded at her politely. Alice pulled Bella away to get a picture of her and Edward as Rose handed me my gift.

"Your's is a bangle bracelet. It was mine when I was human." Rosalie handed me my box. I opened it to see a thin beautiful golden bracelet that has a small rose design embedded over the sides.

"Wow, Rose... Thank you. It's really beautiful." I took it out and slid it over my wrist. She smiled softly at me.

"I had it restored recently. I was saving it if I ever had any kids. Obviously," She rolled her eyes. "I can't do that. So I figured it was only right to pass it on to my sister." She hugged me tightly.

"I really love it. I can't thank you enough." I smiled at her.

"Alright, your turn!" Alice said pulling us apart and she dragged Emmett and I away to get our picture. We took a cute serious one, one where he was looking lovingly at me, one where I'm looking lovingly at him, and of course a goofy one.

"This one's from Henry." Alice said after. Handing me and Bella one box. I held it in my hands, only for it to feel lighter than air. I handed it to Bella and she felt it too. We turned to look at Henry and Rosalie. Henry had a goofy grin on his face as usual.

"Already installed it in your truck." Henry wiggled his eyebrows. "Finally a decent sound system for that piece of..."

"Hey, don't... don't hate the truck." Bella scolded him with a smile. Everyone laughed together.

"Here. Open Esme and Carlisle's." Alice hands us each a blue box. We begin to pull the box open.

"Just a little something to brighten your day." Carlisle smiled happily at us both. Inside my box were two round trip tickets to Jacksonville, Florida. I looked up and began to smile at them for the completely lavish gift.

"Thank..." I started to say.

"Ow. Paper cut." Bella said as she tried to open her box.

A drop of her blood fell to the floor. Everything appeared to move in slow motion. Edward and Jasper had a bit of a stare off, before Jasper lunged forward. Edward's first instinct was to push Bella behind him. But instead of doing so carefully, he used to much of his strength. Causing her to fly backwards into the wall. Bella knocked into a vase breaking it into pieces. Shards cut into her skin making her bleed more.

Edward shoved Jasper backwards, making him crash into the piano, crushing it to pieces. Emmett moved in front of me protectively. Carlisle attempted to stop a frantic Jasper from reaching Bella. Emmett and Henry, were quick to run forward and engulf their large arms around his body. I ran backwards to my sister and helped her carefully off the floor.

"It's okay. Jaz, Jaz, shh, shh. It's okay. It's just a little.... Blood." Alice began to try to calm him down before she smelled the overwhelming scent of Bella's blood.

That's when Bella and I looked up see we were currently in a room full of Vampires. Of course, that's never really a problem before now. But this time, most of them were looking at her like she was something to eat.

"Get Jasper, out of here." Carlisle said quietly to the boy's before he sped over to Bella's side. He checked her arm that had been cut up by the glass and signaled that she was okay.

Emmett and Henry dragged Jasper from the room. I met Emmett's eye's just before they left and nodded to him that I would be fine. It was easy for us to communicate just by looking at each other. I could see Edward standing off to the side. His face showing little to no emotion. But his eyes told a different story. This was exactly the kind of thing he was always so afraid of. I was positive that he was blaming himself for Bella being hurt and putting her in harm's way. He was disappointed with the situation and with himself. I knew I could tell that much.

Alice, Rosalie and Esme excused themselves from the room, unable to be around the blood for much longer.

"I'll have to stitch this up in my office." Carlisle said still examining her arm. He could feel Edward's presence still left in the room. Without looking up he spoke to him quietly. "Check on Jasper. I'm sure he's very upset with himself and I doubt he'll listen to anyone but you right now..." Edward didn't move an inch. Just stared at Bella. "Edward." Carlisle looked up and nodded for him to go.

He turned away without saying a word. I grabbed Bella's good arm and pulled her to her feet. Carlisle lead us back to his study and cleaned her wound. Picking out the pieces of glass with tweezers. I held her hand and she squeezed it whenever she needed to.

"I never wanted to have a party." Bella mumbled quietly.

"It's not your fault." Carlisle assured her still working on her arm. He placed all the glass shards and blood sponges into a bowl of alcohol. "Jasper hasn't been away from human blood as long as the rest of us."

"How do you do it?" I asked curiously as I watch him work on her without any hint of hesitation.

"Year and years of practice." He smiled at me, happy to speak about it.

"Did you ever think of just doing it the easy way?" Bella questioned him referring to his choice to drink animal blood and not humans.

"No. I knew who I wanted to be. I wanted to help people. Brings me happiness. Even if I am damned regardless." He began to stitch up her arm. Bella squeezed my hand tightly and I winced.

"Bad hand." I muttered.

"Sorry." She whispered and we switched hands. "Damned?" She returned her attention to Carlisle. "Like... like hell?" He looked up giving us a knowing look. "Carlisle, you couldn't be damned. You couldn't. It's impossible." She said softly.

"Well, thank you, Bella. You've always been very gracious about us. The both of you have." He smiled gratefully.

Bella pondered Carlisle's words before something clicked for her. I could see it written all over her face.

"What is it?" I asked her softly.

"That's it. That's why he won't change me."

"Imagine the situation in reverse, hmm? If you believed as Edward does, could you take away his soul?" He left her to ponder his question. Carlisle finished her arm and then lit the bloody cloths on fire, burning them away from existence.

We walked outside to find Edward and Emmett waiting. Emmett suggested that we let them drive home together in the truck given the situation. So, Emmett and I took the Jeep.

"How are you holding up?" Emmett asked breaking the silence in the air.

"I'm fine, actually." I shrugged.

"That's good. I'm sorry that's how your party ended." He reached a hand over to mine and rubbed his thumb along the back of my hand.

"It's certainly never a dull moment, with The Cullen's." I laughed lightly. Emmett let out a small chuckle.

"You've got that right." He pulled his hand away and fumbled to get something from his pocket. "I never got to give you my gift." He finally managed to get it out while he drove. "Happy Birthday, babe."

Emmett handed me a small black box. I opened it and inside was a small, dainty, silver, oval locket.

"Open it." He nudged as I stared in awe.

I clicked it open with the small side button to see a picture on each side of the locket. Both pictures from tonight and this morning. One side has a picture of Bella and I being goofy. The other is the picture of Emmett and I. He was looking down at me lovingly.

"Emmett." I breathed deeply. "I love it." I leaned across the car and kissed his cheek. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." He held onto my hand.

We pulled into the driveway and he opened my door for me. I could see the truck was already here.

"Let me help you put that on before you go in." Emmett took the necklace from my hand's. I pulled back my hair and held it out of the way. He wrapped it around my neck and clasped it together. I felt his soft, cold lip's on the back on my neck. I sighed heavily and shuttered at his touch, in bliss. "I love you, (Y/n)." He mumbled into my neck.

"I love you too, Em." I turned to look at him. He kissed my lip's sweetly. "Are you staying the night?" I asked and he stroked my cheek.

"I believe we are going hunting tonight. So no, not today." He answered me honestly.

"Okay. Have a good hunt. Catch a big bear for me would ya?" I joked. He laughed in return.

"Will do, babe." He kissed me quickly one last time before jumping into the Jeep. He gave me a sort of sad smile and left after I entered the house.

I ran up into my room and changed into a comfortable pair of sweatpants and a baggy sweat shirt.

"Hey, Bells." I knocked on her door and pushed it open to find her using the printer. Developing the pictures from her camera. "Ha, I was just going to see if you wanted my camera too."

"Yeah, sure." She grinned at me and took the camera from my hand.

We stayed up that night, working on our scrapbook's. Filling the pages, with the picture's from today.

"Do you get the feeling that something's off?" Bella asked me suddenly.

"You mean about after the party tonight?" I tilted my head and made sure we were on the same page. She nodded, gluing down another picture. "I mean, yeah. What happened tonight was bad. Not as bad as it could have been, but still bad. Emmett said they were going hunting tonight when he left, but I couldn't help but get the feeling he wasn't telling me the truth..."

"Yea. Edward was acting distant again. Almost like how it was when we first met. I get what happened was bad but like... I don't know I just got this strange feeling." She shrugged sadly. I patted her shoulder.

"I'm sure it's nothing. Probably just tension from the ever occurring instances of danger." I joked, though I could tell she wasn't impressed. "No, in all seriousness it was probably just tension from tonight. That's all. I'm sure he'll be over it by tomorrow."

We hugged each other tightly and headed to bed. I hung up my dream catcher from Jacob above my head. Climbing under the cover's and let sleep take me.