After Forever (a Twilight Saga fanfiction: 10 years after Breaking Dawn)

2 ∘ Time Jump (BPOV)

September 11th, 2016

"Where do you want this, Alice?" I was holding three sets of purple and white streamers. It was September 11th, 2016. My little girl was turning ten-years-old today. Although, Renesmee was physically eighteen years old and mentally thirty-five. Just the same, she's been alive for ten years.

"Give them to me." Alice held her arms out for them. She'd do it better than I would, so I didn't mind. Or, she thinks she'd do it better than me.

I didn't care where they went or how perfect they had to be. Nor did Renesmee. But she liked to make her aunt happy. As did we all.

She groaned. "Rosalie! I told you to finish the banner by three o'clock! It's three-oh-two." She stomped off to Rose's room as she was yelling. I chuckled.

I went in to make Renesmee's cake while Alice dealt with the rest of the party details.

Ness was with Jacob. Edward told him to keep her occupied until five. I wasn't sure what they were doing. But I probably didn't want to know.

Renesmee and Jacob have been together for almost three years. After she was fully grown, he'd been fighting for her. He told me it was like everything switched into full drive for him when that happened. She played hard to get for as long as she could, but she wasn't able to hold it in any longer. She loved him, and stopped trying to deny it. If they were happy, so were Edward and me.

But no matter how much he loved his daughter, Edward would be lying if he said he wasn't still a little disturbed by the situation.

I put the cake in the oven and went to sit at the counter. I read a few hundred pages of my book in three minutes, then heard the garage door open and close.

Edward and Emmett were back. They went to Seattle to get the final birthday present for Renesmee. Jasper and Esme were hunting, and Carlisle was working at the hospital. Everyone should be back soon.

I closed my book and tossed it back to the center of the coffee table. Edward was suddenly behind me.

"Hey." I smiled and started to turn toward him. He took my hand and spun me around before we embraced. I squeezed the fabric of his shirt, happy to have him home.

"I missed you." I sighed into his shoulder.

"I missed you, too," he said before kissing me. My body automatically leaned into his.

"Ugh. Get a room," Emmett boomed, walking in on us. "Or, better yet, go home!"

I snorted. "Not yet." I ran to him. He scoffed when I jumped into his arms.

"Hey, Bells." He kissed my temple and set me down. Edward wrapped his arm around me and smacked the back of Em's head as we passed him.

"Did everything go okay?" I asked as we walked out of the house, toward our cottage.

"Perfectly. How have things with the party been? Alice driving you crazy yet?"

"Honestly, after twelve years, she's growing on me."

"You're lucky. I've been with her decades longer than you have and she still knows how to get under my skin."

We walked inside, and he led me to our room. We may not get to sleep, but I enjoyed the feel of the fabric under me. Laying down was still comforting, relaxing.

Edward laid on the left side of the bed, on my right. "So... what do you want to do for your birthday?"

"Nothing. I don't want anything, I don't need anything. It's pointless. I don't age. What's left for a birthd-?"

"Answer the question. It's been eleven years. When are you gonna make this easy for me?" He cut me off, getting upset.

"Edward-"

"Bella. Come on. How many occasions a year do we get to do something together? Just the two of us? Three. And one of them is always difficult."

"Three?"

"Our birthdays, and our wedding anniversary."

"Well, at least I don't make all three difficult. Two are important to me. The other one isn't."

"But we always celebrate them well. Don't you remember last month? You were so happy."

"It was our ten-year anniversary. That's a big deal. Pointless birthdays are not," I insisted.

"Well, in that case, my birthday is pointless, too, right? I knew why you hated your birthday when you were human, but why now? You don't age anymore. That's what you hated."

I shrugged.

"But you're young forever now. There's no reason why you shouldn't love-" I kissed him, tired of arguing. He was right, of course. He always is.

But the truth of why I still don't like my birthday, even after being changed, will forever remain a secret.

He doesn't need to know. He just needs to accept that I don't like it and move on.

He grabbed the back of my knee and pulled it over his.

"You did like the way we celebrated last month, right?" He smirked.

"Isle Esme sure does hold a lot of memories..." I grinned against his mouth when he kissed me again.

Before things could get too heated, the phone rang.

"Damnit," he growled.

"Easy." I leaned over him and took the phone from the nightstand. She was yelling before I got a word out. It was Edward's phone, but of course she saw who answered.

"Bella Marie Swan-Cullen! Get back here! We aren't done!" Alice was pissed.

"You know Renesmee doesn't like when we go all out like this," I pointed out.

"Yeah, a lovely trait she got from her mother. Thanks for that, by the way."

Edward laughed.

"Both of you come back over here. Ness will be home in an hour." With that, she hung up.

I tossed the phone and groaned. "Why does she do this?"

"She's Alice." He frowned. "We should go before she comes here and drags us."

I chuckled. After a second, I realized it wasn't a joke. She really would do that. I raised my eyebrows.

Seriously? I thought.

"Seriously," he said, getting off the bed.

This past decade really helped me get in touch with my gift. Whenever I wanted, I was now able to lift my shield and send thoughts to Edward. He loved it.

If I was being honest, so did I. It helped when we needed to have a private conversation around other people. Kind of like him and Alice. They have done the same thing ever since she and Jasper arrived.

We left the cottage soon after, hand-in-hand. When we were nearing the house, it was silent.

Edward froze, and squeezed my hand.

"What is it?" He wouldn't answer. "Edward."

I threw my shield forward and I felt them when it reached the house. I ran inside, dragging a very angry Edward behind me.