Lips of an Angel

Epilogue

A/N

Here's the end, folks. The main story ends here. I know what some of you are waiting for, but I'll just let you read on. And before anyone tells me that a certain character *coughs* seems to be either gay or abusive in my stories, I know. I'm just so original.

I have IMPORTANT QUESTIONS for you at the end. ;)

Also, all foreign words here are courtesy of the Internet - I apologise for any inaccuracy.

Enjoy this last one!

Lucy xX

***

Two years later

There was something about Edward Cullen that had entranced me, right from the first time he'd walked into my office, wonderfully human, smelling like some godly temptation sent by Hades. And, nearly three years since I'd met him, that something hadn't faded one iota.

I'd sworn, once upon a time, that I wouldn't freeze over like so many vampires did. I'd seen it in Tanya. While she'd never been anything near 'human' when I'd first joined the Cullen family, she'd become more and more still. Life had ceased to amaze her, had ceased to hold her interest.

And I'd told myself that I'd never become like that. I'd taken several degrees and jobs, all working with humans closely. I'd worked alongside Carlisle as a doctor, I'd worked in a jewellery business for a couple of years, but I'd always come back to my love of psychology. Minds were fascinating, and helping those who'd been in a similar mental state to mine upon becoming a vampire seemed to be my vocation.

Yet, by the time I'd met Edward, nothing had given me the joy that simple things once had in a very long time. Alice had once told me that having somebody to share life with, in the way my family did, kept vampires young. I'd dismissed her immediately.

But she'd been right. Everything about Edward had opened my eyes and my mind and my heart, and pulled me back down to earth. I'd been letting the years slip through my fingers like so many old vampires did. But experiencing first love and first heartache with Edward had made me more human...even when he no longer was.

Some tiny part of me had always been curious as to whether or not Edward was a traditionalist. From his stories about his parents, his upbringing had been entirely traditional of a British, middle-class family which, according to him, was too snobbish for its own good.

And if the off-hand way in which Edward had just asked me to marry him was anything to go by, that traditional way of thinking certainly wasn't something that had been passed onto him.

He watched me carefully, the summer sun glinting down on us, lighting our skin as we laid on the mildew-covered grass in the middle of Epping Forest, away from civilisation for a few hours. While his question had been soft and not all that serious, his eyes held uncertainty.

Especially when I bit down on my lip and hesitated. I wasn't traditional. Nothing about me was traditional. Including the fact that marriage was far from top of my priority list - I'd never even thought about marriage, for crying out loud. Not seriously.

Edward backtracked. "If you-"

I shook my head, and leant up on my elbows, looking down at him. "It's not that I don't want to. I've just never thought about it. I mean..." I trailed off, not entirely sure what I DID mean.

Edward smiled, not looking terribly bothered by my hesitant response. "I haven't bought a ring, if that stops you stressing."

I laughed. "Again, I hadn't even thought about rings. Marriage doesn't really change anything, nowadays. It's a piece of paper. I mean, it can be romantic and a bit sentimental, and yes, I'd be lying if that kind of thing doesn't appeal to me, but I've just never thought about it seriously."