[BamaFan121s]

Once on the plane, I settled for the window seat. Alice and Jasper sat in a pair of seats a few rows behind us. We were the only passengers in first class, so we basically had our choice of seats. Fewer passengers were another benefit of overnight flights.



Edward settled into the seat beside me. He took my hand, pulling it towards his face to lightly kiss my wrist before returning it, still enclosed in his to the armrest between us. With his other hand, he began a familiar pattern, lightly tracing his fingers form my wrist to the crease in my elbow and back to my wrist again as I leaned my head back against the seat to meet his gaze. I reached my finger up to trace the dark, bruise like circles under his onyx black eyes and frowned. “You need to hunt when we get back,” I softly whispered.



“Yes,” he agreed. “As soon as possible. It will be more difficult during the day given the higher number of backpackers in the area this time of year.” Edward had taken even more classes than me. His final classes combined with a rare day of sunshine in Hanover in the last week had made it impossible for him to join Alice, Jasper and I on our recent outing two nights prior.



“First thing,” I agreed.



“Second,” he countered, his face instantly brightening, a dazzling smile spreading across his perfect mouth. “Renesmee first.”



“Of course,” I agreed, shrugging. “I thought that went without saying.”



“It’s been hard for you being away from her, hasn’t it?”



“Yes,” I agreed, the all too familiar ache of yearning for my daughter returning to my still heart. “More than I imagined it would.”



“I know just what you mean.” He leaned forward to cradle my face in his hands and kissed my hair. He rested his cheek on the top of my head. “We don’t have to come back in the fall, if you’d rather stay for a while.”



“Hmmm…” I pondered the idea as he returned to tracing the lines in my arm again. I turned my gaze towards the small, round window of the plane.



It was such a tempting option that it was unbearable. Tempting because I hated being across the country from our perfect daughter, unbearable because the choice we’d made to attend college on the other side of the country was a necessity. Although most of the friends I’d know in high school had left to attend college or begin their lives anew out of state, there were still those with whom I was familiar who remained in the small town who would no doubt notice the changes I’d undergone since the previous fall, even if they were clueless as to the truth of the transformation. It was because of this that we’d decided together that it was simply in the best interest of all involved for us to continue with our previous plans to stay in Hanover and attend Dartmouth for the spring term.



I was no longer the plain, ordinary Bella that they’d grown accustomed to. My skin was an even paler than it had been before I’d become a vampire—a perfect, flawless porcelain. My features were appearance was striking—something that did not go unnoticed in such a small, uneventful town as Forks was. I thought back to the way I’d been instantly mesmerized by the beauty of Edward and his family as a newcomer years ago.



And then there were my eyes. Before they were a rich, chocolate brown. After I’d taken on this life of immortality, they’d become a bright shade of crimson—not the kind of thing that would go unnoticed, and a shade representative of those vampires who still feasted on human blood. I was very relieved that as the months had passed, they’d begun to take on more of the topaz coloring shared by the rest of the Cullen family, diluted by my diet of animal blood. They only still showed the slightest tint red now, only visible when the light stuck them at just the right angle.



I’d never particularly been fond of the chocolate color of my old eyes, but now, I’d come to wonder why I’d ever felt that way to begin with. Renesme’s eyes were the color of purest milk chocolate—the color mine had been, the color of Charlie’s. Beautiful and perfect. My thoughts, returning to my daughter as they so often did, caused the longing to see her again burning afresh deep within my stomach.



We’d made the painful decision that Renesmee would remain in Forks with Carlisle, Esme, Emmett and Rosalie. And of course, Jacob. I smiled at the thought of my werewolf best friend, once the sworn enemy of the Cullen family, turned ally by the arrival of Renesmee. I was still not completely comfortable with the whole aspect of Jacob’s imprinting on my daughter when she was only a baby. My own feelings on that subject were mild in comparison to those of the vampire who sat to my immediate right. Although he understood the Quileute trait, which was considered legend, like so many things until recently, his natural protectiveness as a father still lingered strongly under the surface. But there was plenty of time to worry about those details.



Renesmee was now physically the size of a child who should be attending school, and intellectually, she was beyond that. This posed another problem we’d had to face shortly before our departure for Hanover. Clearly, given her abnormal growth as a half vampire, half human child, the difficulties of her attending school presented a whole new set of challenges. Rosalie had all too willingly volunteered to home school her, but I wanted her to have as many human experiences as possible. Ironically, something Edward had once wanted for me. I’d only recently been able to fully understand why he’d always placed such importance on such a thing that had seemed so meaningless to me once. Still, I’d wanted her to experience a world outside of vampires and werewolves and the confines of the Cullen home.



Surprisingly, it was Jacob who’d presented the perfect solution to the problem. In the fall, Renesmee would begin attending the Quileute school on the reservation, as Jacob always had. Of course, Rosalie had been outraged when we’d agreed this was the best option. I cringed at the memory of her murderous outrage when we’d informed her of our decision and how she’d nearly quite literally taken Jacob’s head off in between the insults she’d fired at him. She would have succeeded if it had not been for Emmett’s quick interference.



Still, there was no denying that the solution Jacob had offered was a good one. The Quileute Indians, their society founded on their strong beliefs in legends and folklore, were more apt to overlook and accept things that humans would question. Jacob was well known and respected on the reservation and therefore Renesmee would be welcomed into their society with open arms. I had to admit that his presence in her life, and mine, brought me an immense feeling of peace and happiness.



I’m not sure how long I stared out the window, deeply immersed in these thoughts. I looked towards the horizon, a faint tint of pink playing in the distance threatening sunrise. I wondered how many sunrises I would see in my immortal years. It wasn’t until I heard Edward’s velvet smooth whisper in my ear that I was pulled from these fantasies to realize that the plane had slanted slightly downward to begin it’s decent. “Bella, love, we’re almost home.”