Bella Swan sat staring sightlessly out of her bedroom window. Somewhere on the fringes of her mind she could hear her parents Charlie and Renee arguing quietly trying to decide what to do with her. Bella had been unresponsive and immobile looking blindly out the window for more than a week. That fact that her divorced parents were together in one place and fighting didn't matter to Bella, all that mattered was the He was gone. Edward had left her, broken and alone. Tears slide slowly down her pale cheeks as she struggled to breathe. After telling Bella that she wasn't good for him and that he didn't love her anymore he left her crying in the middle of the forest. All the pain that she felt at this betrayal of her love made Bella feel like she was trapped in a spinning vortex of agony.

Bella was torn from her grief By Renee moving quickly around the room muttering to herself" Just Needs to be home…broken heart…sun sunshine. Bella tried to take in what her mother was mumbling about. Painfully crawling out of the black hole of her mind Bella watched baffled as her mother hastily packed what looked like her suitcase. Clarity returned in an instant when she figured out her mom was trying to take her home with her to Florida.

"Mom Don't!" Bella cried out trying to stand from her seated position by the window. "I am not going home with you, this is my home now. Besides Ch…I mean dad needs me."

Renee looked up at her daughter trilled that she was finally coming out of whatever trance she had been in. "Of course you'll come home with me Bella, we will get you all fixed up. Some sun and a bit of laying on the beach and you'll be fine in no time."Renee declared smiling then returned to packing her daughters things.

Bella stared at the back of her mother's head wondering not for the first time if Renee Dwyer was crazy. After years of living with her and being more of a parent than a daughter to her the idea that Renee was going to take care of her was positively laughable. Bella understood that her mother was not really cut out for parenthood and had come to terms with that fact years ago. Being a child and having to manage the house and care for herself and her mother made coming to this conclusion a necessity for Bella's sanity. Living with Renee had been an exercise in patience that Bella frankly didn't feel like repeating. She just knew if she let her mother take her with her within a week she would be forgotten while Renee and her new husband Phil were off pretending that they were teens again. Bella sat and weighed her choices all the while nibbling on her lower lip absently. While going with Renee was out so was staying with Charlie. Every place in Forks was a constant reminder of the fact that at one point she had felt loved and adored only to have it ripped away from her in the most heartless of manors. Although Charlie was a great dad to Bella their relationship wasn't emotional at all. They barely spoke and were rarely affectionate. It wasn't that they didn't love each other it was just that after years of living apart they both had no idea how to bridge the gap between them. So instead they danced around the edges of their relationship, never doubting the love between them but also never really acknowledging it either.

Bella thought hard about what was right for her. For years her life had been about making others happy and making sure they were taken care of and now at the time when she needed a shoulder to lean on she realized that there was only one person who ever made the effort to look out for her and to make her feel safe. Years ago while in an advanced placement class in Phoenix Bella had met a young man named Spencer Reid. They met while Bella was taking an intro to criminology class on U of A campus over that summer. Bella only took the class for the credit it would afford her when she applied to colleges and also secretly she hoped to maybe impress her dad a little. Dr Spencer Reid had been the courses guest lecturer and they had struck up a friendship between them. Bella thought back to the day she met Spencer all those years ago.

Bella jogged slowly across the wet campus trying to read the map in her hand while shielding herself from the pouring rain. Trying to find the lecture hall would have been next to impossible on a good day for Bella but while it was raining and her hands were full of maps and coffee it was impossible. With one hand on the map and another wrapped around a large thermos of coffee Bella wasn't really surprised when all of a sudden her small body slammed to halt when she ran into the body of the person in front of her. "Darn it, sorry I wasn't watching." Bella trailed off as she caught her first look at her person she had hit. He was tall not like almost tall but really tall a few inches over six feet. Then again everyone felt tall in comparison to Bella; she barely topped the scale at five feet two inches tall. But his height wasn't the only thing she noticed, fifteen year old Bella wasn't as boy crazy as her friends but even she knew that this guy with the most beautiful gray eyes was a hottie." HI sorry sir but um do you know where the Intro to Criminology lecture series is being held." Bella stammered up at the man who was looking at her with a curious look on his face.

"Yes, but aren't you a little young to be taking that course I hear its quite difficult." The Man spoke waiting for Bella to answer. All the while he stood with his hands shoved deep in his pockets with his back slightly hunched. Bella recognized the way he was standing. As a person who spent every day trying not to be noticed she saw the behavior for what it was."Hey are you okay?" She asked. "Yeah it's just that I am leading that lecture in about twenty minutes and I am a bit nervous" Bella tilted her head to the side studying the man intently. Both stood string at each other completely forgetting about the pouring rain. " Well if you are educated enough to teach the course I think that taking to a bunch of high school kids and college freshmen shouldn't be too bad." Bella smiled and stuck out her hand " Hi Bella Swan High school kid and you must be ,"Bella paused and glanced at the map and syllabus in her hand "Dr. Spencer Reid from the FBI nice to meet you Sir." DR Reid looked from her hand to her face several times before he nodded and introduced himself." Please call me Spencer, Bella. Sorry but I don't shake hands it kind of a thing of mine." He mumbled hoping he hadn't offended the young girl. Bella laughed brightly "O that's fine Spencer I have a lot of "Things too" She smiled while saying and making quote with her fingers." So if you could point me in the right direction I should really find a restroom then head to class." Spencer smiled at the girl then taking a chance light place his large hands on her shoulders and spun her around so that the large college of Law building was right in her face. "It's right thru there on the third floor. Hope you enjoy the lecture Bella. See you in there and thanks for the pep talk." He smiled then ran up the stairs to enter the building.

Bella smiled coming out of the memory fondly. After that class she and Spencer met up for coffee everyday on campus. They talked about everything and were surprised by the things they had in common despite the almost six year age difference between them. All summer long they built a friendship having coffee and talking on the phone. When the summer was over they promised to keep in touch and Bella let Spencer go back to work all without him knowing that she harbored a major crush on the quirky yet shy genius. The relationship between the two never faltered and they talked on the phone and emailed all the time. Bella considered Spencer one of her best friends practically family and he was always trying to get her to take a vacation and come hang out with him. The only thing that had stopped her was the fact that with his work for the FBI he was always busy and she also knew that it was much easier to hide her crush from him when didn't have to see his handsome face. Now that Bella was older her feeling for Spencer had changed somewhat. When she was younger her feelings for him had been all hearts and rainbows. She had pictured holding his hand and chaste kisses. Now however after having had a boyfriend her feeling had drifted to a less innocent vain. Bella wanted, she craved. At night while she slept she often did dream of Edward making love to her however just as often those amber eyes would change to gray and bronze hair would become brown. She imagined deep wet kisses and having Spencer pin her to the wall of his office which he had described to her once. Bella knew Spencer still saw her as a child as evidenced by the fact that when they talked about Edward he was always worried about what she was doing and when they would be back. His thoughts about her didn't change the way she felt about him however, it made her want him more. The fact that Spencer never knew that Bella spent her nights before Edward and some after Edward when he was out hunting with her hands buried in warm dark places bringing her-self to orgasm moaning his name was something she had no plans to tell him.

Bella visibly shook herself free of her thoughts and faced her mother. "Mom I can't stay her and I won't go with you. I am 18 years old. Legally I can do what I want and since I have less than three credits to finish school I think I will see if I can stay with Spencer for awhile. You know, just until I feel like I can be on my own." Bella rushed through that sentence her mind already racing ahead to the call she needed to make to Spencer and all the plans she needed to make. Renee stood there with her mouth hanging open watching as Bella began moving around the room muttering out loud and making plans. Renee had no idea how they would convince Charlie that having Bella stay with a grown man who wasn't a relative was going to work but she was secretly happy that she wouldn't have the job of keeping Bella. Not that Renee didn't love her daughter to pieces; she just didn't even know where to begin when it came to nursing her back from a broken heart. Bella had always taken care of herself and Renee saw no reason to change the way their relationship worked now. Renee left the room to find Charlie all the while trying to think of ways to get him to agree to Bella's plan. Even if legally she could go wherever she wanted Charlie could make her life very messy with his police and government contacts if he didn't want her to go.

Bella barely noticed as her mother left the room. For the first time since Edward had left she felt something other than pain. She felt a spark of a feeling that she had always tried to keep hidden, Bella felt anticipation. Now all she had to do was figure out how to make her plan a reality.

The day passed into night with Bella walking between her desk and phone and the fax machine downstairs. She made calls all day to the school board and to the bank and airline. She knew that between her savings account and her never spent pay checks from Newton's she had just shy o seven thousand dollars saved if she didn't touch her college fund. She also knew that she wanted to be able to pay her own way and take care of herself so she made detailed plans to lay out her scheme to Charlie and Spencer.

Charlie Swan watched all day as his daughter moved around the house with a pen clenched between her teeth and the phone attached to her ear. At first when Renee had come to him about Bella's idea he a refused outright. They had argued the pros and cons of what little of the plan they knew and Charlie just couldn't see it. But now almost twelve hours later as he watched his baby display more vitality and life than she had in a week he felt himself weaken. He would listen to her plans and if it made sense and everyone could agree on some ground rules he would not object. Charlie would do anything to keep his daughter from falling make into the dark place she had recently left. He had no clue what had happened between her and Edward but he did know that Spencer Reid was Bella's friend and if anyone could help her it would be him. Charlie thought about the fact that he would be sending his daughter t live with a grown man but dismissed that nagging thought quickly. Dr. Reid was a good man and had never shown any interest in Bella that was outside of friendship.

The next morning Bella met Charlie in the kitchen at five am with hot coffee and a detailed outline of her plan. He paused in the doorway of the kitchen and just stared. "Ok kid let me hear it." He said as he sat down next to Bella and started to drink from his cup. Bella lowered herself into the chair and began by telling her father that after speaking to the school board and her teachers she could take her finals early and graduate now versus at the end of the school year. Charlie knew that Bella had been biding her time at Forks High all of her courses either repeat of her Phoenix classes or courses with work that was several levels below what she had already taken.

Bella also told Charlie of her plans to take online college classes for the rest of the year and to find a job so she wasn't living off Spencer and her savings. For over an hour they talked back and forth asking questions and receiving answers until finally Charlie asked Bella the one question she had no answer for."Well what did Spencer say when you asked him Bella?" Bella paused to consider her answer very carefully. She knew that as horrible a liar as she was this would need to be her best performance ever. "He said it was fine dad, he was excited to see me and thought getting away from all the memories would be the best thing for me." Bella looked Charlie directly in the eye knowing that the police chief could smell a lie a mile away. It was only one of the things about Charlie that made her wonder if he secretly knew about the Cullens and just never said anything.

For some reason Charlie seemed satisfied with her answer and by the time Renee joined them that morning all of Bellas plans had been fleshed out. Now all she had to was convince Spencer that it was a good idea. Bella left her estranged parents sitting at the kitchen table talking as she went to her room to prepare to make the most difficult and hopefully rewarding telephone call of her life.