Disclaimer: All characters are owned by Stephenie Meyer. The world in which they thrive in this story is all my own. No copyright infringement intended.

Warning: M rated due to language and explicit scenes. If under 18 you have been warned and advised not to continue with this story. Continue at your own risk...

Non-cannon pairings/ Alternate Universe

Chapter 1: What have we done wrong?

Five year old Isabella was awoken by the loud voice of her father. She silently creep out of bed and to the landing at the top of the stairwell. She could hear him clearly now.

"I don't know what to do with them. She can't speak and he can't hear. I can't do this anymore. Not without Elizabeth. She would have known how to handle them."

What did he mean he didn't know what to do with them? Isabella was confused. So she did the only thing she could do. She went to wake up Edward; he would know what was going on.

Running along the hallway to the room next to hers, she entered silently so as not to alert her father that she was awake. Tip toeing to the bed she gently shook Edward. He grumbled lowly as he turned toward her.

Edward. Isabella signed to him.

"What?" he asked.

Isabella put her finger to his mouth and waved him to follow her. Edward grudgingly climbed out of bed and followed his sister. She led him to the landing where she had previously been perched. She could still hear their father speaking loudly to whoever was on the other line of the phone.

"I'm not sure when, but I can't take care of them anymore. I will find somewhere for them to go."

She signed the words to Edward but he already looked deep in thought. Almost as if he was straining to hear the conversation being held downstairs. For two years now Edward would seem to know exactly what was going on around him. He couldn't hear the words being spoken, but he acted like he did. Isabella looked at her brother while he was thinking over what she had relayed to him. He turned back to her with a frown on his face and whispered back to her.

"I think father is planning on sending us away."

"Are you sure?" she signed to him.

Edward leaned closer to the stairs as his father began speaking again.

"Yes ma'am there are two. The oldest, the boy, is seven. The girl is five." there was a pause.

"I can't handle them anymore." another pause.

"No, no, they are well behaved, I just don't know if I can handle their...disabilities."

"Yes the boy is deaf. The girl, she is mute." another pause. "Yes he can speak"

Edward looked puzzled for a moment and then looked almost angry. He knew what was going on here. Their father was giving them up. He no longer wanted them.

"I hope you will keep them together. They seem to be able to understand each other very well. They work well as a team. Please try to find them a home together. I don't want them split up."

This was it Edward thought. He knew that one day his father would break and give them up. Ever since their mother died, their father was a different man. He seemed to have lost a part of his soul. Edward looked at Isabella with a sad smile, reaching out for her hand.

"Edward what is happening?" she signed to him.

"I will tell you once we get back to my room." he whispered.

Once they entered his room he closed the door behind them and led her to the bed. Isabella crawled up, turned and looked at Edward.

"Father is sending us away Isabella." Edward told her as he began to pace in front of his bed. A habit he seemed to have picked up from their father.

"Why?" she thought.

"Because he said he doesn't know how to handle our disabilities anymore." Edward continued not realizing what had just happened. Isabella sat speechless on Edward's bed staring at him in shock. When she didn't speak again Edward turned and looked at her. Noticing the shock on her face he walked over to her.

"What's wrong?"

"Can you hear me?" she asked in her head.

"Of course I can hear you. Why wouldn't I..." he trailed off noticing that she never moved her hands or her lips.

"Edward!" she flung herself at him, squeezing him in a hug. "You can hear my thoughts?"

"Yes"

"Since when?"

"For about two years now. It started after my fifth birthday."

Isabella looked at him as if he grew a second head.

"And you never told me?" she thought to him.

"I'm sorry Isabella, I didn't want anyone to think I was anymore of a freak then I already am."

"I understand. Can you turn it on and off?"

"Yeah I don't have to hear anything I don't want to. It makes school easier that way."

"Oh. Well that's cool I guess."

It got quiet and they could hear their father approaching Edward's room. He knocked once knowing already that Isabella was in there. She was always with Edward.

"Come in father." Edward called.

Edward senior entered the room looking almost cheerful.

"I have something I want to tell you kids."

"Go on Father" Edward spoke. He could read lips as well as sign language. It was something that was necessary to make his life easier once school started.

"Well as you know things have been rough since your mother passed." he looked at Isabella. "So…I can't do this anymore. I can't handle both your disabilities. You seem to be able to deal with each other, so I have asked them to keep you together."

"Who father?"

"The orphanage in the next town over; it is the only place that had an opening for two children. They are also the only ones who handle children with disabilities like yours."

By this time Edward was seething. He didn't realize how weak his father truly was. For the longest time he idolized his father. Being able to raise two children on his own while working and taking care of the home as well. Now he realized that he was just a coward. Fragile, weak, and not someone he could rely on. Edward reached for Isabella.

"Come on Bella let's go pack your things." he drug Isabella from the room going around his father in the process. He led her into her room, getting her suitcase out from under her bed. He went around silently placing her things into the case. "Bella get whatever you wish to take with you we won't be coming back."

Isabella had tears streaming down her pale pink cheeks as she went to her dresser and gathered the few knick knacks she had that had belonged to her mother. Edward had retrieved them from the garbage after their father had tried to throw them away. Placing them gently into the case, Edward then wrapped them into some of her clothes so they wouldn't get damaged. Closing the case he carried it out to the hallway. Their father still stood in his doorway. He walked around him and they did the same with his room as they did in Isabella's. He told Isabella what to grab off his shelves. She did as he asked and placed them in his case. Once he was all packed he carried his case to the hallway also and set it next to hers. Turning back to the man they once called father he asked.

"Are we going or not?"

Edward senior looked at his two children for a moment and then walked over and picked up their suitcases before headed down the stairs. The children followed silently all the way out to the car. Once securely fastened in the rear seat Edward turned forward and glared at his father in the rear view mirror. He took this chance to ask the one question that was swirling around inside his head since Isabella first brought him to the stairs.

"Why are you doing this? What have we done wrong?"