A/N: So decided that I would rewrite this story. I kept getting stuck with it even though I knew exactly how I wanted it to be. Anyway. Here is a brand new spanking version of my story.
Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from the Twilight Saga. They are the sole property of Stephanie Meyer.
Prologue
I have no idea how I got here. One minute my life was perfect. I had everything I ever wanted or dreamed of. Now...well, now all that is about to end. I'll still have the house, the car, and the job, but I never thought I'd lose the rest. By the end of the day, I'll be a middle aged, divorced, single parent.
When did life get so complicated? When did my marriage become a job? When did it go wrong? When did we finally stop being able to work through things? When did love stop being enough?
Maybe that was it. Maybe we fell in love too soon. Too young. Maybe we didn't allow ourselves the time to live. Explore what the world had to offer us. I never thought we would come to this. We were ending a bond we've had together for half our lives. We had stood in front of our friends, family, and loved ones and promised to be together forever. Forever, it would seem, has come too soon. We had become another statistic. I hated statistics.
I did my best to keep my eyes averted from the woman at the head of the table tap, tap, tapping away the top of her pen against a notebook. She was staring at me. Not with sympathetic eyes or a sorrowful glance. She was just staring.
"He's late," Angela, one of my best friends whispered in my ear. "I hope he didn't forget."
"How could he forget the day he's erasing me from his life completely?" I whispered back with a hint of bitterness in my voice. "Maybe he's out celebrating already."
I didn't need to look up to see the frown forming on dear Angela's face. She really was a sweet girl. She was always trying to find the best in people or situations. I didn't have the heart to tell her that it wasn't always there. Sometimes, sadly, stuff just really sucked.
"Perhaps I should leave another..." Angela began, but was interrupted by the woman at the head of the table.
"Mrs. Cullen," the woman said in a firm voice, "your husband is late."
I winced a little at the word 'husband.' After all this was over, he would be my ex-husband. "I'm sorry. I reminded him last we..." I didn't have a chance to finish my sentence as the doors behind me swung open. I couldn't bare to look up. I still wanted to convince myself that this was all a bad dream.
"I'm sorry your honor," said my best friend's husband- an my to be ex's brother in law- in his southern drawl, "we had a bit of an incident."
"Counselor, you're late," the woman scolded. "You're lucky I don't just throw this out and award Mrs. Cullen everything she has asked for."
I could see the mop of bronze disarray shoot up at the comment. For the first time today, I could see him. His eyes tired and weary. He beautiful smile long gone and replaced with a heart breaking frown. The brightness and joy in him had faded; perhaps while we had still been together. I bowed my head lower and shut my eyes tightly as a tear betrayed me.
"I do apologize, your honor. We came across a bit of an emergency. It won't happen again."
The stern woman stared at the two men sitting across from us. I think she was trying to decide if she wanted to throw them out or buy their story. I, personally, wasn't sure what I wanted. Scratch that, I knew exactly what I wanted. I wanted my life back. I wanted my family back. I wanted my husband back.
"I'll let it go this one time counselor," the woman said. She gathered the papers sitting in front of her and straightened them out. "Alright then, let's get started. We are here today to begin the divorce proceedings of Edward Anthony Cullen and Isabella Marie Cullen."
A/N: Ok so it's not that different from what I had originally wrote, but it's still an improvement in my eyes. The story will different from the original and hopefully it grasps people more.
