It started on the day that Bella didn't show up for school and gradually escalated thereupon that point. She'd been up too late- doing a project as recalled, one that she owed a great deal of time and had presently only spent a few measly hours on- and Ted had seen her light glowing from beneath the door. In a rage, he'd swept into her room, knocked over the desk and Bella along with it. She'd woken up the next morning not knowing where she was for a good few hours until she saw herself in the mirror, checked the gash in the middle of her forhead and realized that even after the desk had fallen onto her skull Ted had remained kicking at her until he himself had passed out. He was halfway in the hallway and halfway out of her room.

Edward called her as soon as he'd hit home after school, and hours after Bella had showered away most of her aches and pains and dressed in her usual conservative attire: "Bella, why didn't you show up today?" He sounded nervous, as though anticipating the worst news. As far as he knew his bestfriend never skipped school. "Are you sick?"

"Oh, Um," She took one anxious glance at Ted passed out and the mess much like a tornado's ruins surrounding him, then continued with an elaborate lie. "I tripped on something last night and hurt my head. I guess I just slept all day, you know?"

Edward knew she was clumsy and, mistaking her indifference for a desperate attempt at shifted attention, pressed on. "You hit your head?" In the background, Bella heard Carlisle emerge and begin murmuring directions to Edward. "Bella, dad says you should come over and let him take a look at it." There was a definite pause, then, "He says that you could have a concussion and he- Dad, I know, I know. Okay."

"Edward?" Bella squeaked. Ted had shifted in his sleep, grumbled and repositioned himself on the floor sending a blossom of heated fear to errupt in her chest.

"He says come over right away, unless you want him to come get you."

Ted grumbled again.

"Yeah, sure. I'll be over in a sec." With that, Bella snapped her phone shut and replaced it on the dresser that somehow had remained unscathed from the night before. With a flash she had overturned the desk, scooped up as many armfuls of debris as she could and cleared the storm area. Ted slept on, twitching responsively to his dreams. As quietly as she could afterward, she stole from the house. She knew better than to try to move him and furthermore wished to exit the house before he woke up and stopped her.

It took more than a little while to hitch hike to Edward's house, but eventually someone picked her up and dropped her off down the road from the towering mansion in which her friend lived. As she scrambled out of the old woman's convertible and onto the gravel road a puff of dust enveloped her lungs. Coughing, she made her way down the tree-lined stretch of dirt and rock pieces, eager to see Edward's face though she held no idea of what he would say to hers.

When Alice opened the door she recoiled, then caught herself on the verge of a startled cry and turned her red lips upward into a smile. Her thin hands found Bella's shoulders and pulled her indoors gently. Esme appeared, softly shutting the front door behind her.

"How are you, Bella?" Alice asked in her usual perky manner. Her sweet voice licked Bella's wounds and made her feel lively. Carefully, Bella touched the gash on her head.

"It hurts a little." Alice didn't need to ask- Bella could see her staring, fixated on the fresh wound. A look of pain flitted across Alice's face, her nose twitching as though she smelled something delicious.

"Alice." Esme sharply interuppted the brief moment of strange pleasure that Bella caught on Alice's face. Alice struck back, took a jump away from Bella and smiled again.

"Edward is-" She shook her head then upon Esme's strange glances. "Come with us. Carlisle will take a look at it."

"Oh-" Bella bit her lip, trying to make up something in the heat of the moment but she was all out of excuses for the day. It would only take a little while for Carlisle to poke her, prod her, examine her wounds and declare what was to be done. This time it took little more than ten minutes.

"Good as new!" Carlisle exclaimed as he finished up with his reconstructive touches and applications to the cut. "Stay out of trouble," He added carefully as Bella hopped down from his in-home patient seat, and gave her an earnest, honest look that dug into her skin.

"I'll try." She nodded.

Edward was waiting outside, his hair in a mess and his head against the wall as he leaned back. His eyes were closed and so Bella had a fleeting moment to take in his tallness, his sweet smile, the square jaw that seemed to play up his smirk and make it irresistable. His muscles were lean and hard but he was by no means a thickset boy; he was no more skinny than he was fat, his shoulders broad and his face kind. He was a boy caught in the middle of being a man. Bella thought that he couldn't be any more good looking than he already was.

Of course, this didn't help her in the way that she felt about herself and her chances of ever belonging to someone as loving and handsome as her best friend. Edward had seen her grow as well, but he had seen her gawky changes, her clumsy upbringing, her strange haircuts, her awful weight problems as she grew and her chest developed, her hips spilling outward. He had seen her limbs take flight and become disproportioned. Now that she was fully grown she was sure he could never see her for what she was but for how she had been.

He snapped his eyes open, a look of horror flashing across his face when he saw the gash on her forhead.

"You fell?" the words were faint whispers. Edward was not a stupid boy; for a while he had been doubting Bella's excuses and quick-thinking, the way her eyes lit up when she wasn't sure of herself, the way she trembled in her sleep when they had Saturday movie nights. He'd heard her fearful tone on the phone, and had once discovered Ted's anger when he'd called too late in the night. Now, the words came out of his mouth like a second hand lie. Bella nodded curtly.

Edward stepped forward and placed one finger on the deep indent, the red line that seemed to throb with its surrounding bruise. Casually, he leaned and pressed his lips softly to the red stain in her skin.

When he pulled back Bella's eyes were wide. It clicked in him that this day was a special day, a day where all truth would be brought to the table. He himself could no longer restrain what news he felt he owed to Bella; he loved her, and he was going to tell her. Just as he supposed she would tell him if she knew how he cared. The plan came to him as most plans do for a teenage boy- without warning, in a sudden.

"Come on," He grabbed her hand eagerly and began to pull her down the stairs, out the door, to the car he sometimes borrowed from Emmett. The sporty little two-seater was perfect for what he had in mind. Bella opened the passenger door as though in a dream, occasionally glancing up at Edward in confusion. As far as she was concerned most of their hangouts involved staying indoors, talking until the sun rose, sharing jokes and stories and creating inventive new foods. They almost never went outside- it was somewhat of a traditon for them to repel the rest of the world.

As they roared down the road, Edward barely acknowledging the speedometer, the tension built up between them. He had hoped that they would make it to the cliffs where the Quilette boys sometimes leapt into the deep, dark churning water- they never would, of course, reach it to this destined point. He didn't know that in those few moments before everything changed. Bella was shifting in the passenger seat and looking uncomfortable and Edward couldn't help but initiate conversation then and there if only to cut the ice that had formulated.

"Bella," He took her hand, stroking the soft skin with the pads of his fingers. Each innocent rub sent a flicker of warmth into Bella's heart. All at once, he knew exactly what to say. It flooded from him with ease: "We've been friends for so long and next year is our very last year of high school. Before we have to go our seperate ways I want the truth to be out. I couldn't imagine leaving without first reviewing our options. I can't leave without knowing what could have been..."

"Better." Bella cut him off. Unfortunately at this point she had only the idea in her head that Edward was trying to get her to confess. After years of carefully evading his questions and concerns, she thought, it's come to this. She was going to have to tell him. A strange pain filled her chest and expanded, spreading throughout her as she gasped for the breath to continue.

Edward smiled. "Right! Better. Not that what we have isn't special, but I think if we both just admitted how we feel about the situation..."

"It doesn't bother you?" Bella hopefully squeaked, fiddling with her seatbelt and staring with intense concentration out the window.

"Of course not!" Edward's eyebrows shot upward. "What would make you think-"

"I just..." Bella cut him off, whipping around with a sudden flash of confidence. "I didn't know what you would do, but if you're cool with it then I guess I can tell you..."

"Oh, Bella, did you think I'd reject you?" Edwards playful smile had turned into one of deep appreciation, his eyes becoming green pools of admiration.

"I didn't know!" Bella blurted, tears creeping out of the corners of her eyes. The relief was unimaginable, the feeling of hope and trust in her friend crusading into her usual meek stance. If he hadn't have been driving she would have thrown her arms around her caring, wonderful best friend and kissed him.

"Well, now you do." Edward sighed, eyeing the road carefully as the car accelerated. "So I think it's safe to say..."

"I can tell you now, that-"

"It's going to be so easy to..."

"Edward, Ted has been abusing me for years!" Bella slapped one hand over her mouth, bit down and sobbed. It was out- finally, it was out. For all the relief she felt, it seemed that she were the only one in comprehension- Edward had stopped talking at once, his eyebrows knotting together.

Bella looked over as the silence thickened and the seconds crawled by.

He had gone rigid, his body transformed into unmoveable stone. His lips hung open and his eyes helplessly grazed her with first misunderstanding, then recognition, and finally, absolute horror.

"You... Ted has... what?" The words were strangled and gnarled, squeezed out of his throat with harsh difficulty.

"Edward?"

He gripped the wheel tightly- all those suspicions, confirmed. Years of not understanding, of never knowing, of wondering, of lies. At once he felt ready to murder as his foot pressed down hard on the gas.

"Edward!" It was the second warning from Bella that he'd missed and far too late for him to do anything about it.

Their car slammed into the oncoming van with such force that Edward disappeared through an explosion of glass. Bella's seatbelt cut into her neck as it seized her back into the seat, breaking her circulation and sending her into a bewildered black-out. As her eyes shut, she scanned wildly but Edward was no where to be seen.