A/N: I know that so far this is all build-up and backstory, but I promise it will be more exciting in the next chapter. Also, any suggestions, comments, ideas would be appreciated, so feel free.

BPOV

"Mommy, why are you sad?" Elizabeth said as she reached up and pressed her tiny hand against my cheek. "Mommy?"

I heard her voice and wanted to soothe her, tell her everything was okay, that I wasn't sad, but my voice was jumbled up somewhere inside me, being crushed by a flood of memories and what felt like a hole gapping in my chest. I could barely breathe as I clutched my baby tighter to me, which clearly made her ever more distressed. Leigh must have sensed my panic and when she followed my gaze she knew right away what had caused it. Grabbing me by the shoulders she pulled me to standing, took Lizzie from my arms, and grabbed me by the elbow.

Once behind the bar, Leigh was in full-fledge damage control mode. "Chace, we need to go early. Can you cover for us?" She directed this question to the bartender, a guy about my age who loved playing with Lizzie when I needed to bring her with me.

He took one look at me, obviously concerned, and responded, "yeah, absolutely, is everything okay?"

"It will be. I just need to get Bella and Elizabeth home." Leigh began grabbing Elizabeth's things as Chace just nodded in understanding.

"Okay, well hope everything's okay, Bells" he said to me and hugged me tightly before he turned to Elizabeth, now perched on my hip. He tickled her, throwing her into a fit of giggles before saying "and you, Miss Elizabeth, better come back and play with me soon, okay?" She hid her face in my hair in response and Chace laughed.

"Thanks Chace, see you tomorrow." Leigh said and ushered Elizabeth and me out the back door.

EPOV

I watched as tears quickly filled her beautiful brown eyes and she clutched the little girl clinging to her tighter. The little girl. The one who had called her "mommy". Bella had a daughter. I looked to the blonde girl standing beside Bella, anxious to know what was going on, if maybe her thoughts could reveal something to me, but to my astonishment I couldn't hear anything from her. It wasn't the same as the silence I heard when trying to read Bella's mind. This was different, it was like the words were there but I couldn't make them out, like ink smudged on a page. Knowing that my attempt to learn anything from this girl would be futile, it turned my attention to the little girl. Her head was jumbled with panic and confusion and all she wanted was Bella's comfort. She clearly loved her more than anything in the world, and this thought made me smile a little in spite of myself.

I focused back on the real world and saw the girls now talking to the man behind the bar. He looked lovingly at Bella and teased the little girl as she laughed. From his thoughts I had gathered that this man was not the baby's father, and that the baby's name was Lizzie. He clearly loved Bella, but in a protective, brotherly kind of way, much in the same way that Emmett loved Alice. I watched as they gathered their things and swiftly exited the door behind the bar.

"Edward what are you doing?! Don't just stand there!" This was Alice. She was clearly frustrated that I wasn't running after Bella, after all catching her wouldn't be all that difficult. But how could I go after her now, knowing all too well that she had done exactly what I had asked, she had moved on and lived a happy, human life. I felt a crushing pain in my chest at the thought.

Bella sat on the sofa in her living room with her legs curled under herself as Leigh sat crossed legged on an adjacent chair. Lizzie had fallen asleep about an hour ago, exhausted.

"I just don't know what to do," Bella sighed and took a sip from the coffee mug she was holding, "I mean, I was never supposed to see him again. It was supposed to be like he never existed, he promised me that. And obviously that was never true, I mean, I've lived with a reminder of him for the past four years. Not that I don't love my daughter…" Bella rambled on and Leigh let her talk. When Bella got into these mindsets, Leigh knew that her input would do little good. Bella just had to talk through her thoughts and figure out what to do. She usually came out on the other side with little help from others.

"Can I ask you a question?" Leigh said, interrupting Bella's rant.

Bella stopped talking and looked directly at her closest friend, "yeah, of course."

"Do you still love him?" Leigh looked at Bella whose face had contorted into an expression of surprise and then thought and finally landed on sadness. Leigh could tell that she was choosing her words carefully before she spoke.

"I'll always love him." She said it with such conviction that Leigh knew that Bella meant every word that she spoke. "I don't think it's possible to love anyone the way I loved him, or for any other person to love anyone that way now that I think about it. But when I think back to that day in the woods… I can't imagine feeling that amount of pain ever again. I know I've told you the entire story before, but I'm not sure that words can even express the way that I felt clear enough. It was like a hole had been punched through my chest. I literally had to hold myself together to keep from falling apart. It was like being told everything I've ever believed in was all a lie. Nothing made sense anymore. I know that I physically could not bear that kind of pain again. And I would never in a hundred years ever want my daughter to feel even a fraction of what I felt. So yeah, I may always love him, but I can't trust him." Bella sighed and shook her head, "Anyway," she said, breaking out of her reverie, "it's not like any of that matters, it's not like he loves me or wants me. He made that perfectly clear four years ago."

Leigh stood and hugged Bella as tightly as she could, wishing there was something more she could do for her friend.