(A/n: Chapter 4!)

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. It belongs to Stephenie Meyer.

That night I dropped my expressionless act. I acted happy when I was happy and sad when I was sad. I quit pretending and it was the best day of my life. It broke my heart that I wouldn't get to share it with my parents.

When I had finished crying, I'd smiled up at Alice, giving her a kiss on the cheek. She'd returned the kiss and I'd giggled. "I told you we were going to be friends," She had said to me, "It was only a matter of time. When you get your ribs healed up, you can get on crutches and we can go shopping. Oh! It will be so much fun..." She then trailed off listing the stores that she would take me to once I was better.

"My family really likes you." She said, smiling up at me, still seated next to me, "Especially Edward. I have never seen him cook for anyone besides my mom before, and that's only when she's sick. You really got to him."

I smiled at Alice and opened my mouth. I was trying, but there was just no way I could force myself to speak. I closed my mouth and huffed.

"It's okay, Bella. You'll talk when you have something to say, and I don't mind waiting." Alice's smile turned horrified, "We must get you out of those pajamas. I'll run and get you a better shirt for you to wear."

I frowned and cuddled up to my self, showing that I was comfortable.

"Let me at least get you a better bra. I bet you have been wearing that one for days!" Alice frowned at me.

I looked down and realized how bad of shape my clothes had been. I nodded fervently and Alice disappeared. She came back in the room, pulling a bright pink sports-bra out of her pocket. This made me laugh. She rolled her eyes at me and then flung the bra at me. I caught it and began changing while she got my chair ready for me to get back into. She thought for a second and then took one of the pillows off my bed. She put the pillow on the chair and formed it so I could sit. When I was done changing, she helped me sit in it.

Heaven was the only word I could use to describe this moment. I was so comfortable. Alice asked me, "Ready for lunch?"

I nodded and smiled. With that, we were on our way back to the living room. I glanced at the expensive looking grandfather clock and my eyes widened. It was noon. I had cried in my room for nearly two hours.

I reached a hand to my eyes and felt that they were swollen. Well, despite my swollen eyes, broken ribs, and shattered knee, I was doing all right. When Edward saw me, his face lit up with concern. I smiled a real smile at him and he returned it. The silent exchange was all I needed to see that I was forgiven.

Alice rolled me up to the couch, "Edward, dear brother! You see, Miss. Bella and I have a slight predicament!"

I looked up at her in question and she just gave me a sly smile.

"What would that be, dear sister?" Edward narrowed his eyes at her.

"Bella here, is confined to this wheelchair and cannot walk. This restricts many things that I'm sure she would rather do herself, does it not?" Alice's smile got bigger.

"I suppose it does Alice. Is there something that Miss. Bella needed?" Edward played along.

"Why, now that you mention it, there is!" Alice had him trapped. I just wished I knew her intentions.

"Enlighten me, Alice." Edward's voice was getting exasperated.

"Bella really needs to take a shower. She'll shower in yours since it's the only one with a bath. Bella needs a ride up the stairs." Alice smirked and then winked down at me.

I smiled at Edward and then narrowed my eyes at Alice.

"Is that all? I thought it was going to be something horrible." Edward relaxed.

"Oh, dear brother, that's not all!" Alice smiled slyly again.

"What else does Bella need?" Edward became suddenly curt with her.

"Since Carlisle and Esme went out to look at houses and grocery shop, Bella needs someone to redress her bandage on her ribs and re-wrap her knee. Since neither Emmett nor I know how to do it, it's up to you." Alice smiled.

Shit. This meant that Edward would see my bruises.

"Sure," Edward looked relieved that it wasn't more awkward than that, "I took a first aide course with my father at the hospital a few months ago. They taught us all about sports related injuries. Your knee and ribs just happen to fit in that category, but if you would rather wait for Carlisle to get home I understand."

I smiled and shook my head. Better Edward than Dr. Cullen. My stomach took that moment of silence to make itself known.

Edward smiled, "Why don't we have lunch first? Would you like something to eat, Bella?"

I nodded and began rolling myself in the direction of the kitchen. Edward opened the door for me and I smiled and gave him a nod in thanks.

"I put two pizzas in the oven and they should be about done. I expected someone would be hungry." Edward smiled at us and we waited while the pizzas finished cooking. I pulled the plates off of the counter and onto my lap.

"I was thinking we could all sit at the kitchen table since it's just the four of us." Edward said.

That sounded nice, but there was one small problem with that. The table was really tall and was over my head when I was seated in my wheelchair. I lifted the plates up and sat them on the table blindly. I turned in my wheelchair and raised an eyebrow at the slightly amused looking Edward.

He walked toward me and picked me up gently only to sit me back down in the chair next to him. We were now at eye level. He quickly leaned in and kissed my cheek, darting away quickly to serve the pizzas. That made me blush. I giggled at him and moved our plates around to suit each of us. Edward came up next to me and offered the pizzas to me. I made to serve myself a piece of pepperoni and he stepped back offended, "Now, Miss. Bella, I don't believe your lack of speech allows you to fight off my gentlemanly quirks." He sat the pizza down on the table and served me a piece of pepperoni. I waited until he had served Alice a piece of cheese pizza to begin to situate my napkin on my lap. Emmett came in just as we had all sat down and he joined us.

Edward let Emmett serve himself before finally getting his own piece. We all dug in our food and it was delicious. After three pieces of pizza, served by none other than Edward, I was finally finished. I wiped my mouth with my napkin and sat back just basking in the glory that was a grease-filled stomach.

Emmett, who had eaten twice the amount that I had, finally sat back too, "I'll get the dishes as long as you promise to make that again for Bella and me."

That made me smile. I'm glad Emmett liked it here, even though that would make it really hard to leave when Child Services came. I guess we couldn't worry about that now though.

Emmett let Edward put me back into my now cushioned wheelchair and roll me across the room to the door.

I knew he wanted to leave the kitchen to go ahead and get me upstairs and showered, but he didn't know how to do it without making it look bad to Emmett. Alice finally saved us, "Emmett and I are doing the dishes, and Bella can't just walk up two flights of stairs to take a shower, Edward, get to work!"

I laughed and Edward just rolled his eyes and chuckled. He pushed my wheelchair to the base of the stairs before lifting me from my chair bridal-style. He sat me down on the first step and folded my wheelchair. Once he was done, he moved back to me. He moved my arms around his neck and lifted me up by my outer thighs. I held on to him as he moved to cradle me like he would a sleeping toddler. When he had me situated, he began to climb the stairs.

I pulled back from our embrace to look at his face. The face I saw was a mixture of worry and happiness. I gave him a questioning look and he explained, "I don't mean to make you uncomfortable by carrying you like this, but I'm less likely to loose balance this way. I can carry you the other way if you'd like me to. I really don't mi-" I put one of the hands that had been around his neck on his mouth to silence the needless rambling. I shot him a smile and leaned in to give him a hug. He used the hand not holding me up to hug me back. I pulled back one more time to kiss his cheek.

"We're here, Bella," Edward said a moment later, "I'll just go draw your bath. We can talk while it fills up." He placed me on a black leather couch and then walked into a door on the opposite side of the room.

While he was in the bathroom, no doubt throwing all the dirty clothes he'd most likely left there into a hamper, I looked around his room. His room was large and the furniture arrangement was interesting. A CD shelf lined one complete wall and the stereo was on the adjacent wall. A large bed sat in the corner and the couch I was sitting on was on the same wall, facing a large flat screen that sat above the CD shelf. I was amazed, to say the least.

"Like my room?" Edward's deep voice came out of nowhere and I jumped. After getting over the initial shock and checking to make sure I didn't wet myself, I smiled at him and nodded.

Edward just laughed and said, "Let's go."

I was brought into the bathroom and sat on the counter. He came and stood next to me, another worried expression came on his face, "I don't know how we're going to this. I better call Alice up here to help you."

I shook my head and spoke softly, "I have nothing to hide anymore. He took what was left of my innocence."

Edward's expression turned amazed and then quickly turned horrified. Before I knew what had happened I was in his arms. He picked me up once again and let the water continue filling up in the bath while taking me out of the room.

"As far as I'm concerned, Bella, you have every bit of innocence that you had before you and your brother went through what you did. I may not know exactly what happened, but even the little pieces of information that I have gathered tell me that you were raped. So, Bella, you are wrong. Your virginity isn't something that can be stolen by rape. It's something you choose to give and only when you choose to give it does it go away." Edward now had us seated on the couch and his thumb stroked my cheek while it lay on his chest beneath his shoulder.

I wrapped my arms around him. This is what I should have felt like the first time, or at least part of it. I felt safe. This thought made me pull him closer and just let go of what I was feeling. I cried, not being able to let go of that little broken part of my heart.

Edward held me and shushed me, rubbing my back. Ten minutes later my tears had stopped and Edward kept rubbing my back. It took me a second to figure out why it was so quiet all of a sudden. The bath had turned itself off. Rich people and their expensive appliances. I rolled my eyes and let out a little huff of a laugh before I hugged Edward once more time. I looked into his eyes and smiled. He lifted me once more. We went into the bathroom once more and he took out his cell phone.

He waited and then spoke into the phone, "Alice, I'm going to take off Bella's bandages, but she needs help getting in and back out. Also, I don't have any shampoo for women in my shower. Could you bring the girly things that Bella might need?...Thanks Alice."

He hung up the phone, "Well that was easy. Let's see that knee of yours." His hands traced the bottom of my sweatpants, looking up to make sure that it was okay with me, and then he pulled it up over my knee. He gently pulled the velcro straps off and slid the brace down my knee.

"Do you want me to rip this off quickly, so it hurts less?" Edward looked at my knee bandage apprehensively.

I nodded and turned away. One hand held the edge of the gauze and the other held the tape. I looked away as he yanked all three pieces of tape at once. I gritted my teeth in pain.

"Sorry Bella. That was the worst part I promise." Edward leaned down and kissed the angry, red skin on the outside of my knee. Before I knew what had happened, Edward ripped the other side off, kissing that skin lightly also. "We're done now. My dad dosen't want anything to get into your stitches, so I feel like I should wrap it in plastic for your bath."

I shook my head. That tape would hurt less if I shaved my legs.

"Okay. I'll make sure Alice knows not to get it wet. I should probably look at your ribs after you've showered, so I'll leave you alone on that for now." Edward changed the subject, "You talked talk to me."

I shrugged my shoulders.

"Why?" Edward asked

I shrugged my shoulders once more. I'd had something to say.

"Well, aside from the obvious fact that I diagree with what you said, your voice is beautiful. You should use it more often." Edward made me blush.

I was sitting on the counter, suddenly intrested in the way the lights in this room made my toe nails look shiny.

Edward's finger tips brushed underneath my chin and the suprise made me forget that I had been embarassed. I looked up to him and our eyes locked. His eyes flickered down to my lips and back up. He began to close the distance between us. Our foreheads were almost touching when—

"BELLA!"

Edward jumped back as Alice strutted through the door. His eyes were wide and recovered himself in front of Alice, "I'll leave you girls to it then. If you need me, Bella, I'll be right outside in my room." He turned to Alice, "Alice, no water in those stitches." Edward looked back at me, " Just knock and I'll be right here."

I smiled at him and blushed as he left. Thank goodness Alice came in when she did! Speaking of Alice...

I turned to look at her and she raised an eyebrow. "So, Edward..."

I just shook my head and smirked. Okay, so maybe I blushed a little too...sue me.

"Okay. I won't ask, but I'm not going to pretend that I didn't walk in on anything. I really don't want to scare Edward off by butting in too much, but I want to tell you that he's a good guy." Alice was whispering as she helped me down from the counter and begin to undress, "I can tell he likes you so if you don't like him, don't string him on or play games with him because he's never had a girlfriend before and I don't want him to start off with a girl that isn't going to treat him right. I don't think that you are that type of person, but I still want to make sure." Alice rambled.

I smiled at her and used my face to reassure her. It seemed to work and she helped me bathe. I kept my left leg out if the bath and used a sponge to clean it. I was finished and dressed before I knew it and I hadn't even noticed my bruises. Alice hadn't made a comment and I wasn't going to bring it up. Alice kissed my cheek and left me in the room. I heard some talking outside and shortly after Edward came it. I was literally swept off my feet and brought into Edward's room. We sat on the couch.

"Where are we going to do this?" Edward asked, "My bed?"

I just nodded and he picked me up once again and sat me on a neatly straightened, golden comforter. He laid me down on he side of the bed and sat next to me, "Let me know if you feel uncomfortable at all. We can always stop and wait until Carlisle gets home." He smiled down at me.

His hands moved slowly and he touched the bottom of the long-sleeved t-shirt that I was wearing. I nodded and he slowly raised the shirt off of my body. I saw him wince as the black, purple and greenish and bluish bruises came into his view. I looked up at the ceiling and tried not to cry. Even though he hadn't said anything, I could tell that any chance I had with him was gone. Edward's hands quit moving my shirt and came up to stroke my face, "Shh. It's okay Bella. Does it hurt?"

I shook my head.

"Then why do you look so upset? I'm not judging you at all. I just want to look after you, pretty girl." Edward smiled at me and kissed my forehead, "Do we need to stop? I can always call Carlisle."

I shook my head and he moved his hands away from my face and back down to fix my shirt up to the bottom of my sports-bra. I breathed deeply and just tried to relax. I went ahead and let the already formed tears fall, but I didn't continue to cry. I would rather it was Edward than Carlisle touching me, so I closed my eyes and just waited for him to be through. I pretended that Edward was touching me because he loved me and wanted to, and not because some monster had beaten me up.

"Turn over." Edward lightly lifted my shoulder and helped me turn over. Edward pressed in weird places on my back, checking to see that none of the pieces of bone had migrated to my back. Edward made a long, light brush from the middle of my back and all the way to the base of my spine. I nearly shivered in pleasure. Edward moved my shirt back down, but he didn't remove his hands from my body. I couldn't find it in me to mind.

I felt Edward's hands on my shoulders and nearly moaned when he pressed that tense spot between my shoulder blade and my neck. The muscles there relaxed as he moved his hands over my body to massage my entire back. I was so relaxed by the time Edward had sat down next to me, I didn't even flinch. As he touched me, I fell asleep, not worrying that a man was touching me, not worrying about anything.

(A/n: That's all for now.)