A/N: Thanks to everyone who voted for this story at TLS. New readers have joined us, welcome! Happy Birthday to RoseArcadia, and thanks to mariahajile.

Chapter Six

A bullet shot from a fired gun has no choice but to hit its target. It's ejected violently, and the trip is brief yet exhilarating. Once it has arrived, it stays. Like a bullet, Edward had finally met his target, but unlike lifeless metal, he felt bad about it. The sound of her voice, her eyes gazing upon him, her laugh. It was all too much. It was all too familiar. Edward resolved to be stronger. If they grew any closer, if they became any more familiar, her destruction would be inevitable. Edward planned to make a point of avoiding her - for her sake. It would be difficult, but staying away from the girl wouldn't be the hardest thing Edward ever had to do.

"It's your favorite time of year," Angela said.

Her sarcasm was not lost on Bella. She hated Christmas. It was a yearly reminder of the day her life shattered. She was nine-years-old and had been getting dressed to go to her grandmother's house Christmas morning. She sat on her little twin sleigh bed pulling up her white cotton tights when she heard her mother scream.

"Stop lying!"

Bella froze. Her mother never raised her voice. She ran to her parents' bedroom door and listened as her mother screamed and cried.

"How could you? Who is she?"

"Her name is Susan."

Bella didn't understand. All she knew was no one opened presents. Her mother cried and cried and never came out of her room.

And her father left.

He left that day and never came back.

Jane and Tanya explained that their father didn't love their mother anymore. He loved another woman. Their mother had found gifts that she thought were intended for her. When she didn't receive them, she knew her husband was having an affair. He left to live with the other woman and never returned to see his children. He never sent any money to help the family that he abandoned. He never even sent a birthday card.

Bella's happy family disintegrated into a group of lost people who merely tolerated each other. Their mother's mental health suffered, and she neglected them. Her sisters were in middle school, and they stayed at friends' houses all the time. They avoided the turmoil when Bella could not. It was just her and Emmett most of the time. He was only five-years-old that Christmas. Bella spent the rest of her childhood as a surrogate mother to him, as a therapist to her own mother, and as a victim of her twin sisters' misplaced anger. That day shattered her family, and Bella never really recovered.

Christmas was a time when Bella remembered why she chose to live alone. She never let anyone in, because no one could hurt her that way. Her walls were there for a reason. Bella left her painful daydream and returned to watch Angela Christmas shop. It was mindless consumerism, and she was glad she didn't have to participate in it.

Bella hadn't seen the stranger, Edward, in over a week, and she was glad. She had given Mr. Silva her card. If Edward needed help, he could seek it at Second Chance. Absolved of any guilt, she kept her head down when she walked through her neighborhood. She felt vacant. In her heart. Something had softened for him, and she was devoted to hardening it back up.

On Christmas Eve, Bella was working. She wasn't the only one. Second Chance was packed with volunteers that night. They were serving Christmas dinner to the homeless that the Street Team had reached out to. Some wandered in, knowing they could get a hot meal and a cot. It was below zero out, and Bella was thankful to see so many faces in the cafeteria tonight. She walked through the room, chatting with men, women, and children. She cheered along with the others when "Santa" entered the room with a sack full of gifts. It was Riley in a red suit and white beard. Bella knew that he did this every year, because he was a good person but also because he wanted to be with her. He was attractive and kind. He had tried to be a friend to her. Bella felt guilty for being the way she was. She was an impenetrable shield. Riley didn't stand a chance.

In the back of her mind she could only think of one person who had even come close to breaking through her walls, and it wasn't someone she saw every day for years. It was someone she hardly knew. Bella glanced at the door each time it opened, hoping a secret hope to see Edward's face.

It was after midnight when the staff and volunteers had finished cleaning up the cafeteria. Bella grabbed her coat and watched as Riley dashed to open the front door for her.

"Heading home?" he asked.

"Yeah. Do you need a ride?"

"No. I drove over, but thanks," he said.

Bella felt his cold hand suddenly slip into hers. She stopped walking and turned to him. Her arm jerked to pull her hand away, but Riley didn't let go.

"I just wanted to say Merry Christmas, Bella," he said. His voice carried pain at her constant efforts to avoid him.

Still holding her hand, he leaned down and kissed her forehead. They walked on. Riley clung to Bella and though she was uncomfortable, she didn't try to shake him off. They approached her car, and beside it sat a motorcycle. Bella locked eyes with the driver.

It was Edward.

He stared at she and Riley for a moment, then kick-started his bike. He rode off quickly into the night, leaving only tire tracks in the snow.