Disclaimer: SM still owns everything in the Twiverse. I own nothing.

So dhdirector asked if I know how long the story will be. And the answer is "Yes and No." Yes, because I know how many witnesses I will call for each side and that there will be a cross-examination for each one (and a redirect, if needed). But No, because certain crucial decisions are still up in the air. So I'm not sure how helpful that was, LOL, but there's my answer :)

Let's see who Bella calls next…

Chapter 09: A Prayer of Hope

Emmett's POV

People often saw Emmett as a cross between a clown and a hound. Yes, he liked a practical joke more than the average immortal. And yes, he found pleasure in other people's embarrassment and foolishness, had no problem causing either of his own.

And sure, he enjoyed the delights of the flesh. How could he not, being married to the most beautiful, alluring creature on earth? A woman who fascinated, attended, and loved him?

He could hardly wait to get her home and out of that robe.

But beneath it all, perhaps because of it all, Emmett needed more than hearty laughs and great sex to make his world complete.

His family, intact and in sync, was the chief of those needs.

Though that damnable black bear stole him from the only home he'd ever known, God's grace landed him in the arms of an angel who mounted up on pretty wings and flew him into the heart of her clan.

It was rocky in the beginning—Rosie's resentment of Carlisle did not immediately disappear when he agreed to change Emmett—but over time, his bride began to relax in his love, the family expanded with the addition of Alice and Jasper, and everything seemed right.

Almost everything.

For Edward, beauty and brains aside, was still a colossal pain in the ass. And though Emmett teased him about it at every conceivable opportunity, he deeply sympathized with his plight.

Immortal and immutable without a woman to love? Surrounded by three healthy, horny couples who had the nerve to choose to live as a family? That was Emmett's idea of hell, and he admired Edward for not throwing himself on a raging pyre after one decade as a clan.

But Edward was too stubborn for that and too sensitive to put Esme through his absence a second, permanent time. So he suffered in deafening silence, keeping to himself and rebuffing any woman outside the family who looked his way.

Until a few months ago when a brown-haired human stumbled into his life.

Though he promised to remain on his best behavior today, Emmett couldn't help but laugh whenever he thought about that. Of all the female creatures on earth, Edward fell in love with his singer who also happened to be immune to his telepathic talent.

Emmett guffawed and pounded his chest as if stifling a cough. He knew Rosalie had her eyebrow raised in his direction and didn't want to see her get angry.

He was hoping she'd save that for tonight.

Shaking off the thought, he focused on the sound of Angela Weber pulling out of the parking lot to remind him of how serious today was.

As if he could forget.

Though the past few months had been anything but easy, Emmett didn't need his siblings' gifts to know their family would fall apart if Bella and Edward did. Not only because Edward wouldn't survive the deprivation but because the rest of them would also suffer.

Himself included.

Emmett hid these thoughts from Edward, not wanting to add to the chorus of condemnation he received from everyone else over his decision to leave Bella, but he couldn't deny that Bella gave him something he sorely needed, something no one else could.

The chance to be big brother again.

Though Alice let him swing her through the trees on occasion and asked for a piggyback ride now and then, Emmett missed that look of adoration he used to get from the younger sister he'd been forced to leave behind. He missed knowing he could defend her if necessary, that his size and temperament made him ideal for the job.

And while Edward seldom left Bella alone long enough to need protection, Emmett took great comfort in the sweet looks and smiles Bella gave him when he entered a room. Even if she never anything other than "Hey," Emmett understood in that one word everything that went without saying, and he loved every bit of it.

And hoped and prayed with all his might he wouldn't lose it.

And though Edward pretended otherwise, Emmett knew he did too.

Edward growled, and Emmett realized he'd let his thoughts run away from him. "Sorry, Bro," he thought as the rear doors to the courtroom opened. "But you know I'm right."

Edward averted his gaze as Bella returned to her desk, apologizing for taking so long.

Rosalie waved her off. "But if you're ready, please call your next witness."

Bella nodded. "I call Alice Brandon to the stand."

"Yay!" Alice jumped up and flew into her seat, sending Edward's papers flying in her wake.

"Really, Alice?" he groused, bending to pick them up. "You couldn't just walk like a normal person?"

"Is he allowed to talk to me like that?" Alice asked Rosalie.

"Is she allowed to speak before being sworn in?"

Rosalie raised the gavel high above the block but tapped it twice with extreme care. "Ms. Brandon, you in fact are not allowed to speak before being sworn in. Mr. Masen, you are not allowed to address the witness until your cross-examination. And neither of you are allowed to aggravate me! Is that clear?"

"Yes, Your Honor." Alice crossed her heart with two fingers. "I'll be good."

Edward rolled his eyes and muttered his assent.

Emmett looked up at Rosalie with love in his eyes. "That's my girl."

The corners of her mouth lifted, and she cleared her throat. "Mr. McCarty, please, uh… please swear in the witness."

"With pleasure." He smirked at Edward's annoyance and walked to the witness stand, smiling at his shortest sister. "Ms. Mary Alice Brandon Whitlock Cullen, left hand on the Bible, right hand in the air." She complied, humming to herself. "Do you swear…"

"I do!"

"Objection," Edward sighed from his seat. "Can she at least pretend not to know what's coming?"

"I don't need my visions to know what he was going to say, Edward," Alice snorted. "I watch Law & Order like every day."

"Your honor?"

Rosalie folded her hands and knocked them against her forehead, a sure sign she was about to blow… and not in the way Emmett enjoyed.

"Alice and Edward." Her growl rattled the chandeliers, causing Bella to cast anxious looks at the ceiling. "One more outburst from either of you, and I throw you over my knee and beat you both into submission. Do I make myself clear?"

Emmett shivered at Rosalie's words as Alice and Edward agreed to behave. He glanced at the clock on the far wall, wondering what he'd have to do to request a recess to ravish his wife.

"Bailiff." Rosalie's no-nonsense tone brought him out of his fog. "The court considers Ms. Brandon sworn in and well-advised to only answer a question after it has been asked." Emmett nodded and strolled back to his post, adjusting himself as he walked.

Bella gasped and shook her head as Alice giggled. "Ms. Swan, begin at your own risk," the judge said with a warm and warning look at her husband.

"Thank you, Your Honor." She approached the bench with a side glance at Emmett, and he smiled sheepishly. "Ms. Brandon, how do you know me?"

Alice blinked. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, how do you and I know each other?"

"Well," Alice counted off her fingers. "We attend the same school, we're friends, and you're going to be my sister someday!"

"Objection!" Edward leapt to his feet. "She has been warned not to use her gift."

"I'm not!" Alice cried. "I only meant because she and my brother are in love, it logically follows they'll marry someday. And when they do, she'll be my sister. I would say that even if I were human." She turned to Rosalie. "Am I not allowed to say anything about the future? Even if it's just my un-gifted opinion?"

"But how are we supposed to know that?" Edward walked around the table, heading for the judge's bench. "There's no way to tell the difference between what she thinks and what she sees. And she is forbidden to disclose what she sees."

"But we all know Alice has seen several possible futures." Bella glanced at Edward who hadn't realized he stopped right beside her. "And as some people refuse to accept what's coming, she can't really be sure of anything. None of us can."

"Some of us can." Edward said quickly. "And I don't care what she says or sees, some things will never happen."

"Enough!" Rosalie was on her feet, her golden eyes bearing down on the lot of them. And Emmett found himself fighting a twitch in his pants.

"Down, boy!" he groaned inwardly.

Edward glanced at him in disgust before returning his attention to the irate judge.

"Ms. Swan and Mr. Masen, as I have said before, do not address each other directly. You agreed to bring this case to me to decide, so let me do my damn job."

"Yes, Your Honor," they muttered in miserable unison.

"Now Mr. Masen." Rosalie resumed her seat. "The question you raise is valid and needs to be answered before Ms. Swan continues. Ms. Brandon is barred from speaking about events that have yet to take place and from using her abilities to unjustly influence her testimony.

"That said, she is a witness for the plaintiff and needs the freedom to answer fully, something she cannot do if there are frequent objections, however valid they may be."

Rosalie closed her eyes, mumbling silently to herself. Alice crossed her arms over her chest, shooting daggers at Edward with her eyes. Abruptly, her expression relaxed, and she crossed her legs at the ankles.

"Ms. Swan, you are allowed to question Ms. Brandon but only about events that have already taken place. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Judge. Thank you."

"Therefore, Mr. Masen, your objection is overruled."

Edward bowed stiffly and returned to his seat, refusing eye contact with anyone.

"Ms. Swan," Rosalie said, "Please begin your questioning of the witness again."

"Yes, Your Honor. Ms. Brandon, when did you and I meet?"

"Officially?"

"Yes."

"Friday, March 11, 2005 around 11:30 a.m."

Bella smiled. "And unofficially?"

"I started having visions of you in December 2004, when you first considered moving to Forks."

"Visions of what?"

She glanced at Edward. "Of you and Mr. Masen together. In love. Forever."

"Now when you say 'forever,'" Bella put the word in air quotes. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, I saw you as an immortal, as Edward's eternal mate."

"Do you still remember that vision, Ms. Brandon?"

"I do." She leaned forward. "I think about it all the time. We were all so happy, all eight of us. It was as if our family was complete."

"Objection," Edward sighed.

"Sustained." Rosalie turned to Alice. "Please do not elaborate on your answers to 'Yes or No' questions, Ms. Brandon. Continue, Ms. Swan."

"Could you describe Mr. Masen in that vision?" Bella turned her back to him. "His countenance and behavior?"

"Objection." Edward tossed his pen on the desk. "Ms. Brandon's visions about me are not hard evidence."

"I'm going somewhere with this, Your Honor," Bella said, "If counsel would give me the chance to get there."

"Overruled," Rosalie said. "But tread carefully, Ms. Swan."

Bella nodded. "Ms. Brandon, what do you remember?"

Alice leaned back in her chair, her eyes softening. "Edward was… breathtaking. He was smiling and laughing, his eyes alight with passion and excitement. He was a man aglow with the glory of love, alive for the first time in one hundred years. It was the most beautiful sight I'd ever seen, second to my visions of my Jas, of course. There aren't words in the world to describe him."

She smiled at her husband, and he winked her way, causing her to shiver all over.

"Ms. Brandon?" Bella waved her hand to recover the witness's attention. "The first time?"

"Uh, yes, sorry." Alice blinked herself back to life. "I had never seen Edward look that way before that vision. Didn't know he could look that way, to be honest."

"Oh?" Bella turned to the gallery. "And why not?"

"Because he was always morose and moody, so utterly out of place even though his position in our family was secure." She sighed. "Even before my visions led me to the Cullens, the four of them seemed to revolve around Edward. He was Carlisle's pride, Esme's joy, Rosalie's aggravation, and Emmett's buddy. It was clear to me how much they loved and needed him, yet he was never happy. Not really.

"And how could he be? He was the lone bachelor, the only half who wasn't whole. Always a groomsman, never the prize, and though he denied it aloud, that isolation and loneliness churned in his mind constantly, rendering him dejected and broken and unable to…"

Edward sprang to his feet, gripping the table in front of him. On instinct, Bella advanced his way then stopped herself when Rosalie's voice rang out. "Do you have something to say, Mr. Masen?"

"Objection." His voice was ragged as his eyes strayed to Bella. "Please."

Bella gasped, gripping the pen in her hand. "I can't tell her what to say, Edward."

"Ms. Swan, that will do." Rosalie frowned though her voice was soft. "Mr. Masen, I don't understand your objection. Therefore I must overrule it. Ms. Brandon, you may complete your answer."

"I'm finished, Your Honor." Alice watched as Edward took his seat, her eyes full of regret. "I'm sorry," she mouthed.

Bella kept her eyes down and slowly turned away from the defendant's table. "Ms. Brandon, did this vision, as you saw it, come true?"

"No, it did not."

"But have you seen Edward look that way since having that vision?"

"Yes," she brightened. "As a matter of fact, I have."

"And when was that?"

Alice looked directly into Edward's eyes. "Every single time I've seen him with you, Ms. Swan. You are a vision, a very happy vision that literally came true."

Bella blinked, forcing a smile to her face. "Thank you, Ms. Brandon." She turned away from Alice and faced Edward. "Your witness, Counselor."

He cleared his throat and nodded, his eyes darkening as Bella's cheeks colored under his gaze. "Thank you, Ms. Swan."

"You're welcome, Mr. Masen."

Their eyes remained locked for a half-second too long, and as Bella resumed her seat on the plaintiff's side, Emmett began to believe his prayer of hope was already being answered.

Until Edward fixed his eyes on the witness, all traces of softness gone.

So what do we think of Ms. Brandon's testimony? And how will the cross-examination go? Find out next week, dear friends! xoxo