I am really sorry it took so long to get this out. I have had some very important papers to finish for Poli-Sci...not the easiest to fake ya know? Again, thanks for the reviews, I didn't get a teaser out for this chapter, but I will for eleven if you review. I promise not to make it so long between updates, I shoot for a chapter a day... I can probably get out three a week for the next month, but I will try to make them good ones.

Here is chapter 10...

BPOV

The car ride was quiet, I tried to enjoy the peace of it all, but the reality was that there was tension.

Sitting to my right was Emmett, and to my left was Edward. My father was driving and my mother was in the passenger seat.

Emmett and Edward hadn't said a single word to each other in over thirteen hours. The last words they had exchanged, came in the form of cursing and threats outside in the lobby of the hospital.

The issues was that against Edwards wishes, I had called Emmett. I felt that he e needed to know about what had happened, and moreover we needed his help to find Dimitri. I hadn't even got the story started before Edward grabbed the phone from my hand and finished it up with a few choice expletives.

I knew that things weren't going to be easy and relaxed, but I had hoped that Edward would of kept his cool for the time being, if not for Emmett's sake, then for mine.

For a while, it seemed as if he would. Em looked almost catatonic when he had first arrived, and after the initial shock of seeing my damaged body settled in, guilt took over. The only words I heard from him were apologies. Every second he looked at my face and bruised body the tears would restart and he was again inconsolable.

Edward had kept his distance from Emmett in an attempt to keep the peace while I was stuck in there, but when my time for release had come, so did Edwards. His explosive confrontation began with Emmett trying to apologize to Edward and then Edward snapping and charging Emmett. From what my mother had tole me, Edward accused Em of basically gift wrapping me for death and then walking away. She told me how Emmett didn't try to fight back, but that instead he pleaded with Edward to hear him out.

My stomach had dropped upon hearing that and when I had Edward alone, I begged him to stop the harsh words that he was throwing toward Emmett. I mean if I didn't blame him, what gave Edward the right to?

So now here we were, driving in complete silence and caked with tension so thick you could cut it with a butter knife. For the time being, we were going to my house. I knew that the entourage was due to the fact that my safety was still at hand. No one agreed on where I should stay for the time being, and with that not settled, my dad wasn't ready to pack an leave.

Normally the idea of having my safety discussed without me would bother me greatly. In fact, I would normally tell them all to go to hell and kick them out of my house, but not this time. I knew I was lucky that what had happened wasn't worse. This was necessary, and for the first time in my entire life, I was more than happy to accommodate their discussion.

When we pulled up to the drive, I shifted to get out. I felt an arm around my waist and then felt Edwards breath on my face. I gasped from the shock of it until I realized what he was doing. He was going to take me inside.

"Bella, will you let me take you in and get you settled? Your ribs are still tender and walking isn't the best idea for you right now."

I just stared at him for a long moment. His words were so tender and concerned, he was nervous. What had caught me off guard, was the fact that he had asked. Normally I wouldn't have a say in the matter, and by now I would have been placed in my bed. However this time...he gave me the option.

I recovered and nodded my head so he saw that I agreed. Ever so gently, I was lifted and in the comfort of Edwards arms. I was half in heaven and the other in purgatory. As much as I enjoyed being in his arms, I couldn't fully appreciate it. Our situation was no different than before, except for the fact that he and I had just gone through a very traumatic ordeal together.

With my head tucked into his shoulder and his arms cradling me gently to his body, we made our way through the small bungalow and then I was being placed gently in my bed.

Something inside of me snapped, and I couldn't breath. My chest was tight and I felt the tears pooling in my eyes. I felt like I was suffocating and being held down all the same time. My body was no longer mine and the anxiety inside me had built to an over abundance. I screamed.

"Get away from me! Stop! Don't touch me!" I gasped. Pain seared through my body and the only instinct I had inside of me was to fight. I was kicking and punching wildly. My arms and legs flailing in an attempt to fight off what ever it was that was haunting me. I could hear my name being called in a panic and then in concern.

I looked around long enough to realize that it was My father and Edward in the room. My dad was trying to calm me while Edwards eyes looked me over with a wild concern etched all over him. He looked horrified when he met my eyes. I was in hysterics still, my heart was still racing and I could hear the echo in my ears louder than my name being cooed by father while he held me to calm me.

"Shh Bells, it's okay, your okay. I'm here...no one is going to hurt you kid. Shh"

Tears overwhelmed me and for the first time, I let myself cry. This room, this bed...everything that had happened in here. It was too much, I needed to be away from this. I met Edwards eye's and before I could vocalize what I had just understood, he was by my side and whispering very low into my ear.

"Oh God, Bella. I'm so sorry... I should have thought this through. Of course this room is hard for you to be in."

I was lifted again, once more cradled in the arms of Edward and being moved out of the room. I heard my father talking to him as we moved, but my pounding heart and racing blood was too loud for me to hear clearly what it was they were saying.

Once again, I felt the softness of a bed beneath me and before my anxiety could flare up again, Edward was across the room and watching me intently with my father at the door.

I saw my dad move toward me, his steps cautious and calculated, almost as if he were ready to jump back if he saw any sign of my fear. When he was satisfied that I wasn't going to lose it, he was beside me on the bed.

"You can't stay here Bells... This isn't healthy. I-I don't know everything that happened, none of us do, we only know what you have told us, but I think it's safe to assume that you were threatened in more than one way in that room."

I looked at my dad cautiously, afraid of what I would see in his eyes. I was right to be cautious, his dark brown orbs were a mix of pain and fury. His jaw locked and body tense. I looked away, desperate to escape the look he was wearing and anxious to focus on something else beside what had happened to me that day.

My nervous fidget was useless though. Because when I looked away from my father, I met Edward's eye's head on. He was crying silent tears, his face a model of pain and disgust. I knew the disgust was for what he had just heard my father say, and I knew Edward well enough to understand that it was directed to Dimitri, not me.

I dropped my stare to the comforter, unable to look at either of them any longer. My dad embraced me and hugged me tightly to his chest for a long moment and then released me.

"Rest, Bells. We can talk later."

He kissed my head and got up from the bed. I watched as he walked out the door, only pausing for a moment to place a hand on Edwards shoulder and then turning the corner to the living room.

And then there were two.

I didn't know how to have this conversation with Edward yet, I wasn't sure I wanted to. Before I could dwell on that, he was kneeling next to the bed and holding my hand.

"I'll just be outside, if you need anything, just call me. I'm not leaving you...I'll be here."

His words were meant as more than just a comfort. I could hear the underlying truth behind them, he was vowing to be with me, to make sure I was safe, to love me.

I simply nodded and tried to collect my thoughts before he left the room. I opened my mouth to speak, but was silenced when I felt his lips on my forehead. He kissed me softly and stepped away from me before whispering for me to get some sleep.

EPOV

It took everything I had to walk out of that room and leave her alone. What I wanted to do was shut the door and crawl in bed with her. I wanted to hold her and comfort her, I wanted her to know that as long as I was around, I would protect her.

I knew better though, her reaction to me in the master bedroom was one I wasn't expecting. It had all happened so fast that when she first started flailing, I thought that I had placed her on the bed too roughly. Instead, the chief walked up from behind me and did his best to soothe her. I was speechless. I had no idea what had happened, but I was thankful that the chief had been in the room when it happened. I knew it was a bit selfish, but I was thankful that he knew I hadn't been trying to harm her.

My relief was short lived when I saw that her body was still shaking and her screams hadn't calmed. I didn't want to think about what had made her so frightened, but the reality of what had inevitable happened was beginning to haunt my waking thoughts. Charlie confirmed my worst fear when he stated that she had been more than just roughed up.

I was sick just thinking that he had touched her. Bile was threatening to come up my throat at the mental image of him violating her with even his eye's.

I was still standing outside her door when Charlie approached me.

"Is she okay?" he asked in a nervous voice. I simply nodded and we both moved toward the kitchen table where Emmett and Renee sat quietly.

Suddenly the pain I had been feeling was intensified. Just looking at Emmett was enough to double the feelings that were building in me at the moment. It was no secret that I blamed him for bring that animal into her life. No secret that I wanted nothing more in this world to take my frustrations out on him and release the hate that was building by the second.

Emmett didn't deserve to be here in my opinion. He was no longer my friend in my mind either. The more I had thought about the situation and the role Em had played in it, the more I realized how fucked up of a friend he was.

He had never once asked how I was doing, or even why I had done what I had done. I was conviced now that it was because he wanted a shot at Bella. All that aside, the major issue was that he brought that disgusting man into her home and convinced her that he was trust worthy. I fucking hated him for parading Bella around like a piece of meat. The better analogy was that she was amongst a wolf in sheep's clothing. He gift wrapped her for that bastard.

I glared at him and watched him blink in surprise and then drop his gaze to the table. I knew that he was three times my size, but I knew that with as much as I loved Bella, there wasn't much I wouldn't be able to do if pushed, and I could imagine no situation worse than the one I was in at the moment. If he pushed me, I would annihilate him. It looked as if he knew that too.

I settled into my seat and looked around at everyone. Renee was sitting with her head in her hands and crying for what I believed was the first time. Normally she was a walking mess, but during these last couple of days, she was a rock. For the first time in her life, she put Bella before herself and made sure to care solely for her.

To my left was Charlie, he was sitting solemnly with one hand on Renee's shoulder and the other holding a cup of coffee. I didn't bother looking at Emmett, his well being was far from a concern of mine, and instead took the time to turn toward Bella's temporary bedroom as if looking there would help quell the knots I had in my stomach at that moment.

Charlie was the first to speak.

"We need to figure out what were going to do about Bella's living arrangement." he said.

I agreed, there was no way she was going to be left alone in this house, I would never allow it, but thankfully I knew that the chief would never go for it either. I took a deep breath and began.

"She can stay with me... I can take care of her."

My words were low, I wanted to scream them, but I knew I had to tread lightly when it came to Charlie. I had anticipated an argument, one that would be well deserved in his defense, but to my surprise, I saw Charlie nodding his head in agreement. My victory was short lived though, Renee snickered and sat up straight and shook her head.

"Absolutely not!" she screeched. I watched her turn to Charlie in disbelief and continue.

"Let's not forget why Bella is living in this house in the first place, Charlie! Don't tell me you have forgotten already that he left her... left her and never even looked back to see if she was okay."

Her words cut me like a knife. I felt my mouth drop open and my eyes sting with tears. She truly thought the worst of me, and I couldn't deny any of it. Although her version of events weren't precise, the fact was that I had been the cause of Bella being in this home, and more over the reason she was out on dates and living a single life. I had left her.

I was about to speak up and humbly try and defend myself, but just as my mouth opened, Emmett spoke up.

"I know you are upset, Renee. We all are, but you know that's not the case... Edward loves Bella, you know that. He was here for her when it counted, that's what matters."

I had turned to see him, his eyes were still on the table as he had spoken. He left it at that and went back to his silent sulking while Renee succumbed to her tears once more.

I tried to tell myself it was her emotions, but the reality of those being thoughts she carried of me were heart breaking. I had really screwed up, and now worst of all my only alliance was the man I had been treating like crap since the moment he arrived... well since I had spoken to him really.

I heard a soft throat clear from the left and I snapped my head to see Bella standing there in her sweats and t-shirt. Her face was scrunched up in pain from what I can only assume were her tender ribs. Before she could speak I was on my feet and next to her.

I was just about to pick her up and take her back to bed, but she shook her head no and addressed the room.

"I know that this is hard for all of you, I am sorry that you all have to go through this with me, but all the same, I appreciate it."

She took a deep breath and continued.

"I don't have a lot of things holding me here, nothing to make me stay and disrupt anyone's life."

My thoughts were clearly written all over my face, because when Bella looked at me I saw the tears there. My own ready to spill over and drown the room. She looked at me when she spoke next, her earlier words had been for me as well, and the reality of what she had said was sinking in like lime juice on an open wound.

She felt like she would be disrupting my life. She was so far from the truth that it almost made me laugh, however there was absolutely nothing funny about the situation. Her next words nearly knocked my breath out of my chest, and it took my entire being to not collapse on the floor.

"I think it would be best if I go home for a while... just until things settle down a bit. Rose and Alice will be back next month, I can come back then."

She wanted to leave.

She wanted to leave me.

I stood there like an idiot for a minute and tried to beak down the words she had just said. I was arranging and re-arranging them in my head, trying to make better sense of what I had just heard. Hoping that what she had just said had a separate meaning. The only missing puzzle piece was that I had no idea where home for her was anymore.

It used to be with me, she told me once that home was where I was, and that as long as I loved her, it would always be that way. Well I still loved her, more so than I had the day she said that and even more everyday after. I grabbed her hand as if it were a life line and looked at her with pleading eyes.

She knew, she had to know what I was silently asking. I watched her turn to me and then squeeze my hand with her own. She spoke again, but even thought she was looking at me, she was talking to Charlie.

"I want to go home to Forks, Dad"

My heart fell out from me. I understood now, she wanted to leave Florida completely.

Charlie was on his feet now, he made his way to Bella and I stepped away to give them a moment to themselves. They quietly discussed things in that small corner while Emmett, Renee and I sat quietly at the table once more.

I looked up at Renee and saw that her tears were once again in check and her rock like stature was back in place. She truly was in this completely for Bella, and for the first time since I had met her, I was in awe.

I peeked a glance at Em' and saw that he was quietly crying with his hands in his hair. It hurt me to see him that way, and the hate I had for him earlier was replaced with understanding. He loved her too... maybe not the way I loved her, but all the same she was important to him and he also felt as if he let her down.

I heard Bella call out to me and I snapped my head in her direction.

"Edward, can I talk to you for a moment?" she said.

I stood and went to her as fast as my legs would take me. When I reached her, I helped guide her to the room and then into the bed where I sat next to her and waited for her to tell me what I knew was coming.

I waited for her to say goodbye.