Thanks to my beta, mizzdee and my pre-readers, tkegl and burntcore. After a week needed to get this chapter to where it had to be, I'm back. Short note tonight, I wanted to remind you that I'm participating in Fandom 4LLS, the info is on my profile if you'd like to donate, the piece is a second shot of my Belisle fic, "Bridging the Gap."

Also, as this weekend is the 10th anniversary of September 11th, I wanted to take a moment to say "stay safe" to those who are in areas that are under heightened security. It is hard to believe it has been that long...but the memory of that day will stay with me until the end of my days.

And now, more of our wounded flower and her tortured artist.

Chapter 10 – A Story to Tell

Bella and I continued going to school, each making our own baby steps to the relationship we used to have. The way she had opened up and given me moments of her pain, finally allowing me to understand something I would likely never experience, was so important. In return, I told her about my trip, the places I'd seen, and things I'd done. She looked at my drawings and paintings from the trip, telling me how proud she was of me.

Classes continued, but the students seemed to have grown bored with watching Bella, so even there we were able to go back to normal. Jake wasn't coming anywhere near us, and Leah had switched to a different gym class so I wasn't breaking up any fights either. All in all, we had finally calmed down.

The one thing that Bella refused to do was apply to any school but theUniversityofAlaska, so I may have gotten a little creative. Bella had her college folder sitting out in the dining room when I came home from school on one of her therapy days, so I took the opportunity that presented itself.

I took the application toDePaulUniversityand carefully copied the information, and then grabbed the extra set of recommendation letters that I had saved from the trash when we were first filling out the applications together, and included them into the envelope I already had set. Mrs. Cope had given me the extra copy of Bella's transcript when I'd gone for mine, so the only thing I needed to do was copy Bella's signature and get her personal statement essay off her computer.

Running to her room while she was still out of the house, I found the file and saved it to my flash drive, not wanting her to see the file listed in her recent documents.

With everything I needed, I went upstairs, forged her signature, and printed the essay about Charlie's death. I couldn't read it, because that was a breach of her trust. I knew that I was being hypocritical, but this was about giving her another option, not gaining information that she wasn't ready for me to know.

The application was complete and sitting in my stack just as I heard the door open downstairs. I took the time to fill out the application for theUniversityofAlaskaand added it to the envelope filled with all the other required documents.

The stack of envelopes went into my bag for me to drop off at the post office tomorrow during my free period, and I headed downstairs to see how Bella was doing.

"Hey, Edward," Bella called from the kitchen.

"Yeah?"

"What do you want for dinner?" She was looking in the fridge, moving things around without much enthusiasm.

"I don't know? Isn't my mom cooking something?" I asked, surprised that my mom wasn't home.

"No, she had a meeting so she told me we'd have to fend for ourselves. I just wish I'd gone grocery shopping on the way home, because now dinner's going to take forever." She sighed, closing the door and turning to look at me.

"Why don't we just go to the diner? Deehas been begging me to bring you around." I raised my eyebrow, hoping she'd say yes.

"Sure, but let's get going. That place gets crazy around six o'clock."

We grabbed our coats and got into Bella's new car. She didn't get to drive it often because I still drove us both to school, and it was fun to see her light up as she settled herself behind the wheel. The drive wasn't too long, and the moment we walked in,Deewas around the counter to hug us both.

"You two take a booth and I'll be over in a minute to see what you want,"Deecalled over her shoulder as she walked to the other side of the place to give someone their check.

Bella and I looked at the menu untilDeewas back, taking our orders and flitting around the diner to handle the crowd with ease.

"You come here a lot, don't you?" Bella asked.

"Yeah, I'm convinced that Dee and Emmett have something on the side, but she's cool. This place wouldn't be the same without her."

Bella smiled. "I know, Charlie used to tease her about making an honest man of him. I think he would have married her for the free berry cobbler alone."

"That's not funny, you two. The cobbler can't be bought with affection." Deewinked as she brought us our drinks, the crowd started to thin out for the lull before the dinner rush started.

As she sat our dinner in front of us, Bella grabbed her hand. "Dee, do you have a few minutes?"

"For you, Sugar, anything." Deegrabbed one of the seats from a nearby table and pulled it up at the end of ours.

"You knew my dad pretty well, right?" Bella whispered.

"Sure did, he spent a lot of time here over the years. Late nights, or breakfasts when he knew he'd missed seeing you off to school,"Deetold her.

"My dad wasn't a big talker, and he definitely didn't show his emotions often …" Bella trailed off, butDeewas able to jump in with what she needed.

"Bella, every other word your father said to me was about you. He was so proud of you that it was hard to get him off the subject once you came up. He always said you were the one thing he did right. For a man of so few words, many of them had everything to do with you."

Bella exhaled, her eyes closing. "Thank you,Dee."

"No problem, sweetie,"Deesaid, squeezing her hand. "Now I've got to take care of a few things, but it was nice talking to you kids."

"You too,Dee." I smiled as she got up.

Bella and I ate quietly and then I paid the check, leavingDeea big tip as we got into Bella's car. The drive was silent, and the closer we got to home, the more I worried that this had been a mistake. Maybe it was too soon, or too much to handle after the last few months, but I'd do anything to make it better.

The car came to a stop and Bella got out, leaving me to follow her in. I locked up and headed to my room to do some homework, giving her space to process whatDeehad said.

It was around ten-thirty when I climbed into bed, and right before I turned off the light and grabbed for my iPod, my door creaked open.

"Edward?"

"Yeah?" I replied back, not sure what she needed.

"Can I come in? I wanted to tell you something."

"Sure, climb in," I told her and soon she was pressed against my side, her head resting over my heart.

"Mark was the one who came to the house," Bella started without a preamble. "Dad had been working the night shift so we could do fun father/daughter stuff together so I wasn't sitting home alone the entire summer … that's why he was there that night."

She took a deep breath and continued, "I didn't know that he was dead when they brought me to the hospital. I'd demanded that Mark bring me and he did, simply because he wasn't sure how else to handle it. Your mom was there … waiting for me, but the moment Carlisle walked into the waiting room I knew it was bad news. He hadn't been working that night, so they called him in when the report of an officer down came in. Esme brought me here and I slept in your bed, did that until after the funeral."

I felt her shift against me before she spoke again. "My mom came in for the funeral, a whirlwind of plans, but your parents were steadfast. Charlie's will stated that he wanted me to finish school with my friends and I wanted it too, so I told my mom that I could either become an emancipated minor, or she could make your parents my guardians. She still tried to sell the house, but I refused. She left three days after the funeral, her part of the paperwork signed, and I haven't seen her since."

"She was here when you were in the hospital," I told her. "She fought with my parents and may have hit me because I told her off."

"Renee hit you? I could punch her for that." Bella was quiet again and then asked her next question. "How come I didn't see her?"

"Renee flew in during your 72-hour hospital stay, so she couldn't come in. She was going to sue my parents and take you home, but then we stood up and told her that she wasn't going to take you away from your friends because she was having a tantrum. She was gone soon after; I'm not sure when she left because I wasn't home."

"I'm all alone. Charlie's gone and now I don't have any family." Bella's whisper almost snuck past me.

"No, you're not. You have us, you'll always have me," I told Bella.

"Losing Charlie was the hardest thing I've ever experienced. We weren't big on expressing our emotions, so I had a lot of things left unsaid." Bella was quiet for a moment before she looked up at me, her eyes wet with tears. "I don't want that with you. I want you to know that I love you, and I'm sorry for all the pain I've caused you."

"I love you too, Bella. Whatever you need, whatever I can do for you, it's yours." I promised, and it was the truth. I would do anything I could if it made her happy.

"I know, and that's why I want to get better. I need to get better for myself, but I want to get better for you." She rested her head back against my chest and I knew that we were done with all the serious conversation for tonight. But the progress we made was pretty amazing.