Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot. The characters belong to Stephenie Meyer.

Some of you may or may not know that I have begun planning a sequel! I don't write sequels very often, so a story has to be pretty special for me to write one! As of now, this story will have 18 chapters and I am so excited with how it's going to end. Anyway, here's chapter 9, enjoy!

Chapter 9

Edward's POV

It had been a week since Jacob and Alec had fought in the diner, it had also been a week since Bella had shown up for work. Apparently, she was still showing up for her classes, but I was still insanely worried about her. If this had happened under any other circumstance, well she would have been fired, but not this time.

My worry subsided when I saw her sitting in a lounge chair on the back deck of the main building. I noticed the big, bulky book in her hands and recognized it as the one that I had given her. "Sense and Sensibility?"

Bella looked terrified when I spoke to her, I wasn't the one that abused her. "I was worried about you. You haven't shown up for work."

"I sent you an email," she said stuffing the book into her bag and getting up.

"An email, how informal." I said and followed her into the building, when she kept walking, I grabbed her arm and made her face me. "Bella, stop! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine! I can't work there anymore, I've already spoken with Ms. Cope about it, now if you will please release me."

I raised my eyebrows and did as she said, but I added a scoff in. "Release you? I'm not the one you should be saying that to."

"Alec is fine. I made him upset, it was my fault, I shouldn't have taken the stupid job. Ya know what, I should actually give this back to you. I won't be needing it," Bella said taking the book out of her bag and handing it to me.

"Bella, I want to help you."

"You helped me enough by talking to Dr. Charleston, so please just stay out of it!" Bella yelled causing several people to look at us. Bella took a breath and regained her composure. "Goodbye, Edward. Please, leave me alone."

"Bella!" But my plea was unheard. Bella walked off and I soon saw another figure join her, the way the person walked, I knew it was Jacob and I was instantly relieved. Figuring it was the best thing, I walked up to human resources to speak with Ms. Cope.

I had a bit of déjà vu when I saw her sitting at her desk, which was of course a mess. "Hello, Ms. Cope."

"Why, Edward! I was just about to send you an email," Ms. Cope gestured to the seat in front of her desk. "I wanted to speak with you about Isabella Swan, she was working for you for only a short time and now she quit. Do you have any idea why?"

"I have a guess," I said crossing my legs and resting my hands on my knee. "Anyway, I won't be needing another student worker. It's pretty slow and I can handle it myself."

"I see," she said giving me a look. "Edward, was there something going on between you and Isabella?"

"No," I said with a laugh. "But, what are the rules at Stanford about expelling students?"

Ms. Cope raised her eyebrows and gave me a look, eventually she went to a file cabinet and pulled out a book. "Let's see here… If they are a danger to other students, abuse of another student, vandalism, academic dishonesty, the list goes on and on. Is there someone you have in mind?"

"I do, but let me get back to you on that, okay?" I got up from my chair and left her office. Pulling my cell phone out of my phone, I dialed my mom's number. The phone rang for a few minutes before my mom finally picked up. "Mom, hey, how are you?"

"Edward! It's so nice to hear from you. What do you need?"

"I was wondering if you could come to Stanford. I know you and dad are near here for his conference, I have a friend that I would like for you to talk to." I was going far saying that Bella and I were friends, right now she didn't want to speak to me, and my guess is because Alec had warned her to stay away from me.

"I wouldn't mind at all! I can be there within the hour." After confirming a few things, it was arranged that Jacob would bring Bella to the patio at 2 and I would point her out to Esme. Esme had been abused when she was 23, I was 2 at the time and I can still recall hearing Esme crying as she rocked me to sleep. When she met Carlisle, I saw an instant difference, she was happy and soon we forgot about James Mason.

-0-0-

Bella's POV

"Why did you want to eat out here?" I asked setting my to go container on the table. Jacob took a fry out of his and shrugged. "Seriously? No reason? You hate eating outside."

"Not true, tonight is beautiful and I thought it would be a nice treat." I wasn't entirely convinced by Jacob's performance, but I let it go knowing that he would come up with another cover up. Instead, I relaxed, it was nice to be away from Alec. It was surprising that I could even hang out with Jacob without him storming up.

"Hi, you must be Bella," I looked up and saw a woman standing over me, she looked to be in her early forties, and had a bright smile on her face. "I'm Esme, may I sit?"

"Do I know you?" I looked at Jacob who gave me a smirk. "What is going on?"

"I have to go, see ya later." I tried to call after him but he was long gone.

"You obviously didn't know about this meeting. My son, Edward, he called me and spoke to me a little about your situation, he thought it might be good for you to talk to someone."

"Look, ma'am, I am so sorry that he made you come here to talk to me, because nothing is wrong. Everything is fine. He shouldn't have even done anything." I crossed my arms in front of me and leaned back in the chair, I was so angry, but a tiny part of me was touched that he was so concerned.

Esme took a seat and looked at me. "Let me tell you my story, I got married at 20 and a year later, I had Edward. When I was 23, my husband at the time started to abuse me. I convinced myself that it was my fault, not his; that I made him angry. Let me guess, you do the same? It's your fault that he hits you right?" I simply gave her a tiny nod.

"That's what I thought. Anyway, I went to the hospital late one night and met Carlisle. We formed a friendship, he helped me in my darkest moments and helped me get rid of James. Carlisle became the type of father that Edward needed, and well the rest is history."

"You haven't heard from him again? James."

"No," Esme said with a smile as she shook her head, until she looked up at the sky, then her head went still and her face grim. "I guess that's a lie, he sent me a letter a few years ago apologizing for everything that he had done. I heard that he died shortly after that, suicide."

"Alec wasn't always bad, he was a great guy when we first started dating, but then he changed and suddenly he controls every part of my life." I couldn't believe I was talking about this with someone that I didn't even know. "I want to get away from him, but I'm scared that he's going to hurt me or someone I care about if I do. What's worse is that my mom doesn't even know, Alec is the perfect guy when we're with her."

"Edward talked to me and said that he had a way of getting him expelled, why don't you speak with Edward about that?" I shrugged. "Bella, I'm going to give you my phone number and I want you to call me if you have any questions about something."

"Thank you," I said taking the card from her hand, we said our goodbyes and as she was walking off I saw Edward's tall figure join her. I felt sad as I stared at him, I missed his friendship, and I really regretted giving him that book back.

When I finally realized that Jacob wasn't coming back, I took my food to my dorm room, might as well do some homework while eating. I had gotten through some of my American Studies homework when I heard a knock on the door. A knot formed in my stomach, a part of me told myself to simply sit there and pretend I wasn't in my room, but the knocking continued. Slowly, I approached the door and turned the handle, opening it to only reveal Edward. I stared at him for a few minutes before wrapping my arms around his waist and giving him a hug. I was relieved when I felt his arms wrap around me, holding me tightly.

"We'd better get inside," he said, I could feel the rumble in his chest when he talked, I nodded and pulled him inside. "I've missed you."

"I know I said to stay away, but I have missed you. Which is weird, because I don't really even know you. But, I enjoy spending time with you, and when I worked for you I forgot about everything that I was going through. Do you know how long it's been since I felt like that?" I was rambling now, I looked at his hands which he quickly wrapped around my wrist and pulled me close to him. "I'm so scared, Edward, I'm terrified."

"I know," he said stroking my hair, "I won't leave you Bella. I won't leave you."

"Anyway, you… um… you must have come here for a reason right?" I asked pulling away from him and looking up at his face.

"I just came to see how the talk went with my mom, I'm assuming it went good?" I nodded. "That's good, also I came to give you this." Edward handed me the book, I hadn't even noticed it.

"Thank you," I said taking it from him and setting it on the desk. Before I knew what I was doing, I stood on my tippy toes and kissed him. My blood ran cold when I realized what I had done. "I am so sorry! I shouldn't have done that!"

Edward chuckled as he wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me back to him. "No, you should have done that."

Edward cupped my face and closed the distance between us. It had been so long since I had been kissed like this, his lips gently touched mine as if I would break in his arms. My arms stayed around his waist, it was magic and it felt so right even though it should feel so wrong. Something inside of me changed, I would never be the same again. When he pulled away, I saw he was smiling, but I wasn't because I saw Alec standing behind him staring at us appalled at the scene in front of him.

A/N: Hope y'all enjoyed it!

Facebook group: Mrs. DamonS Fanfictions