DISCLAIMER: Stephanie Meyer owns Twilight not me. I just love playing around with the characters we all know and love. :-)

Authors Notes:

***I HOPE EVERYONE HAD A WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS, HANUKAH, KWANZA, FESTIVUS, etc... LOL

***Sorry again about delay in updates. Work is exhausting as is being pregnant and dealing with two children home all day long causing mayhem. lol

***EPOV. A lot of stuff for Edward to deal with in this chapter. He is certainly a busy man.

***This chapter will start a bit before the last one, essentially before Edward tells Bella Lizzie is back in her class. I'm rewinding a bit so everyone can see how he did it. :-)

***I will not go over their phone call again as I don't think it's necessary to hear again from his POV.

***This chapter is a bit long and will have a few small time skips as I needed to get through a couple smaller scenes before getting to the next BPOV chapter which will be a GOOD ONE!

***Enjoy and REMEMBER I live for reviews so leave them all you want. I always reply to every one I can. :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)

***NOTE: LOTS OF YOU seem to be mad at Angela for reading Bella's texts last chapter. Lol. I love how loyal you all are to my Bella character. :-) Remember that they are best friends and practically sisters so torturing each-other is typical. Plus with Edward M.I.A. in the chapter I had to have SOMEONE make Bella blush. Lol

REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW

CHAPTER #10: Actions speak louder than words

EPOV

MONDAY (Same morning as Chapter #9...)

"Mr. Cullen, are you sure about all of this?" I didn't know if I wanted to bang my own head into a wall or his at the moment. We had been going over all of this for the last 2 hours and he had asked this question at least ten times during the course of our meeting. On top of the 'face to face' meeting I had also prearranged all of this before and even during my vacation last week, doing most of it when Lizzie was sleeping.

"Yes. I can assure you I am quite certain." Jenks gave me a firm nod while keeping his eyes on all the papers in front of him. I understood and could even appreciate his concerns as he was the top family attorney at our firm and he certainly knew his job well. Emotionally speaking, family law is considered one of the ugliest as it dealt with people that used to love one another but now, more often than not, hated the other with a passion. "Is it all possible?" I was very clear with what I wanted in the new custody arrangement but I was a little worried that it wouldn't be feasible... at least right away.

"Possible... yes, but arbitration would be a better solution, given the singular concern of the art class." I closed my eyes and clenched my jaw at that remark. Technically meeting with a judge and arguing like children in front of their parents, about how the other child was 'wrong and mean' would be a faster solution... I sighed thinking of how much that would piss me off... The problem with arbitrition was that it was, at best, a quick fix. It wouldn't get the root issue solved. Yes my immediate concern was the art class but it wasn't my deepest one. I was sure a judge would side with me on the class but there was more to it than that. I didn't want this same issue to pop up again and again and again. I wanted what was best for Lizzie and her parents constantly battling it out in court certainly wasn't in her best interests. "I need a long term solution not a band-aid." I spoke coolly and he nodded again without responding further about any 'doubts'.

…...

"You do realize your ex-wife will fight this, correct?" I had just signed more forms for him as he was getting everything together to submit my requests to a judge.

"Yes." I had to roll my eyes at his question. Of course Tanya would fight me. I'm not an idiot.

"You also realize that it will get very ugly, very fast." It wasn't really a question as Tanya and I had been through all of this before, with Jenks there as well. He was technically my divorce attorney though I wrote up everything myself, with his help. I was to worried that something would be bypassed and I'm far to controlling to trust him with the task alone, no matter how good he was. I trusted no one when it came to Lizzie... well very few people anyway.

"I'm aware." That was probably not entirely true as Tanya could be vindictively clever when confronted. That was why I was drawing everything together now before serving her with ANYTHING. It would likely take a couple weeks to put everything in motion let alone get anything resolved, but in the meantime I did need to make one immediate change to the custody agreement. That change, namely education and extra-curricular activities, was the sole focus of this meeting. If I was willing to play all my cards I could win the small fight easily, just by showing Tanya's negligence, but that wasn't enough anymore.

I had put so much work into staying civil with my ex-wife, telling myself it was for Lizzie's sake, that I had forgotten that I NEED to fight Tanya. She practically ignored Lizzie and always put herself above our daughter. I know she loves Lizzie but I also know that she doesn't value her the way she deserves nor does she make Lizzie her highest priority. That on top of countless disappointments, including canceling Lizzie's beloved class for HER own convenience... and I was DONE with it... all of it. I was going to fight Tanya again, harder then ever and for a lot more then I already had. I was under no illusion that this was going to be easy because I already knew it would be horrible.

Because of what I was fighting to get from Tanya in the end, I had to plan everything carefully and as of now keep it all close to the vest. That was why I was using other methods to get what I want right now involving Lizzie's art class. When it came to child custody, courts always sided with the idea of keeping a family 'whole' above all else. That meant they favored keeping both parents in a child's life equally even if one parent somewhat lacks. It takes a lot of evidence, proof, and patience to prove one parent over another is the best thing in the end. I knew this and so did Jenks which is why he wanted to use every method at our disposal.

"Have you considered using..." Jenks looked through some of Lizzie's school paperwork before he continued."...Ms. Swan?" I tensed as he brought up Bella casually.

"No." I spoke firmly but he clearly interpreted my refusal to use her as me admitting to the idea not occurring to me. Again he seemed to misjudge what I knew of family law.

"The easiest route other then the evidence you've already gathered about Tanya's negligence is testimony from a professional that spends time with your daughter." I frowned while clenching my jaw. I was more then a little aware of this fact but that didn't change my answer. "Elizabeth's teacher... Ms. Isabella Swan, would be a prime candidate for such a testimony as she is both her teacher and her art instructor." Again I already knew this. Since Bella is Lizzie's teacher, a statement from her would go a long way in court.

"My answer is no." I kept my tone level as I didn't want to take my anger on the subject out on Jenks. I had to remind myself that he was just doing his job, pointing out all my options. To me this wasn't an option though. I absolutely would NOT do that, I couldn't. Even if Bella and I didn't have a budding relationship that would make such a thing 'sketchy'... ethically speaking, I still wouldn't proceed like that. I would still see Bella as a friend, both mine and Lizzie's, and I wouldn't want to put her in a position of the court using her statements to choose a parent for Lizzie. No matter how small a scale, that is essentially what the court would be deciding upon using Bella's statement... me or Tanya. It would be wrong to put Bella in that position. She loved Lizzie as Lizzie loved her, and I knew that connection was important to my little girl, to both of them in fact. I wanted to keep that precious bond of theirs far away from the ugliness that was Tanya and I's divorce and custody battle. I didn't want Bella's fingerprints on something like that. It just felt wrong.

He looked like he was going to object but something in my face made him drop the subject. Thank God for that. I glanced down at my phone and frowned when I saw that Bella still hadn't text me back. I had sent her two texts today and I still hadn't gotten a response. She normally replied within minutes, which of course gave me a lot of ammo to use against her about 'being eager to hear from me'. Despite all of our recent interactions being via text I swear I could feel her blush through her responses to my comments.

Jenks cleared his throat uncomfortably and I was sure he sensed my slight aggression over the topic of Bella. I snapped back to the subject at hand when I replied. "What other options do you propose?"...

…...

Unfortunately my refusal to use the negligence, at least for now as I was saving that for the near future, or Bella left me with limited options involving getting my way with Lizzie's schooling. There was using underhanded methods such as a counselor to decide how much it had 'harmed' Lizzie emotionally to have the class taken from her but that seemed drastically manipulative, and not just of Tanya but Lizzie as well. Jenks had suggested this option carefully, probably sensing I wouldn't go for it, which I didn't. This left him with his last proposed option.

"Physical custody is currently joint between Tanya and yourself, with you receiving a bit more than 50% of the time with Lizzie, due to being the 'primary care' parent." I nodded as I followed along with what he was saying. "Legal custody however is completely joint between you and your ex-wife..." Legal custody was a completely different thing to physical custody. Like most cases of divorced parents with children, Tanya and I shared the rights of making legal decisions evenly. It was a very difficult thing to be awarded the right to sole legal custody. In order to get it one had to prove that their decisions were better for the child in EVERY way. I wasn't worried that Tanya could try to turn this type of fight around on me but I was worried about how ugly the battle could get.

Unlike physical custody where there's more than just sole and joint. There were many facets of joint, with it having lots of variations. Legal custody however is usually a case of all or nothing. Each parent has 50% of the say or they have none with the other granted 100%. Currently we share in all the decisions but it's become clear that is no longer an acceptable option. I didn't want to show my hand involving how much custody I was going to fight for, but for now I needed sole rights to make educational choices.

Surprisingly enough Jenks felt I had a very strong case to get this at least temporarily, but that the fight would get bad between Tanya and me. He was currently filing for 'temporary' sole legal custody, with regards to education. He was confident I would be granted it due to being the primary care parent as well as all the blatant proof that I was currently the only parent that even attended her school events, from both preschool and kindergarten. He felt he could easily sway a judge to agree that it isn't right or fair for me to have all the responsibility with legal decisions until the rare occasion that it suddenly 'inconvenienced' Tanya to which she could then step in and do what SHE pleased. Just like she had with the class. The problem with getting the temporary custody was if the rights were revoked after Tanya and I solve the issue in or out of court. I wouldn't be able to handle the class being taken from Lizzie twice. Despite this small but real concern I had to try anyway and for Lizzie I WOULD win.

…...

"Eddie!" I sighed as I answered my sisters phone call. Jenks and I had FINALLY finished and he was rushing the paperwork to a judge to see if I could be granted temporary legal custody until a specified court date. I had answered my phone without looking, hoping it was Bella but instead I got my crazy sister.

"You know I hate that name Alice." I rolled my eyes as she skated right past my hatred of her nickname for me, and started talking about everything going on in our lives. She was very excited about med school and was 'super ready' to be starting her lifelong dream. I laughed at her energy, again thinking of how my father told me she aged him quite quickly.

"So what time are you picking me up this weekend?"

"Pardon?" I frowned at the phone. My erratic sister tended to start conversations like we were already in the middle of it or like she already knew part of what was going to be said. It was humorous at times but frustrating at others.

"For your firms fundraiser." She spoke in a 'duh' tone and I groaned. I HATED all the firms different fundraisers but as a board member I was required to attend them. I had blocked it out due to everything else going on in my life, though I knew it was coming up.

"Honestly I had completely forgotten about it." She laughed, not at all surprised. I had taken her as my guest the last 2 years and we had made plans a couple months ago to go together again. She loved going to these sort of events as much as I hated to so we balanced each-other out. I was the calm one while she was far more 'people friendly' than me.

"Do you still need a gorgeous girl on your arm?" She asked cutely and I laughed.

"You know I do." I thought of Bella and truthfully the idea of taking her to a black tie event and seeing her in something so elegant was beyond alluring but at the same time the event would be incredibly dull and I wanted something better than that with her.

"So...?"

"So?"

"Uggg. You never listen. What time are you picking me up?" I rolled my eyes and pulled up my event calendar to check times. It was Tanya's weekend with Lizzie due to me getting her the whole prior week for vacation. The only plus of that was that I didn't have to arrange overnight childcare for my daughter as these events usually ran late. We decided on a time and I would pick her up at her place on Saturday.

…...

TUESDAY

I starred at my computer, having received yet another email from Tanya needing to 'reschedule' our parent teacher conference time. I had already rescheduled with Bella twice to ensure Tanya could be there and each time Bella had complied without any complaint but I knew she had to move a lot of things around to do it. I had explained that Tanya had scheduling conflicts and Bella was eager to help so that she could attend. As much as I loved Bella's kindness I was getting more and more frustrated with Tanya. Asking this of Bella three times when I knew how stressed she was with all of the meetings left me feeling like I was abusing our relationship and all because of Tanya, which pissed me off. It was one more aspect of my life that Tanya was affecting. I sent Tanya a response that I would take care of it then forwarded everything to Jenks. The more information I had the better it would be when this all came to light...

…...

I checked the time a little while later and it was close enough to the time I needed to leave so I could pick up Lizzie from her art class... her first one back. I smiled thinking of the conversation I'd had with Bella yesterday when I told her Lizzie could return to her class. She sounded more excited then I imagined Lizzie was. She had tried to hide her tears when I told her over the phone but I heard them loud and clear. It was absolutely incredible to me that she cared so much for my baby girl, but she clearly did. It was never more obvious that Bella was born to be a teacher then when I observed how much she cared for her students. It wasn't just a job or even a career for her, it was a calling. From the first time I met her it was quite clear that she was an amazing woman and I couldn't believe that I had almost ignored everything about her that left me in awe for such a stupid reason.

After her big age reveal I had allowed a simple number to blind me to what I already knew of her, the REAL her. Soft, honest, smart, insightful, patient, beautiful, so very kind, and just plain perfect. THAT was who she was not the number 20. I wouldn't make the mistake of looking at her age alone ever again. She was much more than any number.

As I drove to the school I received a call from Jenks saying that my request to the judge had been granted. I couldn't stop the smile on my face that caused. He would be making sure Tanya received all the required information involving an informal hearing in a few weeks to 'officially' decide who would get their way on this issue. It WOULD be me, that much I knew for certain. No matter what I had to do I would win this, Lizzie deserved it. I was more than a little relieved that I wouldn't have to deal with Tanya directly with this though, at least until Monday when she found out. I've had enough of her lately to last me a lifetime.

I was about 20 minutes early so I stood back and watched as Bella worked with all her students. They were drawing today and I couldn't take my eyes off of Lizzie and the big smile she had on her face as she followed Bella's instructions. I also noticed that every-time Bella made her rounds among the students she always patted Lizzie's back or leaned down to talk to her while smiling happily. Lizzie actually pulled her focus from her drawing each time too, giving Bella her complete attention. Lizzie was usually very focused on her art, to the point of tuning out most everything else, but with Bella she was always able to pull away.

There it was... that bond I'd witnessed from the day I'd first met Bella. She had a way with Lizzie and it was something that was all them. I smiled as I watched Bella help the students begin to tidy up. Lizzie eagerly jumped up to show Bella her completed drawing and Bella happily hugged her and listened proudly as Lizzie explained everything on the paper.

To say that Lizzie was happy to be back would be putting it mildly. I could feel the happiness from here, as just an observer. I saw a little boy with jet black hair follow Bella around as eagerly as Lizzie and I watched as he repeatedly got Bella's attention and said something that made her turn dark red. Ahh, this had to be the infamous Henry that Lizzie told me about. I couldn't resist smiling when I saw how both charmed and uncomfortable Bella was by his attentions. He was a man after my own heart and I had to chuckle silently at his persistence. Clearly I wasn't the only male to notice the beauty that was Ms. Isabella Swan...

…...

"DADDY!" Lizzie eventually saw me at the door and ran full speed for me. I laughed as I picked her up. I hadn't seen her in a couple days, since she was with her mother for the weekend after vacation, so I just held her tightly. She held up her 'self portrait' that Bella had all the students work on and I had to admit my favorite part of the drawing was the big smile on her face. It matched her actual smile perfectly and I couldn't deny how much I'd missed it. I was the first parent there, for once, so I was obliged to sit back with Lizzie as Bella directed her other students. I suppose I could leave as both Lizzie and I were hungry but where would the fun be in that?...

Instead I waited patiently and chatted with Lizzie while Bella helped all her students pack up their bags and clear their work areas. There were so many 5 year-olds that I was surprised Bella was able to reign them all in, but she managed. There was one other teacher there that I'd seen before though Bella was clearly doing most of the work. The woman helped Bella reign in the kids which I imagined was the only way to handle 30 kindergartners at once. Most of the parents showed up at around the same time and despite the rush of activity with all the students and parents talking over one another Bella handled the chaos flawlessly, making sure to talk to each parent and hug every student good-bye. I smiled at the affection Bella held for each student, as it was so classically her.

…...

"So that was the famous Henry, was it?" He was the last student in the room besides my Lizzie and my eyes followed the little boy as he left with his father through the door. He had turned last minute before they'd exited to wave at Bella and blow her a kiss. Her eyes went to me as soon as he did it and when she saw my smile I figured she knew I saw his little gesture. She had not so discreetly averted her eyes from me after that, but as usual I saw her blush anyway.

"Uh-huh, that's Henry." I smiled at her casual tone attempting to avoid the topic. Like THAT was going to happen. Did she not know me at all?

"He certainly is quite the ladies man." She was picking up all the art supplies as I spoke from off to the side.

"You would know..." I heard her mumble softly to herself and I couldn't help laughing hard at her remark, knowing she hadn't meant for me to hear it. Sure enough she looked up at me in mortification when she realized I HAD in fact heard her whisper.

"Indeed I would." I winked at her and she pinked before smiling in spite of herself. I had hoped to talk to her a little longer but I knew she had more meetings to prepare for so Lizzie and I took our leave... not before Lizzie gave Bella a huge hug that Bella returned just as eagerly. I gave Bella one last wink before leaving with my little girl, happy to have fixed what her mother had tried to break, and I didn't just mean the class...

THURSDAY

Finally the day of the parent teacher conference came. I had taken Lizzie to my parents house so that Tanya and I could focus on this meeting alone. Of course thanks to Tanya's schedule we had an early appointment, right between two other parents. This meant I would have ZERO extra time with Bella as I knew from Bella herself that the student after me was having some difficulties and she wanted extra time with the parents to discuss some new ideas to help him out. I was in the parking lot about fifteen minutes early when I got a phone call from Tanya. I was expecting her to tell me she was almost here but instead I got yet ANOTHER excuse... She wouldn't be coming after all. This time it was a 'personal' issue instead of a professional one but I still resented the last minute cancellation. I asked for elaboration on what the problem was but of course she wouldn't tell me as it 'wasn't my business'.

I had to count to ten mentally 3 times and remind myself of a lot of logical, practical, and gentlemanly things before I screamed at the top of my lungs. I had rearranged my ENTIRE schedule to accommodate her changes, as had Bella. Three times we had done that, all so Tanya could come, and for what? I really did want to give Tanya a chance to change, to show that she could put Lizzie first but yet again I was left in the cold and Lizzie was again neither first, second, or third priority to her own mother.

"It's fine Tanya. I'll get the progress report and email it to you." I didn't wait for a response before I hung up. I had taken a lot of steps towards a new custody agreement for my daughter and I knew it was for the best yet the reality was beginning to really sink in. Some big changes were coming and while they would inevitably benefit me, Lizzie would not be so lucky. They always say that children lose out the most in divorce and custody battles, and that was growing clearer and clearer by the day. Developmentally, logically, and even long term emotionally everything I was doing was for the best. Short term however I couldn't deny that I would be taking Lizzie from her mother at least on some level and that would leave marks on my daughter. No matter how poor of a parent Tanya was she was still the only mother Lizzie had and as much as I wanted her to have a mom that was always around for her the harsh reality of everything was proving that was never going to happen. Tanya would continue her neglectful ways and to invariably 'dig her own grave', as it were. I didn't feel victorious or vindicated by this in any way. I didn't feel smug and I sure as hell didn't feel happy. All I could think about was Lizzie and how she would be the ultimate one of us that lost...

…...

I had waited patiently outside the classroom for the last parents to finish with Bella and I had loved seeing her smile and talk easily with them. Clearly everything was going well with their child and they seemed so happy with everything she gave them. She shook hands with both of them before they turned to leave and I stepped aside so the couple could leave. Bella hadn't noticed me yet as she had immediately turned away from the couple to put away their file and was opening up a new one... Lizzie's.

"Knock Knock." She turned when she heard my voice and offered me that bright smile I loved so much.

"Who's there?" I smirked as I walked into the room slowly while never taking my eyes off her.

"Tank." She looked puzzled but responded quickly as I got closer to her.

"Tank who?" I stopped right in front of her and gave her my best smile as she blushed red in response.

"You're very welcome." I spoke the sentence softly knowing it always made her blush when I took that tone. She gave a laugh while shaking her head, but of course still blushed. It wasn't the best joke I'd come up with but it was clever enough to get THAT color in her cheeks I adored so it was worth it.

"Hi, Edward." I smirked at her before stepping just a little bit closer to her, an undeniably intimate distance. I hadn't really thought about how I would greet her now given the unclear change in our relationship, and the fact that this was the first time we have ever actually been ALONE. She lowered her face and I was about to grab her chin to make her look at me when I saw her nervously look to the door. I stiffened realizing she expected my ex-wife to be here.

"Tanya wont be coming." The elation I'd felt from seeing Bella was now sullied as I remembered my conversation a few minutes ago. Just another in a long list of reminders that Tanya was not the mother my Lizzie deserved.

Bella looked at me in confusion and was about to speak, most likely to ask why Tanya couldn't be here but seemed to change her mind when she looked at my face. Instead she stepped closer to me and to my intense surprise she leaned up and hugged me. I was stunned for a moment but recovered fast enough not to waste the chance to hold Bella again. Something I had only experienced once and missed greatly. I hugged her back and she wrapped her arms kindly around my neck as I clutched her waist. "I'm sorry Edward." She spoke softly and I closed my eyes briefly at her apology. I was sorry to, all of this was going to fall on my little girl and she didn't deserve that. Bella knew I was going to do something involving custody of Lizzie. Despite not having told her in so many words I was sure she knew, yet she seemed to silently understand that now wasn't the time to discuss it all. She was so intuitive and patient that I wasn't even surprised by how well she was taking everything. Those traits were just a few of the ones that made her such a great teacher and that would also make her a wonderful mother someday.

She pulled away from our embrace after just a moment and gave me a small smile which I returned. She didn't ask for elaboration as I knew she wouldn't. She was beginning to understand the problems between Tanya, Lizzie and I and didn't want to add to them.

She changed the subject to Lizzie as we sat down and she pulled out everything. I was grateful for the distraction and was able to smile as we spoke about my favorite thing in the world, Lizzie. Bella started with math and talked all about how much of a whiz Lizzie was with numbers. This was something she got from her mother who was brilliant with everything related to numbers. After the math scores Bella showed me Lizzie's progress with handwriting and it was very obvious that she was getting noticeably better almost by the day. I smiled knowing that Lizzie was improving so much. Apparently Lizzie's new struggle in class was phonics. "She's excellent at memorization but doesn't seem to have much interest in reading." I frowned at that, not knowing what that meant exactly. I read to her all the time and she always gave me her complete attention.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't think she has the patience for vocabulary." Bella smiled to herself and turned just a little pink as she pulled out some assignments that she had done with Lizzie. "See in this assignment Lizzie was supposed to read the words as I pointed to them but instead she started reciting a story that she came up with." I reached for the sheet but Bella seemed hesitant to hand it to me at first. I watched her inner struggle as she bit her lower lip but finally handed it to me while hiding her bright red face from view. I had to admit my curiosity was peaked at this point. I read the sheet that Bella handed me and I saw that instead of Bella checking off each word as Lizzie said it, Bella instead wrote below the line of required words what Lizzie actually recited which was a story about going to the zoo with me and... Bella. I smirked before I looked up at Bella who was smiling to herself while continuing to keep her eyes on anything that wasn't me.

"What do you recommend Ms. Swan?" I kept my smile in place as Bella's red face met mine. I winked at her as my way of letting her know that we WOULD be coming back to this fun subject later but for now Lizzie had my focus. Bella nodded in silent understanding while clearing her throat and pulling out some more forms from her desk. She had a small packet with a list of about 100 words that Lizzie needed to have memorized before the end of the year. She recommended I turn them into flashcards and quiz Lizzie every now and then. She also said to keep up with what I'd been doing involving practicing writing with Lizzie, but starting to use these words to help her really get to know them.

I took everything that Bella gave and the last thing she had was Lizzie's social behavior information. "Lizzie is such a sweet and friendly girl and absolutely loves to help others." She smiled proudly as she spoke on this subject which of course made me smile. "The little girl that sits next to her really struggles with math and Lizzie is always trying to help her. It's actually really sweet and adorable." I smiled at that, glad that Lizzie was making friends. Bella handed me a copy of the behavior chart that was sent home with Lizzie daily explaining how well she did for the day. The grading was done in 2 parts. The students were graded with a color to represent overall behavior and a number (1-5) to represent their participation level. The behavior chart had green as the best with red being bad enough to need a call home. I was shamelessly smug when I saw that Lizzie was green or close to it just about everyday as well as a 4 or 5. I only ever saw these things on a daily grading scale that Bella sent home with the students everyday. I had no idea that Bella kept a detailed record of them, even writing notes by day for anything significant that happened to Lizzie that could have had an effect on her behavior for the day.

"She seems to be doing very well." I smiled as I looked at the overall results by week.

"She is, very well." Bella was biting her lip again and I frowned when I saw that she seemed to hesitate a bit.

"What is it Bella?" Her eyes met mine and instead of speaking she pointed to the days, specifically pointing out the number grade and the day of the week. At first I had no idea what she was trying to tell me until it finally clicked, just as Bella started speaking again.

"Ummm, Lizzie is always well behaved but some days she doesn't seem as interested in participating as others. Sure enough there were quite a few days where she was only a 2 while still keeping a good color grade. The thing Bella wasn't saying out loud was that all those days were days that she would be going home to Tanya, not me. I could read between the lines. Lizzie wasn't participating because she had no one to share her day with as most likely Tanya wasn't asking about it when she picked her up. Bella knew Lizzie's pick up schedule and had clearly figured this out as well.

I thought about what Jenks had said about what Bella's testimony would mean in court and even-though I would not do that, this information shouldn't be ignored either. After we were done going over everything Bella offered to make a copy of everything for Tanya and I agreed. Just as Bella was about to leave for the copy room with the originals I stopped her by lightly grabbing her arm. She looked up at me in question and I asked for a couple copies instead of just 1. She seemed curious but let it go and agreed to make me a few copies of everything. She returned to the classroom after a few minutes with everything, she even gave each set to me in a fresh folder so that they were organized.

I glanced to the door and saw that the next set of parents weren't here yet so I seized the opportunity to have a few more moments alone with Bella. I gently pulled her close to me before leaning down to give her a small kiss on the cheek. "Thank-you Bella." She turned just a little pink before nodding and telling me 'You're welcome'. I smiled as I let her go, then I left with all the information she'd given me.

END NOTES (PLEASE READ):

-PLEASE REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW

-I hope the legal stuff wasn't to dull but I know everyone's been wondering how Tanya gets away with what she does and why Edward has tolerated it as much as he has. Again a lot of this is based on real life for me. All of this is much more typical than anyone may realize. One parent is at best 'uninterested' in the day to day trials of parenting and allows the other to do ALL the work until it inconveniences them then BAM, suddenly they seem to care. Courts DO always try to keep a family as united as possible so it's a grueling process to get sole, primary, and dominate custody of a child. I really wanted this in the story as it's so unbelievably common. I understand why courts do this as no one wants a child to 'loose' a parent but we can all see how it sucks for someone in Edward and Lizzie's shoes...

-I wanted to get to Thursday but HAD to put in a little bit of the Tuesday class, and of course some Henry as he seems to have a little bit of a following with my fans. Lol

-The phonics thing is actually based on my daughter. She does this to her teacher when quizzed on vocab. She instead makes up a story and tells it instead of reading the words. The stories are always hilarious too. Lol. She's my little Bard.

-Another Knock Knock joke. LOL. They are fun and I'm trying to find as clever of ones as I can while still keeping them little kid level.

-Yes I know Edward hasn't asked Bella out yet but he's a bit distracted with personal issues. I didn't want it cheapened in any way. Bella really does mean a lot to Edward and officially starting a relationship with her should be when he's not under so much stress. Trust me, it is coming... SOON. I PROMISE you WILL NOT be disappointed. :-) :-)

-Sorry for the overall lack of excitement this chapter. I wanted everyone to get a feel for what's in Edward's world right now. Poor guy has a lot on his plate but of course always makes Lizzie his #1 priority.

DADDYward for the WIN.