A/N: *hand holding*

It was hard to believe it had only been nine days since Edward ran for Jasper's house. Nine days, and his entire world had changed.

He just didn't know what was right. Alec had told him so often he was thoughtless and inconsiderate. He didn't think right, didn't know how to be a good, considerate person. For that, he had the strange urge to run to Alec. His husband never hesitated to tell him what to do—the right way to be.

For instance, after he got out of the hospital, Bella had tried to talk to him about returning to his house to get his things. That seemed wrong. Nothing was his. He didn't work. Alec bought him everything. He'd had his husband arrested. He didn't deserve shirts and shoes. If he couldn't get them on his own, he shouldn't have them.

Jasper and Bella said he'd earned his possessions. He'd risen every day and done all he could to make Alec's life easier. He'd made his meals, cleaned his house, and listened when he needed to vent. It had been gruelling work—trying to be the partner Alec wanted him to be. That made sense, too.

Then again, he'd often been horrible at his "job." How often had Alec told him he gave him more stress, not less. He made more messes and irritated Alec when he'd had a hard day at work.

Edward rubbed his temples, as indecisive as ever. He was alone in Jasper's apartment. That always made him nervous. He tried not to touch anything, but that was inevitable. He kept a running tally of the resources he used up, so he could pay Jasper back someday.

But how?

That was what led Edward to conclude that he really did need to get a few things. He couldn't keep borrowing Jasper's clothes. That was inconsiderate as hell. And it wasn't like Alec was going to get any use out of his clothes.

Bella had gotten his key from Alec and made it clear that when Edward was ready to return home to get his things, Alec had to make himself scarce. She'd also told Edward all he had to do was call her, and she would escort him to the house just in case.

The thing was Edward didn't want to bother Bella either. He knew it was her job to do things like that, but she'd been bending over backward to help him. He liked Bella. A lot. He wanted her to be his friend, and even he knew it wasn't great to start a friendship off with one person doing the other a ton of personal favors.

He decided he would go home when he knew Alec was at work. No harm there. He didn't need Jasper or Bella to hold his hand.

It was so weird to walk into his home as though he was a stranger. He looked around, almost surprised that everything looked so normal. Wasn't this where he belonged? Alec had moved them here four years ago, and it had been where Edward spent most of his time.

But no. There was something off about the place. There was something different, though Edward couldn't put his finger on it.

Maybe it was him. He was the one who was changed. Mangled. Someone he didn't recognize.

Confused as ever, Edward went to the closet and got down his suitcase. He fingered the worn tags, remembering all the places Alec had taken him. There had been good times. A lot of good times.

Edward turned his attention to the coats. His heartbeat quickened when he saw the fine cashmere coat, and he remembered what had happened the day he ran out of the house wearing it. The rain damage was so minimal, and so easily dealt with, but Alec… Oh, he hadn't been pleased.

There had been bad times. Very, very bad times.

The first time Alec had hit him, he said it was an accident. It had been. They'd been arguing, Edward was right on his heels, and Alec had swung around, accidentally backhanding him so hard, his lip had bled.

That time, Alec had been so apologetic. The anger had drained from his features in an instant, and he was all over Edward, hugging him and chanting, "I'm sorry. Baby, I'm so sorry. It was an accident. I would never hurt you."

Some time after that, though, his tune had changed. There had been a few more accidents. He'd pushed Edward a few times. Then, he hit him. On purpose.

"Why do you do this to me, Edward? You knew it was going to piss me off. You knew it, and you did it anyway."

He'd been right, that time. Edward knew what he was doing, and he'd done it anyway. Even now, he remembered how stupid he'd felt.

Alec had gathered him close, wrapped him up in his arms and rocked him, kissing his cheek again and again. "I'm sorry, baby. I'm so sorry. I love you. You just drive me so crazy sometimes. I don't know why you have to push me like that. You know I don't want to hurt you. You know that, right?"

"I know," Edward had whispered, stunned and feeling stupid. "I'm sorry. It was my fault."

"Immaturity comes with youth," Alec had sighed in his ear and stroked his cheek. "You're learning, and I need to try to be more patient."

But Edward had kept making mistakes, and Alec had gotten resentful. It made sense to Edward in a lot of ways. Alec shouldn't have had to tell him over and over again things that seemed obvious in retrospect.

Shaking his head, Edward shoved the cashmere coat back in the closet, opting for a different, less expensive one. Then, he headed for the bedroom.

As he got in the door, he gasped. Unfortunately, the noise woke Alec, who was asleep on top of their bed. "Edward?" he said, sounding groggy.

Edward walked backward, startled when he came up against the wall. His heart began to pound out of control.

Alec swung his legs over the bed and stood, reaching a hand out. "Baby…"

Alec came forward. Edward stumbled backward, but Alec was faster. Edward tensed, and raised an arm to cover his face, but his husband fell to his knees. He wrapped his arms around Edward's legs. "I'm so sorry. Baby, please, listen to me."

Thrown off guard, Edward froze. Anger he expected. How could Alec not be angry? He had all kinds of legal problems now. He'd spent the night in jail, for chrissakes. How could he not be angry?

Looking down, Edward was stunned to find tears in Alec's eyes. His husband pressed a kiss against his belly over his shirt. "Oh, my god, Edward. Baby, please. You have to believe I didn't mean to hurt you like that. They said you had to have surgery. That's not what I wanted."

With shaking hands, Edward unwound his husband's fingers from his shirt and took a step backward, out the door. He swallowed hard. "But you did want to hurt me."

Alec furrowed his brow. "No. Of course not. I never want to hurt you." He swallowed, looking up at Edward through large eyes. "I know I fucked up. I know it. Look, we can get help, okay?"

His husband was still on his knees, and Edward was confused. Alec had told him before he'd try harder to be patient, but help? That was different. "We'd get help?" he asked, hesitating. So much of him was still in flight mode, screaming to run away before the hitting started. "What kind of help?"

"I don't know. Counseling, I suppose. We both have things to work on."

Something foreign churned in Edward's gut. He stepped back, and Alec got to his feet. Edward jolted backward. A memory flashed through his mind. Alec had stalked him down this hallway, Edward crawling, trying to scramble away from him while his husband ranted and the handle of the guitar fell on him again and again. He glanced down. His blood still stained the floor and the walls-not as macabre as it had been, but still obvious. Of course. Alec wasn't as fastidious about cleaning as Edward was.

Edward took several more steps, dancing out of Alec's reach. "I have to go." He was so angry. He hadn't been prepared for how angry he would be.

"No. Wait." Alec lunged forward and grabbed Edward by the shirt again. "I'm your husband, Edward. The least you can do is talk to me."

A chill went down Edward's spine at the tone in Alec's voice. It was the tone he used when Edward wasn't behaving as he thought he should. "Let go of me," he said, pleased when his voice didn't shake.

"Edward—"

"If you do love me. If you really didn't want to hurt me, then right now, you need to let go of me."

Alec's eyes hardened, and he took an intimidating step forward. "So you can run back to that son-of-a-bitch waiter? Huh? Is that where you've been?"

A tremor went through Edward, and he took a step backward. "Alec—"

"Can't you see what he's doing to us, baby? Don't you see what's right in front of you? He's the one who put it into your head that you had to get the police involved."

Out of the hallway now, Edward tried to dart away. Alec was ready for that. He grabbed him by the arm and wrenched him back. Edward cried out, and his knees buckled with the pain of it. "Let me go. Alec, please."

Alec didn't. He shook him, really angry now. "Do you know the trouble you've caused? My work knows I was in jail. I had to call my friend to bail me out. Was that what you wanted, Edward?" He shook him again. Hard. Edward groaned, feeling as though he was about to yank his arm from his socket. "Answer me!"

"Alec, please." Edward hated how his voice had turned into a whine, but he needed out of there. He was all alone, and he'd been right. His husband was going to kill him for what he'd done. He could see the tempest looming, getting bigger by the moment. "You said you didn't want to hurt me. You're hurting me. Let me go. Please."

"You—"

"Hey! Step away from him right now."

Edward raised his head, shocked at the sound of a familiar voice. Bella—dressed in plain clothes—was advancing on them quickly. Her eyes were sharp on Alec. "Let him go and take a step back. Now," she commanded, her tone authoritative in a way Edward hadn't ever heard it before. He'd have been scared of her if she was looking at him like that.

Alec scoffed. "I remember you. This is my house, officer. I'm just having a conversation with my husband."

"And you have a restraining order. You need to stay away from this man at all times."

"He came here."

"It's his house. He has a right to be here. Now let him go and step away before I make you."

"Edward." Alec's voice was calm, and he didn't let him go. "Tell the nice officer that we were just talking."

"Let me go, Alec."

That was the last straw. With a growl, Alec yanked Edward to his feet. The movement set Bella in action. She raced forward, grabbing Alec by the wrist and twisting. Alec bellowed. With a roar of pain and indignation, he lashed out, not at Edward—who, finding himself loose, had skittered backward—but at Bella. He caught her across the temple, and she fell to the ground.

She was back on her feet before Edward even had her name out. There was a scuffle. Edward yelled at Alec to stop. He yelled at both of them to stop. But at the end, Alec was up against the wall, and Bella was producing cuffs from her back pocket, reading his husband his rights.

"Congratulations, asshole," Bella said, wresting him away from the wall she'd shoved him up against. "We're going to add assaulting an officer to your rap sheet. I'm going to put you away for a nice, long while."

~Jasper~

Bella called Jasper to let him know he should probably come meet them at the police station. She and Edward were there, giving a statement. She'd had to hang up the phone before Jasper could get a coherent story out of her, so he was frantic by the time he arrived.

He found Edward first. He was sitting in a chair, his hand in his hair, slumped over.

"Edward?"

When Jasper called him, Edward stood. Surprisingly, he rushed at Jasper and wrapped his arms around his neck. "H-hey."

"Hey. Hey." Jasper rubbed his back. "Are you okay?"

Edward took a deep breath and stepped backward, wrapping his arms around his shoulders and chafing them. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry."

Jasper frowned, taking his hand. "Your wrist…" His right wrist was dark purple with finger marks.

Edward pulled his hand away, hiding it. "Yeah. He got Bella worse."

Jasper's eyes went wide. "He did what?"

"He put the nail in his coffin, is what he did," Bella said, appearing out of nowhere. "Let him try to beat these charges now."

Sure enough, she had a hell of a shiner going. "Jesus Christ," Jasper muttered under his breath. "What the hell happened?"

When Edward didn't volunteer any information, Bella filled in the blanks. "I had today off, so I decided to go see if Edward wanted any company. But you weren't there." She patted him lightly on the arm.

Edward cringed and looked down like he was a kid being scolded. Bella frowned, the creases at the corner of her eyes tightening, but she continued her story. "Call it a hunch, call it women's intuition. I suspected he'd gone back to the house, so I drove by." Her mouth was set in a thin line, her eyes hard. "I saw them through the window. The big bay window. It was like he had no shame."

"The window," Edward whispered. If anything, his features blanched whiter, and he swayed in place. "I always kept the blinds closed. I kept them closed, because…"

He didn't have to say the words. Jasper knew. These days, he knew a lot about victims of domestic violence. They were good at hiding the abuse. They were good at lying, good at pretending. Edward had kept the blinds to the big bay window at the front of his house closed because some part of him knew that when his husband hurt him, the neighbors would see if he didn't.

Clearing her throat, Bella reached out and squeezed Edward's shoulder. He didn't cringe this time, but he looked up. "I never thought he would hurt you," he said to Bella. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I went by myself. That was stupid."

"It's not stupid to want to believe you're safe walking into your own house," Bella said. She squeezed his shoulder again. "I have some paperwork to do. I'll catch up with you guys, okay?"

"We can go?" Jasper asked.

Bella nodded. "We have what we need."

When she was gone, Edward shivered. "Alec is an asshole," he said quietly.

He looked so miserable, as though he'd finally realized that maybe it really was Alec and not him who was the cause of all this nastiness. "He really, really is," Jasper said, reaching out again carefully. "Come here."

Edward let Jasper draw him in for a hug. This time, he didn't let go. He let Jasper comfort him for a long, long time.

A/N: How are we, kids? Breathing?

Personal note. For anyone who doesn't know, I have a new book coming out on Thursday. It's called Spaces Between Notes, and you can find it on Amazon under my name, Kristina M. Sanchez.

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