Sorry I kept updating chapter 10! My account said that it would not update but my email recieved the notifications... Oh, Prom was absolutely amazing (Enter emoji with heart eyes here) ha ha. But never mind that. Here's the next chapter!

Enjoy

EPOV

I wiped my palms on my jeans as Bella and I sat down at the table. She was reading over the menu, completely at ease, and here I was sweating perfusely. My throat was dry, despite how much water I drank, and a huge lump seemed to be blocking my throat preventing me from talking to her.

She was stunning.

I was only capable of drooling over her beauty.

Can someone possibly look that beautiful? Bella, did.

Her eyebrows scrunched together and her perfect pink lips puckered as she debated between items on the menu.

Suddenly, her face relaxed as she determined what she would eat, and she closed her menu happily and looked at me. She looked at me looking at her... Like an idiot.

I ducked my head at the menu I had yet to look at and looked at the words without really reading them.

"Are you two ready to place your order?" A teenaged boy asked, blue eyes roaming over Bella appreciatively. She did not look at him, but at me, waiting for something.

Oh, right. My order.

"I'll have the steak, medium rare. Fries." I was lucky to have been in this resturant several times with my family, and knew what I liked. I handed the waitor- Michael, his name was- as he absentmindedly took it from me. He waited tentively to take Bella's order.

I couldn't blame him.

"And for you, Miss?" Bella finally tore her eyes away from my face and gave him a shy smile.

"I'll have a steak as well, please. Make mine medium, though. With mashed potatoes, please." She handed the boy back her menu and turned to face me. He stood there for a while before he finally left. Stupid kid... "You look mad." She stated, tilting her head to the side.

Oops. "I just don't appreciate how unfocused our waitor appears." I danced around the truth. She raised an eyebrow and suddenly turned smug.

"Now, Edward Cullen, are you jealous?" The laughter in her voice made the sweat stop but my heart pick up even quicker. I just shrugged.

"Maybe I insist my waitor pay attention to his costumers without favoritism." I tried to shrug it of and opened my mouth to change the topic. But I was abrupted with a snort and a laugh.

"Edward, you're jealous? Seriously?" Seeing Bella free from that timid woman that enclosed her in fear was amazing. I loved this Bella.

"Maybe I am." Honesty surprised her. She stopped her fit of giggles and looked me in the eyes. The chocolate melted and I swam in them. My body took over. I lied my hand on hers and recognition shocked my body as it always did. "Bella, you are beautiful tonight. I can't blame him for admiring your beauty, but I can't say it doesn't make me want to wisk you away so only I could enjoy your beauty."

She was stunned in silence, her eyes wide.

Uh oh. Was that too much?

I hastily tried to find an exit route, but she suddenly flipped her hand over to lace her fingers with mine.

"Thank you, Edward. You've been so patient for me. So good to my sisters. I'm so appreciative." Her eyes watered, only enhancing the beauty in them. She blinked away a tear. I reached across the table to brush away the treacherous tear, and she closed her eyes and sighed.

What a beautiful sound. It seemed to race through my arm and into my heart. Her eyes opened, and they were different. When I had met Bella in Junior High and looked into her eyes, I could only see a shield. Now, the final shield had been torn down. And they were full of fear, trust, and hope.

"Edward... I..." She straightened up and cleared her throat. "I want to tell you about my past."

I've been waiting for this since the day I met Isabella Swan.

BPOV (I debated ending it there... But I'm too nice :P)

His eyes seemed to burn with desire. Instead of allowing me to chicken out, his hand squeezed around mine reassuringly.

It felt so right. It was all I needed to continue.

"Soon after Victoria was born, Renee left. We used to be a happy family. But a third kid just meant that she would have to live in Forks longer. She wanted to be free, she said. She wanted to abort Victoria. She wanted to get rid of all of us..."

-Flashback-

"Charlie, we can drop the girls off! We can have our lives back!" Renee clung onto her husband as he held their newborn in his arms. I was only a couple years old as I watched my parents fight.

Mommy didn't want me?

I was too scared to approach her, so I cowered against the wall of the house as they fought.

"Renee, my love, we can't just-" Daddy tried as he reached out with his free hand to console her.

"To hell we can't! We haven't been able to be free in forever! We'll never be free of this God-awful town! Because of them." She hissed 'them" motioning to Victoria and Angela. Victoria cooed in her chair.

"Renee, the doctors said it's perfectly normal for mothers to become depressed-" Again, Daddy was cut off.

"Depressed?! Don't you dare! I am not depressed! I am exhausted! I am confined! I am imprisoned!" Mommy was angry. She threw her hands up angrily. Daddy walked over to me, and handed me Angela. I held her the way Mommy told me to hold Victoria.

"Take your sister to your room. Then come back down for Victoria." Daddy was calm, and he kissed me on my forehead.

His fuzzy beard tickled.

I quickly forgot the squabble and walked carefully with my sister.

Daddy said she could get hurt. And that it was my job to protect her. Because I'm now double the big sister.

I lied baby Angela in her crib that took up one wall of our room. I then ran downstairs to get Victoria.

She's heavy.

I carried her upstairs to the room and lied her down in her own crib.

Mommy said a bad word. I ran to the door and softly closed the door.

The talking turned to shouting. The shouting turned to screams.

Footsteps stomped up the stairs and a door slammed open. It was either my room or Mommy and Daddy's.

"Renee.. Please, calm down." Daddy said softly in front of our door. Mommy slammed the door open and glared at me.

Her eyes shot behind me and her eyes filled with hatred as she scanned over my sisters sleeping. I stood between her and the cribs.

Protect them. Do whatever it costs. Daddy had said while I watched him tuck in my sisters. He kissed them on the foreheads, and then led me to my own room, where he tucked me in. I love you guys. Never forget that.

I stood there and challenged my mother.

I stood there and challenged Renee.

She knew I would protect them. So she spat, "It's your fault!" And left the room.

The door was opened enough to see Daddy punch the wall and start to follow Renee out the house, begging her to come back.

I never saw her again.

Daddy left and never came back. At least, not the Daddy that would tickle me to see if I was really sleeping. Not the Daddy that would sit me on his lap as I explained the random thoughts that came to my head- the dreams.

Charlie came back, two days later.

Drunk and foul-smelling.

I had been trying to make my sisters stop crying. They cried a lot. I had scavanged the house for foods. I changed diapers. I bounced them up and down.

But they would not stop.

When Charlie had come home, I ignored the smell and ran to hug him, thankful he was home to make my sisters' pain stop. I didn't know why they were so sad and I wanted to fix them. I was rejected of my embraced.

Charlie shoved me to the ground instead.

Another wail from one of the girls, and Charlie wince and dropped the beer bottle in his hand to shield his ears. I was on the floor, ready to cry.

But then he barked a question at me. "The fuck are you sitting around for? Go make those things stop crying!"

I got up and stepped into him, arms raised to be picked up. I was confused and scared. I needed my daddy.

I hadn't known I had lost him forever. Instead of a reassuring hug, I felt a sting across my face, that sent me back to the floor. I did not stop the tears from flowing and stared through the curtain of water at my father. At the monster.

"Go stop that noise!" I didn't tell him I didn't know how. Or that what he did hurt. I turned and ran to my sisters' room. I held them both. I cried with them.

"I will never, ever hurt you." I promised. "I will always keep you safe. I promise."

-End of Flashback-

"That was the first time Charlie hit me. It got worse throughout the years. By the time I met you, I had already been getting abused for five years. Charlie blamed us for Renee leaving. I think I heard that Renee died in some town in Michigan. I don't know. But, yeah. Charlie thought I was telling the school that I was being abused, so he knocked me out. That's why I had missed so long. When I finally woke up, I had decided that it was time to go away. We lived on the streets a couple blocks away for a while, begging for food. But once that pool ran dry, I sold myself. A couple times. But, I had to stop. That's when I found a job as a stripper. No one else would hire me. And now... here we are."

I slowly looked back up to meet his eyes. His green eyes swam with sadness and understanding.

I searched them, for disgust, but I couldn't find it.

Instead of hating me now, like I had expected him to, he grabbed my face and pulled it to his and kissed me.

It was the first kiss that I had wanted to participate in.

Our lips fit together perfectly, and urgency rang throught each kiss.

We pulled apart, only to breathe, and my breathing was ragged. He rested his forehead against mine and looked me in the eyes. "Bella, you are so amazingly strong. I am so sorry that you had to go through that. But you are just so goddamn strong." Another kiss. "And beautifully fierce." Another. "I love you."

Before I had the chance to answer, Michael cleared his throat with our plates in his hands.

He looked hurt and dropped our plates in front of us and left before asking if we needed anything else. I felt my cheeks redden at the idea of the poor kid heart-broken because of me.

"Bella, you don't have to say it back, okay? I just needed you to know that's how I feel. I don't expect you to say it back anytime soon." Edward gave my hand a final squeeze and sat back in his seat, smiling. He dug in his food happily and I began to cut in mine.

Do I love Edward Cullen? Of course I do.

Was I ready to tell him?

I looked up from my steak and laughed at the mess Edward was making. I looked into his green eyes, trying to read my feelings in them.

Should I tell him?

AN: I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please, continue to favorite, follow, and review!

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'Till next chapter!