A/N: Pics & videos are up on the blog.


Calling Dr. Brandon the other night was more helpful than I thought it would be.

She stayed on the phone with me for over an hour, talking to me about what I was feeling and helping me work through it.

I'm glad I called her, because I'm fairly certain if I didn't, then I would now be the not so proud owner of at least six sets of the Stretch Genie…and really, who needs a spray to make your shoes bigger…you're better off just buying a pair that fits right in the first place.

Today was a productive day as well, Bella and Dr. Brandon were working with me on the house, and it was a good thing because despite feeling good about the progress I've made so far, I was feeling a bit antsy about working on sorting through things today.

When we first started, Bella and Dr. Brandon wanted to push me to get the remainder of the foyer cleared out, but I didn't want to, I just wanted to do half of what was left. I wasn't feeling like I was ready to let it all go.

Dr. Brandon wouldn't budge though, and made me really talk about why I was so resistant to working today.

"Because," I shouted. "It makes me feel vulnerable…like anyone could get in here now. Having all this stuff here…crowding the entryway…it made me feel protected, like no one could find me and hurt me."

"Are you afraid of intruders or burglars Edward?" Dr. Brandon questioned.

"No…I…I'm afraid of people ridiculing me, of making fun of me."

Dr. Brandon nodded her head knowingly, and I hated myself for making myself look so weak in front of Bella…now she would now just how horribly weak I really was, and it would ruin any chance, not that there was one to begin with, that I might have had to be with her.

"Does this have anything to do with what you experienced as a child?" Dr. Brandon asked me, not letting the subject go.

"Yes," I mumbled.

"Okay, we'll drop this for now, and address it more in our next session, but…we are going to work on finishing this foyer today. You might feel uncomfortable and uneasy about it, but you need to feel that anxiety and learn to work through it."

"Dr. Brandon is right," Bella chimed in softly. "You need to push forward if you want to get this whole house done, and we can't do anything else until the foyer is cleared out. And you're not alone…you have me and Dr. Brandon here to help you."

She offered me a small smile, and between that smile and what she said…I wanted to prove to her that I could do it, so I agreed and we all got to work.

I almost wanted to die of embarrassment though when Bella laughed as she stumbled upon my Mighty Bites and Pocket Fishermans. Seeing my horrified expression though made her stop as she fumbled through an apology.

"Oh God! Edward…I'm so sorry. I swear I wasn't laughing at you, it's just…my father likes to fish, and he bought both of these things. Neither worked and he wrote very strongly worded letters to the manufacturers. He was so grumpy the day he tried them when he went out on the river with his friends and he was the only one who didn't catch anything. I just thought of how funny he looked because he pouted that whole night."

I felt a bit more at ease when she explained herself, and used it as a way to get to know more about her, asking her more about her dad and her family life. I found out she had a much younger 10 year old brother named Riley who was, as she put it, a whoopsie-daisy baby for her parents, and how she was growing more and more tired of her mother's harassing her to settle down, find a decent man, and give her grandbabies already.

I was quite pleased about the last part, and in the midst of that small bit of happy news, I went on a purging spree, getting rid of all of the Mighty Bites and the Pocket Fishermans, as well as all of my Head Wedgies, Instant Zippers, and all four dozen cans of Flex Seal that I ordered, because let's face it…who really needs rubber in a can in the first place.

By the time I got rid of all that stuff, there wasn't much left to go through to get the foyer finished, and I found myself a bit more eager to get it done.

Two hours later, we managed to power through it all and for the first time in three and a half years I was able to see the entire entry to my home from floor to ceiling. The sense of accomplishment I felt was amazing, and Dr. Brandon talked to me about it, asking me to journal about it so that when I was having a more difficult day, I could go back and read about my accomplishment and remind myself of why I was doing this in the first place.

Mom, Dad, and Emmett showed up a few minutes later as Bella and Dr. Brandon were leaving to pick me up for our weekly family dinner, and I couldn't help be feel excited over their reactions to the cleared space. They told me how proud they were of me, and all offered to come over more to help me with working on the rest of the house and even asked if I would want them to sit in on some of my sessions with Dr. Brandon. The fact that they were so proud of me, and so willing to do anything to help…made me feel not so alone and I knew with certainty, that I would have no worries about shopping sprees tonight.


A/N: Chapter 12 will post tomorrow.