Okay, so I know a lot of you have been waiting for this chapter, so…enjoy. LOL. Anyways, you know the drill, read and REVIEW!!!!!!! Try to get to a hundred fifty five guys, woot woot!

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight. Stephenie Meyer does.

Chapter Twelve

Alice's Point of View

"Thanks, Rose, I'll see you tomorrow," I yelled over my shoulder, slamming the car door shut and sprinting towards my front door. I had to get a ride with Rosalie today because my brother Edward, being the complete and absolute idiot that he is, either forgot to take me home or decided he just didn't want to. I wasn't exactly surprised- he did this kind of often, whenever he wanted to go make out with some slut that he called his 'girlfriend' in a parking lot.

Although, I thought, I haven't seen him with anyone since he's been going after Bella…maybe they'd be good for each other…well, whatever. I tossed the concern out of my head. Bella has already made it pretty clear she doesn't want to go out with Edward, but something about her just makes him keep on chasing her. I sighed. My brother was so complicated sometimes.

After I let myself into the huge white mansion, I saw Edward and Carlisle deep in conversation. Deciding I would get back at him for not taking me home today, I stealthily snuck up on Edward and whispered into his ear, "Boo." He jumped back three miles and let out a breath sharply. I laughed. He was so easy to spook.

Edward turned to glare at me.

"Don't do that," he hissed. I rolled my eyes and flopped down onto the couch.

"So, what's up?" I asked conversationally, picking up a water from the table. Edward gave Carlisle one of those 'should I tell her or not' looks. I could tell he didn't want me to see it, but I caught it anyways.

"Okay, what the hell is going on?" I demanded. My father gave Edward a little nod.

"All right, well…" he began, "Bella's been-"

"What did you do to her, nitwit?" I cut in venomously. Edward spared me a withering look.

"Nothing, you idiot, just keep listening. Anyways, as I was saying before I was most rudely interrupted, Bella has been…abused. Badly, by her father." He stopped.

The first emotion I felt was confusion. Bella wasn't abused. She would have told me so. But then, little things began to click in my head.

She had bruises all the time, which she claimed were from her tripping. According to Angela, she never wore shorts, only sweatpants and a long t-shirt. She always was very uncomfortable when she talked about her father. Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. This couldn't be happening. What did Bells ever do to deserve beatings from her father?

Very, very suddenly, a wave of white-hot anger engulfed my senses. Whoever had done that to my gentle best friend, one that I would gladly give my life for, was going to pay dearly. Very, very dearly.

I didn't realize my feet had carried me swiftly over to the door until Edward was pulling me back. I also was screaming, "I'm going to kill her father! The SON of a BITCH!!!!!! Who the hell does he think he is, pushing around my best friend like that? Well, whoever the hell he thinks he is, he is going to pay, the motherfucker!" (A/N: Sorry for the language, I just need to get across exactly how pissed off Alice is right now.)

"Alice, calm down!" Carlisle commanded in a voice full of authority. "Bella will be fine. In fact, she's going to live with us for a while. So why don't you go shopping and get things off your mind; I'm sure Bella would love it if you decorated her room and got her new clothes as a welcome present." He thought for a moment while a smile spread across my face. Shopping was the best thing in my life…next to my family, Jasper, Bella, and Rosalie, of course.

"And also, sister dearest," Edward called, "watch your language." I turned around to scowl at him. He used those words and more on a regular basis.

"Then you, brother dearest," I said back as sickly sweet as I could manage, "should listen to your own advice." I didn't watch to see Edward's reaction to my rather clever comeback, because with that, I pivoted on my heel and ran towards Rosalie's house so we could go shopping for Bella's room, fighting giggle attacks the entire way there.

Edward's Point of View

I sighed and rubbed my temples. Alice was such a handful sometimes.

Really, that wasn't the only reason I was massaging my head. Bella was safe, for the time being, anyways, but I needed to find her father and bring him to justice. People like him needed to be locked up in jail, they were so messed up that no one could fix them in one of those mental hospitals.

Obviously, I tried to get the FBI to go to Bella's house and arrest him, but it wasn't that easy. Her father seems to have left, disappeared, whatever you want to call it, and it didn't appear he was coming back. He had barely any clothes in his closet, and chances are he had a spy or something like that to tell him to get out of there, not unless he wanted to get busted.

The other reason would be I finally discovered my true feelings for Bella. Well, actually, not really, considering I found those out a long time ago and I've just been denying them since then. So, today would be the day I'm finally accepting the fact that I like Bella. I don't love her…not yet…but I'm defiantly falling, and hard, for my sister's best friend. I sighed again. Sooner or later, whether I like it or not, I'll have to tell Bella my true feelings.

Alice's Point of View

"Rose! Jazz! Open up!" I yelled, pounding on the oak door of their mansion. Suddenly, the entrance swung open to reveal a very irritated looking Jasper.

"You don't have to shout, Alice," he muttered, but enfolded my tiny form into a hug.

"Hey, can you get Rose?" I asked. He smiled, kissed me briefly but sweetly on the lips, and disappeared into the house.

I sighed and stepped in, checking my nails. This could take a while. Their house was almost as big as ours, and it always took forever to find anything in here.

"Hi, Alice," Rosalie murmured from behind me, making me jump. I hadn't realized she'd been walking up behind me. It seemed like she was soundless when she walked.

"Hey, Rosalie…" I greeted her quickly, then plunged into the whole story with no hesitation.

"And so we have to go shopping for her new wardrobe and her room decorations," I finished. Rosalie just stared at me, her mouth forming a little 'o'. Then, she became just as angry as I had, cussing and cursing Charlie to hell a thousand times over. I just picked at my nails until she was done- no one could calm Rosalie down while she was in the middle of a tirade.

"Okay, Alice," she said, controlling her voice. I could tell she was trying to forget about her fury so I could actually talk to her like a sane person. "Let's go." I nodded happily and jumped into her flashy red BMW.

We chatted the entire way there about what we were going to get for Bella's room, as we were shopping for that first. Finally, after much debating, we decided on dark pink walls, a polka dotted bed that had the same color as the walls for the background color and brown spots for the design, a light brown desk, a milk chocolate leather chair, lots of posters and picture frames, and an oak bedside would suit Bella while she was staying at our house.

After a long drive, we arrived at the hardware store. Even though Rose and I had already come to the conclusion of what we wanted for Bella's room, we still bickered over what to get.

"No, Rosalie, that totally and completely does not suit Bella! She hates black!"

"No! It would totally go with everything else we picked out!" I rolled my eyes. Rosalie had picked out a pitch black reading lamp from the shelf and was trying to convince me to get it. I was stubborn, though, and she grudgingly returned the item.

"All righty then, now that that's done," I said brightly as we left the store after forty five minutes, "let's go shopping for her new wardrobe!"

"Yay!" Rosalie squealed, clapping and jumping up and down. She looked like a five year old.

"I know, I'm really excited too, let's go!" Rosalie sped off at more than twice the legal speed limit towards the huge mall not even ten minutes from here. Seven, actually, if you go at Rosalie's speed.

We came to an abrupt halt to my heaven on earth: the mall.

"Come on, Ali, let's go to American Eagle first," Rosalie yelled over her shoulder.

We waltzed into the store, and there were clothes everywhere. We shopped until we almost dropped, which was about for two hours, and then Rose drove to our house to help with all the decorating.

We got everything done except the painting, which would have to be completed with all the boys, and stepped back to admire our work.

The brown and magenta polka dotted bedspread and the nightstand complemented the room perfectly…besides the walls, of course, which were currently a non-matching off-white color.

"Those walls look horrible," Rosalie sighed, echoing my thoughts. "But we'll have to paint those later." I nodded. Suddenly, Edward poked his head into the room.

"Hey, ladies, Bella's coming home in a couple of days, so you have until then to finish up the room." With that, he left…to go back to the hospital, I guessed. Carlisle had informed me that he hadn't left Bella's side until now, and that was just to get something to eat.

Weird, I thought. He must really care about her…he's never done anything like this for any other girl, ever…

"Rose?" I asked, turning towards her.

"Yeah?"

"Does Edward seem…different to you?" Rosalie's face scrunched up slightly in thoughtfulness.

"Yes, he does," she said slowly. "Ever since he met Bella. I haven't seen him kissing one girl, or even flirting with one, save Bella. And, he seems…nicer. I don't know. I like the 'new' Edward better, though," she told me.

"Yeah, me too. And Bella seems to be warming up to him…really gradually, yeah, but still," I added. Rosalie nodded.

I sighed and pulled Rosalie towards my room, still pondering about what on earth Bella had that had changed my brother.

Bella's Point of View

As soon as I woke up, I felt a little pang of disappointment that Edward wasn't there. Silly, I told myself. Who cares if he isn't here? It doesn't matter, besides, you'll see him soon.

I cheered up with the last part. I would see him soon. That made my spirits lighten up.

You like him, don't you, a small voice accused me in the back of my head. I sighed. If my own mind was asking if I like him, then I couldn't deny it anymore.

I really did like him. A lot. More than anybody else I'd ever met. I sighed again. This was so complicated. He probably didn't like me back, but I'd have to tell him anyways. It would be too hard to keep secret, since Alice is my best friend and I'm going to be living with him for the next couple of weeks.

The door opened and Edward peeped his head in. Great, I thought sarcastically. Well, at least I can get it over with.

I sat up against the fluffy white pillows. "Hi," I mumbled shyly. He looked at me dazzlingly. There was a little comfortable pause before we both blurted out, "I have to tell you something," in unison. I blushed a light pink while Edward grinned.

"You first," he prodded me. I shook my head.

"No, you. This is important, so I want to tell you it last." He sighed and fiddled with his hands. This surprised me. Edward usually wasn't nervous.

"Okay," he said finally. "I don't really know the best way to tell you this, so I'm just going to say it-no beating around the bush." He looked me straight in the eye. "I like you, Bella. I like you a lot. It's okay if you don't like me, but I just needed to get my feelings off my chest." He sat down in a nearby chair and put his head in his hands. Slowly, gently, I lifted his chin with my first finger.

"So do I," I whispered. "I wanted to tell you that. I realized that I liked you from the beginning, I just haven't wanted to get close to anyone, after…my mom," I choked out. His eyebrows shot up a little in surprise, but otherwise, he betrayed no emotion.

Suddenly, he leaned over and tilted his head and pressed his lips against mine. It was a sweet kiss that I eagerly returned, and slowly, it became more and more intense, until we were in full-out make-out mode.

A booming guffaw sounded behind me. "Get a room," Emmett laughed. I pulled back, flustered and blushing furiously. That only made him snort harder.

"Technically, we are in a room," Edward replied smoothly, taking one of my hands and intertwining it with his own. I smiled. I didn't care if Alice would go crazy, or if Emmett would tease me, or if every single girl in the school would talk about me and shoot me glares behind Edward's back. I was just glad that he felt the same way I did, and that was all that mattered.

Okay, I know, again, a little bit of a suckish ending. That's okay, though, because Edward and Bella finally kissed! Yay! Anyways, really sorry guys, but I'm going to camp for a couple days and won't be able to update for a while! Only until Friday, though. Anyways, read and REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Lalalalalalalalaaaa…okay, I know, I'm weird, I just wanted to put a little tune there at the end…LOL.)