A/N: Hello lovelies. If you're still reading, you're awesome. Story should really start picking up here and head into a few new directions. Some surprises coming up, new revelations for our lovers and some new people will be introduced.

Special thanks to all who are reviewing. It makes my day when my phone *bings* to a new review. And for those who are adding FTGH to alert/favorites. Those are bings too Love y'all.

Twilightzoner is loved dearly. Go check out her writing.

And sadly for all of us, Edward Cullen is still Stephanie's. No copyright infringement is intended.

Chapter Thirteen: Confession

"Edward," I began.

"What, baby?" he asked, voice still thick with sleep.

"I want to find my mom."

*********

It took me a few moments to register what Bella was saying. "You want to what?" I asked, groggy but stunned.

"I think I should find Renee," she replied, sitting up on her knees looking down at me.

"Bella, love…" I paused, pushing myself up so I could sit against the headboard. "Why?" I shook my head at her, not understanding the sudden bringing up of her mother.

"Edward, I'm tired of this!" she exclaimed. "I'm tired of being stuck. I feel like I can't ever move forward with my life! I'm angry and bitter and damn it, Edward, I hate her so fucking much!" Sobs were now rocking out of her chest. I pulled her over to my lap and wrapped my arms around her protectively.

"Baby, I know," I soothed, rocking us back and forth.

"I hate her," she sobbed. "How could she fucking do this to me? To Charlie?" Her body shook with the new found strength of her tears. Bella has never brought up her mother to me before, willingly, at least, and from what Alice and Charlie had told me, she doesn't talk about her to anybody else, either. "She is so damn selfish, Edward. She took everything with her when she left.

"You know," she said, turning towards me and looking at me directly, "she didn't even say bye. Not a fucking word! I don't get it, Edward. What the hell did I do to make her not even care enough to say good-bye to her own fucking daughter? Why was I not good enough?"

"No, baby, don't think that way," I pleaded.

"If I was good enough, she would have stayed," she said between gasps of breath. She was crying so hard, and it shattered my heart.

"I tried," she said. "I told myself that if I behaved better or got better grades, or joined more clubs, that she would come back, that she would want me then. I wanted her, so badly, to want me."

I pulled her head back to my chest and ran my hand through her hair. "I know you did, baby. You were so young, and it wasn't fair."

I held her close to me and continued to rock her. Her sobs eventually lessened, but I could still feel the tears soak my chest.

"Baby," I whispered.

"Hmmm," she replied.

"I still don't understand why you want to find her, after all she did to you and took from you. She doesn't deserve to have someone as wonderful as you in her life."

She was quiet for a moment before she answered. "Because she's my mother, Edward. And no matter how much I hate her for what she did, I still love her. I love her so fucking much." And the sobs were back.

We stayed in bed for at least another hour, with Bella wrapped up in my arms. Her vulnerability was so very evident, and she laid her heart out for me to see just how broken it really was.

I wanted to fix her and sew her back together. But I knew that I couldn't do that, no matter how hard I would try. I hated the woman who did this to her. Bella was so young, just a little girl. Of course, she would blame herself for her own fucking mother leaving.

If I were being honest, I thought finding Renee was a bad fucking idea. Bella was only going to get her heart broken again. Either Renee would want nothing to do with her or she would play nice for a little while, just to skip town again. But it wasn't my place to tell her that she couldn't find her mom. If this was the closure that she thought she needed, then I would support her through it. And by support, I meant grit my fucking teeth together to keep my mouth shut and make sure that my arms are open for her when she falls. Because she will fall again, and I didn't know how much more she could take.

"Edward," she said, turning to face me.

"Yeah, baby," I said, pushing the hair that had fallen down her face behind her ear.

"Will you make me some breakfast?" she asked, earning a smile from me.

I kissed her quickly on the lips. "Of course, amore." I removed myself from her arms and stood up to stretch. "You go get a shower, and I'll have something waiting for you when you get out."

She got up and wrapped her arms around my waist. "Thank you, Edward."

I hugged her tightly and kissed the top of her head. "You're welcome, love."

*********

"Mmm, Edward, this smells delicious!" She came into the kitchen with her hair slightly damp and wearing nothing but one of my old high school football T-shirts.

"Don't get your hopes up too much, sweetheart. It's only scrambled eggs." I brought the plates over and sat them on the table. "I really need to go grocery shopping."

"Well, what time do you have to go to work today?"

"I have to leave here in about an hour," I said, pouring coffee for the both of us. "Cream and sugar?" I asked over my shoulder.

"Yes, please." She sat down in her chair and began eating. "How about, when you're at work, I can go to the store for you."

"Bella, you don't need to do that. I'm a big boy who is very capable of going grocery shopping." I sat down next to her with our coffees in hand.

"Is that why this is the second morning I've woken up in your apartment and the second time there has only been eggs and beer in your fridge?" she asked, smugly.

I looked over at her and smiled. I loved the smart-ass side of Bella. "I'm actually out of beer."

"Exactly my point. Please let me go for you. I can't go see Charlie today, anyway. I'll stock your apartment up with a whole bunch of goodies, and I'll even make a nice dinner for you tonight," she pleaded, looking over at me with her big puppy dog eyes.

I leaned over and kissed her. "That would be great, baby. Thank you."

We finished our breakfast with easy conversation. Time together like this seemed just so easy for Bella and me. We would go back and forth between talking and comfortable silence, never worrying about what to say next or awkward pauses. We could just be, and it felt so right.

I showered quickly and hurried out of the apartment to the hospital. Bella dropped me off so she could keep my car for the day, and I assured her I could take a cab home. I could already feel the pull in my chest as she drove away. It was going to be a long eight hours.

*******

"Thinking about you, baby." I pressed send on my phone and hoped that Bella had hers so she would get it soon. I was on my break, standing outside with my co-worker Sam as he smoked a cigarette.

The day had yet to take a turn for the better. I had to tell a family today that their son had leukemia and probably wouldn't make it to his tenth birthday. His mom collapsed on the floor, and her husband just stood there motionless. I guess you don't really know how strong your family is until you're faced with a tragedy. It's always heartbreaking to watch.

On top of that, Charlie wasn't doing well either. I wasn't exaggerating when I told Bella that he doesn't have much time left. To be honest, I was shocked that he had made it this long. I gave credit to Bella, though. Her being here had really helped him want to fight. Unfortunately, there wasn't much of a fight left.

The buzzing of my phone took me out of my thoughts. "Right back at ya, Doc."

"How does my kitchen look?" I waited for a few minutes and leaned my back up against the wall.

"Lets just say that it is very thankful that you now have a woman in your life." My face erupted into a huge smile. Bella was finally recognizing that she is the woman in my life.

"I'm very thankful you're that woman."

"Oh, you should be, Doc. I'm quite a catch."

"That you are. You're smart, beautiful, and you have a great ass."

"DOCTOR CULLEN!"

"Only speaking the truth, baby."

"Yeah, yeah. Get back to work, Doc. You have lives to save. Think about my great ass when you get home later."

"Can I do more than think about it?"

"You know, I forgot how charming you were."

"What can I say?"

*********

I loved being a doctor, truly, but days like today killed me. It was going on 9:15 p.m., and I was still sitting behind my desk filling out an un-godly amount of paperwork. Bella was back at my place with dinner waiting for me for the last three hours.

My pager on my hip buzzed and brought me out of my self pity. I called the number from my desk phone and was greeted by the hospital nurse up at the front desk.

"Hi, Sandy. I just got paged from this number. This is Dr. Cullen."

"Hi, Dr. Cullen, there is someone who is asking for you downstairs. Should I tell her you're unavailable?" Her voice was hopeful.

My hopes lifted immediately. Would Bella really come here this late just for me? "No Sandy, that's fine. Please send her up to my office."

I hung up the phone then and started straightening up my desk. It was full of papers and medical books from my shitload of work tonight. I tried to smooth out my clothes as well, but my tie was discarded hours ago, and I'm sure the new found wrinkles in my shirt wouldn't disappear with will power.

There was a soft knock at the door, and I about tripped over my desk to open it. "Bella!"

"Sorry, handsome, not tonight." The voice answered.

"Oh, hey, Rose." I slumped forward in obvious disappointment.

"Don't look so excited to see me, please, restrain yourself!" She pushed past me into my office and sat down in one of the chairs opposite my desk.

"I'm sorry, Rosalie. I was just expecting someone else." I returned to my chair and ran my hands through my hair in frustration.

"I got it, dear brother. I know I'm not the most exciting person to see anyways," she said, sadly.

I looked at her pointedly. "You know I always love seeing you. But if you don't mind me asking, why are you here? At 9:30 at night? Nothing else better to do?"

"Do I need an excuse to come see you?"

"My life experience with you… yes."

She paused for a moment and played with her hands in her lap. To the outside world, Rosalie was strong and independent, never needing help from anyone. But to me, she was fragile and caring. She has been hurt and hurts for others; she just doesn't show it. Her experience has told her to protect herself—her heart was worth guarding, because it has already been shattered.

"I'm just worried about you," she said, looking up at me.

"Me? Why?" I was taken aback from her confession.

"Well, with tomorrow being Jane's birthday and all."

My heart stopped. Jane's birthday. How have I forgotten? I felt ashamed of myself. That is one date that I promised both myself and Jane that I would never forget.

"Rosalie," I said with tears pulling in my eyes, "I honestly forgot."

Now it was her turn to look dumbfounded. "Really?" she asked, astounded.

"I feel terrible! How the hell did I forget?" I put my elbows on my desk and rested my head in my hands, unable to look Rose in the eye.

"I guess you've just had other things on your mind, lately."

Bella.

"I suppose I have," I said, ashamed. "But that's no excuse."

"Edward, it's okay. Maybe it's not a bad thing you forgot. Maybe that just means you're moving forward with your life; that's a good thing." She reached out and placed her hand on my arm.

"I don't ever want to forget her, Rosalie." She sat back in her chair and sighed.

"Have you told Bella?" she asked.

"Should I?"

"Jane is a part of who you are, Edward. I think Bella deserves to know."

"She won't like it," I said, shaking my head.

"Then she doesn't deserve you," she spat.

"Rose…" I warned.

She sighed again and stood. She walked over to where I was sitting and kissed me on the forehead. "Go home, tell her. The three of you deserve that much."

She got up and walked to the door. "Rose," I said, stopping her.

She turned around and looked at me. "How did you know I was here?" I asked.

"Bella told me," she said simply.

"Bella? But when…"

"Go home, Edward." She smiled, turned back around, and left.

*******

BPOV

It was 4:53 pm. Edward would be home soon. I got up off of his couch and headed to the kitchen to start dinner.

Ten minutes late at 6:10. No big deal. Probably just traffic.

At 6:48 pm., I thought traffic my ass.

By7:18 pm., I started repeating, he's a doctor. He's a doctor. He's a doctor.

At 7:39 pm., I made a note to myself… buy Edward a damn watch.

At 8:25 pm.,…bastard.

There was a buzzing at the door at 8:26 p.m., that brought me out of my anger-induced state.

I got up and made my way over to the intercom system. "Hello?" I said through it.

"Oh, uh, hi," the female voiced answered back. "Is Edward there?"

My anger skyrocketed to an all time high. "I'm sorry, but Edward no longer takes door-stop service sex," I spat agitatedly.

"Whoa there, sunshine. Then what exactly are you?" the voice asked back evilly. How dare she?

"I'm Edward's girlfriend. And you are?"

"Edward's sister," she answered smugly.

What? "Rosalie?"

"Who else, dumb ass? Now let me in."

I buzzed her in and opened the door for her when she made it up to his apartment.

"You look like hell, Bella." She pushed right by me into his living room, sitting down on the couch.

"Yeah, the whole pissed off girlfriend doesn't really work for me, I guess," I said, angrily, joining her on the sofa.

"Girlfriend? That's a big step."

Her remark took me off guard. I guess I did refer myself as Edward's girlfriend. Twice.

"Whatever," I responded lamely. "So why are you here?"

"So I can be graced by your charming charisma, of course."

"Sorry, I guess I did sound kind of mean."

"Whatever," she answered back.

"So where is your dear boyfriend? And what has he done to piss you off so much?"

I sighed, running my hands through my hair—a new found habit I picked up from Edward. "He's still at the hospital. He was supposed to be back hours ago."

She looked at me as if I still had something else left to say. "What?" I asked.

"That's it?"

"Should there be more?"

"You're angry with him because he isn't home yet?"

"He said 6:00," I asserted.

"You do know that he is a doctor, right?"

I crossed my arms over my chest. "Oh really? He had yet to inform me." She was really starting to get on my nerves.

"Well, I hate to break it to you, princess, but saving lives is a hell of a lot more important than eating your precious spaghetti."

"I know that," I said defensively.

"Then you better not fucking make him feel guilty for not making it home in time. He is a very busy man who does really great things. If you don't understand that then you shouldn't be here."

She didn't give me time to respond, instead choosing to get up and walk out the door. I sat there on the couch a while longer, replaying Rose's words in my head.

What kind of girlfriend was I that I got so angry at Edward for being late? There's that girlfriend reference again. I was his girlfriend, right?

I stood up from the couch and looked at the clock—10:02 already? I hurried over to the foyer and put my shoes on quickly. I about made it out the door when I ran into a wall of muscle and was enveloped by strong arms.

I rested my head on his chest and squeezed him tightly.

"We need to talk," we both said at the same time.

******

"Uh-oh," I said, taken off guard by his statement. I removed myself from his embrace and looked up at him.

"Here, come sit down." He led me over to the couch where I had just come from.

"Edward is everything okay?" I asked, worried about his saddened expression.

He smiled up at me and caressed my face gently. "Of course, baby. I just need to share some things with you."

"Okay," I said, weakly.

"But what did you want to talk about?" he asked, nervously.

"It can wait."

"You sure?" He searched my eyes for confirmation.

"Yes, please go on." I folded my legs under myself and faced him on the couch. He was leaning up against the arm reset, one leg beneath him, one hanging off the edge. He grabbed my hand and played with it between his.

"Bella, this, well, this is going to be really hard for me to say, and I want you to just listen to all of it before you react. Okay?" he pleaded.

I nodded in agreement.

"I've never really talked to anyone about this before outside of my family." He paused again, still playing with my hand.

"Edward, please just tell me." I was nervous that this wasn't going anywhere good.

He looked up and lifted my face to be eye to eye with him. "Bella, I…" He stopped again and looked back down. I shifted over so I was sitting in his lap and brought his face in between my hands.

"Edward, whatever it is, you can tell me." He didn't seem convinced by my words. Tears started to roll down his cheeks, and instinctively I began to kiss them from his face. "Please, baby, you're making this so hard by keeping quiet."

He took a deep breath and held me close to him. "Please don't be angry with me," he pleaded.

"Why would I be angry with you?" I asked, confused.

"I should have told you sooner."

"You're telling me now. That's important." I tried to reassure him, hopefully conveying that I was willing to listen completely to what he needed to say.

"Bella, I used to be married."

Gasp! What!? Oh Edward. Next chapter will be fully dedicated to his last ten years… he's done quiteeee a lot.

& please, please, please review. It's so encouraging to hear what you all think and really helps me write. You spoil me… I'll get Doc to you sooner.