Co-written by Nothingtolose15 and phnxprncss.

Summary: Bella and Jasper Swan are sent to live with their father Charlie in Forks, Washington after the untimely death of their mother and stepfather. Neither of them had seen Charlie since they were 7 years old and Renee had cut off complete contact between the children and their father. Now here they are in a place they don't remember at all trying to get on with life. But to make matter's worst Bella Swan has not spoken a word since her mother and step-father's death. Will Jasper be able to protect his sister? Or will she have to go down her own road to find herself again?

Disclaimer: we do not own Twilight or any of its characters.

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Bella's Point of View

When Edward had asked me to go and talk with him somewhere I knew exactly what he was alluding to. I knew it had to be done; I knew we each had to tell one another our story. When Jasper came home last night I knew that was exactly what he did. And when I saw him with Alice I knew it would be okay. But Edward was different then his sister, he took more of his past to heart, whatever it may be. I knew that most of the school, hell most of Forks, knew why we came here to live with Charlie. A death in the family, and it was probably an easy guess that it was a parent for us to have to move in with our father. But to me it wasn't that simple.

The rumors of Edward's past were crude and I found them hard to believe, but at the same time I knew that there had to have been some truth to them. I had heard that his parents weren't his actual parents and that what ever happened did not happen in Forks, but wherever they lived when they were younger. I never knew exactly what to believe, but I could see the regret and guilt that Edward lived with over it. When I had seen Jasper and Alice together last I was glad that they had accepted each other's past and I knew that Rosalie had accepted Emmett's; that gave me hope.

He told me his story, and my heart broke. For him. For Alice. For Emmett. They were such great friends and knowing how much they suffered hurt a lot. It was made even worse when I thought about how everyone treated them, especially the kids in school. And then, I was angry because I realized that Charlie believed the same things as everyone else. They were narrow minded and ignorant and just plain asinine. I wanted so badly to be able to take his pain away and carry it myself, and if I could have, I would have. In my eyes, he was perfect and seeing him this way just made me fall for him even more. I wasn't delusional enough to believe that we could ever be more than just friends, but I was as content as I could be with just being a part of his life. A big part apparently because he trusted me enough to let me in when he really didn't need to.

I tried my hardest to comfort him as he had done for me when I told him my own story. I knew they were both very different. But at the same time we had both lost people who were important to us. Even if in the end Edward's parents had lost themselves in the darkness of life. I was more than grateful when we returned home and everyone was still there. Jasper told me that Charlie was gone for another night and I almost started bouncing around and clapping like Alice. I felt bad for reacting that way, but I just didn't feel comfortable about and, in my eyes, he wasn't my father and never would be. If anything, Jasper was more of a father to me than Charlie had ever been.

We sat in the living room quietly watching television until Emmett, Rose, and Alice woke up from their naps. I knew we had to tell them all that we told each other our stories and Jasper and I had to tell Emmett and Rose our own story. I was a little scared again, not of telling Rose and Emmett, but of how I'd react. It wasn't that they hadn't seen me cry before, because they all had quite a few times, but this would be infinitely worse. Plus, I really didn't know how to bring it up and I didn't want to make anyone else feel any more uncomfortable than what was expected. I could sense Edward watching me from across the room, so I looked up at him and nodded slightly, hoping that he'd understand what I was saying.

It appeared as if he did because he leaned over to tell Jasper something while nodding in my direction at the same time. I could feel my heartbeat speeding up already and we hadn't even started, but it was if he sensed that I'd need him next to me because the next thing I knew, he was sitting on the arm of the recliner next to me and holding my hand.

It was Edward who started speaking first, clearing his throat to get Rose and Emmett's attention while tightening his grip on my hand, "You may have figured out that Alice and I have told Jasper and Bella about our past." Emmett just nodded while Rose spoke, "good, you needed to, and I'm guessing that Jasper and Bella have you told you two theirs as well?"

Jasper nodded, "Yes we have and we want to explain to you exactly what happened that brought us here to Forks," he took a deep breath and explained the story. I tried to keep my tears back but I could see the sadness in Rose's eyes and it just was too much to bear. I didn't want to see the pity or sympathy in her eyes. I knew that Edward could sense me tensing up next to him because he started rubbing circles on the back of my hand, but even that was too much. Without even thinking, I ripped my hand from his and ran up the stairs to my room. I needed to be alone so that I could cry alone. I could hear Jasper outside my door and was thankful that I'd thought to lock it before I flung myself on the bed. He knocked repeatedly and tried to convince me to let him in, but I didn't even acknowledge him standing out there. After a few minutes, his knocking subsided and I let out a breath that I hadn't even realized I was holding. Not even a moment later, it was Edwards's voice outside my door. His beautiful, melodic, velvety voice trying to convince me to open the door. There was nothing that I could deny him, so I reluctantly walked over and unlocked the door and returned to my bed.

He slowly opened the door and walked over to sit on the edge of my bed. "Bella..." he reached over and placed his hand upon my ankle, "It's okay... Please know that it's okay." I didn't turn over; I just couldn't look at him. Not yet at least anyway. "Emmett and Rose feel bad yes, but you know they care for you very much." I could hear the pleading tone in his voice and I so badly wanted to make it go away, but I didn't know how to explain my reaction, so I just buried my head further into my pillow.

"Bella, please look at me and say something, anything, please?"

There it was again, I was almost convinced that he knew I couldn't deny him anything because he definitely seemed to use it to his advantage. I slowly rolled onto my back, still refusing to look at him and instead staring at the ceiling. "It's the pity and sympathy in their eyes, I can't take it. Especially the sympathy because I don't deserve it!"

He didn't say anything at first, just stood up. I thought he was going to leave, but instead he came over and lay down next to me. "Bella stop thinking like that! Please? You did nothing wrong remember that. They just wanted to make sure you were safe; your parents loved you Bella! They loved you…"

I couldn't respond to him at first though it wasn't for lack of trying. Every time I opened my mouth to say something, no sound came out. Nothing I could say would ever be able to properly convey how I felt, so I did the next best thing, I curled up in bed next to him and cried until there were no more tears left. Eventually, we both fell asleep that way wrapped up in each other, and it was heaven.

When I woke up the next morning I couldn't contain the joy I felt over Edward still being in bed next to me. He was still asleep and I couldn't deny the urge I had to just reach out and run my fingers along his strong jaw line. I slowly raised my hand and guided it to his face until my fingers gently grazed his jaw. His slight stubble felt nice against my fingers, and as I lay next to him like that, I became slightly confused as to why Jasper let him sleep with me. I knew that we hadn't done anything but sleep, but still, isn't his job supposed to be to make sure that I'm not in compromising situations such as this? Not that I was complaining, it was just weird.

Belatedly, I realized that we both had to get up and get ready for school so I snatched my hand back and jumped out of bed. When I turned back to face him, he was looking at me, smiling my favorite smile. Tentatively, I returned the smile and walked off to the bathroom to shower and get dressed for the day. When I returned to my room, he was already sitting up, presumably waiting to use the shower as well. I don't know how all 6 of us managed to shower, get ready for school, eat breakfast and still make it to school on time, but we did.

School was surprisingly easier then ever before. Perhaps it was because we all finally knew the truth about each other and all knew we were there for one another if need be. I knew it was harder for Alice and Jasper because now that they were officially in a relationship, more rumors started about them. They made comments about her being a whore like her mother was and no one knew how they'd learned that information. Who would sink so low to find out these secrets and turn them into sick rumors?

After lunch Edward walked me to biology as he always did. I knew Jasper had been feeling a little guilty over wanting to walk Alice to her class, but I didn't mind. I cherished these few moments with Edward every day. As Edward and I turned to head down to the Science building, I noticed that Alice and Jasper had stopped a little ways down. Curious as to what they were doing, I tugged on Edward's jacket so that he'd stop walking too. I knew that the two of them were together together but seeing the way Jasper held her face in his hand and slowly lowered his lips to hers, as if giving her the chance to pull away if she wanted to tugged at my heart. The entire moment was entirely too sweet and romantic and I couldn't help imagining it being Edward and I in the position and feeling his lips on mine instead of on my cheek or the back of my hand.

I'd actually never been kissed, though I'd come close once at a birthday party during a game of 'spin the bottle' which Jasper interfered in. Subconsciously, my fingers went to my lips as I thought about how badly I wanted Edward to be my first kiss. That train of thought caused me to wonder if Edward had ever been kissed like that and just the thought that he may have been caused my heart to ache. I chanced a glance up at him to see what his reaction to the kiss was, and saw that he was smiling. It was nice to know that he was so accepting of their relationship because my brother really was a great guy and Alice was a great girl. They were, essentially, perfect for each other.

Once we got to Biology, our good day took a drastic turn for the worse in the form of Mike Newton. Before Edward and I could even make it to our seats, Mike waltzed right up and draped his arm across my shoulder. Before Edward had a chance to react to Mike's forwardness, he leaned down and whispered the most vulgar thing into my ear and kissed me right on the cheek.

Edward didn't even give me time to react to that before he pulled me behind him and punched mike in the face, successfully breaking his nose. I'd never seen him look so feral, primitive and angry in the entire time that I'd known him, but I couldn't find it in me to be afraid. In fact, even in his anger, he was beautiful.

"I swear to God, Newton, if you ever fucking touch her again, you will regret the day you were born!"

Mike tried to hit Edward back but stopped and clutched his nose, "You better believe that my father will be contacting Dr. Cullen you freak! No wonder your parents killed themselves. I would too if you were my son!"

That was one line he shouldn't have crossed and before he could say anything else to hurt my Edward I came around Edward and kneed Mike right in the groin.

"You are the lowest piece of scum alive Mike Newton!"

And with that, I grabbed Edward's hand and stormed out of the class. I was fuming; absolutely furious. I wanted to go back to that class and hurt Mike even more. Just one look at Edward's face told me that he believed what that disgusting pig had said to him. Everything that we'd gotten past yesterday in the meadow, all the convincing it took for him to even accept that what he thought may not be true was forcefully dismissed because of that jackass!

I could see that Edward was contemplating getting the whole gang together and ditching again, but I wasn't ready for Jasper to find out what had happened so I pulled his phone from his hand before he had a chance to do anything. We walked hand in hand out to the parking lot in silence. Neither one of us were ready to let go of our anger just yet and I was perfectly okay with that.

As we neared the cars, his grip on my hand slackened before he finally pulled it away completely. The pain in his eyes was shockingly apparent and I just wanted and needed to fix him.

"Edward," I stopped walking and he soon did as well, "Please tell me you did not believe those vile lies that Newton spewed at you?" He didn't answer me, just looked down at the ground like it held the answer to all lifes mysteries or like he was afraid of what he'd see when he looked at me. He did not need to be treated like that. "Edward please… you are amazing and perfect," I stepped toward him so our bodies were only inches away and reached my hand up to stroke his cheek but he pulled away.

"Edward…" I whispered while tears threatened to spill over, "you are so much better than all of them. They don't know you like I do and I know that you're the most amazingly perfect and selfless person that I know. Please look at me."

That must have done it, within seconds his eyes were staring into mine. The sadness quickly turned to concern as brought his thumb up to wipe away the first sign of tears, "Bella I'm sorry.. I just… when he touched you and then what he said.. And I.." he laid his hand on my cheek to rest and bit his bottom lip. I could see he was trying to fight back his own tears, "Mike Newton makes my life a living hell.. He has since I moved here."

I sighed as I realized that he'd had to put up with this for years whereas Jasper and I had only had to deal with it for a few weeks.

"You have nothing to apologize for, Edward, you did absolutely nothing wrong." I smiled tentatively up at him willing him to give me my favorite smile back, and he didn't disappoint.

"Let's get out of here. We can call the others later," another sigh escaped my lips at the end, "I just don't want to explain to them what happened just yet."

He didn't disagree and lead me to his car. Within minutes we were speeding down the road, neither one of us discussing where we would go. So it was only logical when we pulled up in front of my house. Charlie was still gone till this evening so we had no need to worry about him showing up and surprising us. I suddenly was feeling extremely tired and from what I could see Edward felt the same. I knew there wasn't going to be many chances to sleep next to him again as I did last night so I wanted to take any chance I had. I lead him up to my bedroom and over to my bed.

At first he seemed confused but once I laid down and patted the spot next to me. He seemed to understand where I was heading. But it did make me wonder if he thought something was going to happen. And if so, did Edward want something to happen with me?

Those thoughts plagued my mind as he lay beside me, running his hands through his hair like I so desperately wanted to. He must've seen the thoughtful look on my face as I alternated between staring at the ceiling and peeking at him out of the corner of my eye because he finally rolled to his side and leaned up on his elbow, quirking his eyebrow at me.

"A penny for your thoughts, Bella."

I froze for a second, unsure of what I should say to him. There was no way that I could tell him what I was actually thinking, but I was a terrible liar. Carefully constructed half-truths would have to do, and it'd be easy to make him buy it. I just shrugged and yawned, "I was wondering when vacation is. I think I'm over this whole school thing."

He just chuckled and reached over pushing a strand of hair out of my face, "You're going to have to wait a little while for that one.." he gave me that smile and continued to push his fingers through my hair. Did he not understand how fantastic that felt, "You have really soft hair Bella."

I chuckled at his confession and smirked at him. All the while, I was squealing on the inside. I know how childish that sounded, especially since we held hands and whatnot everyday anyway. But somehow, this was different and much more personal than just holding his hand and I couldn't help basking in the feeling that it gave me.

An hour and a half later, I woke up to the most stunning pair of green eyes staring at me. As soon as I was able to break the intense gaze that we had going on, my eyes ventured down to his lips and I noticed that he had the most amused smile on his face.

"What's so funny?" I rasped, sleep still heavy in my voice.

"Did you know that you talked in your sleep?"

My eyes widened. I did not! Did I? I mean Jasper never told me I did. But perhaps I didn't while I wasn't talking in general. What did I say? Could I have told him that I liked him? Surely he would freak out if I did.

"Oh no," I brought my hand to my forehead, "what did I say?"

"Well," he pursed his lips together before smirking at me, "I don't know if I should tell you."

Oh god was it really that bad?

"Edward, please tell me?"

I pleaded with him with my eyes while he just continued looking at me with that damn smirk on his face. I could feel the heat in my face and knew that I was probably redder than I've ever been. I couldn't help it, I was beyond embarrassed and of course, my mind was going through all the worst possibilities it could come up with.

"You are not being fair Edward whatever you middle name is Cullen!"

This only caused him to laugh even more, "Anthony Masen, Bella, and believe me it wasn't all bad." I just gasped and widened my eyes again, "wasn't all bad!?"

"Well you did tell Mike Newton off again so that was pretty awesome if I do say so myself… you also told me that I was very handsome and that you wanted to run your hands through my hair.. Care to elaborate on that one?"

Shit! Did I really say that in my sleep? He must think I'm some kind of a freak now, wanting to run my hands through his hair, what the hell was I thinking!?

"I …. Um …. It's nothing, really." I wanted nothing more than for the bed to open up and swallow me whole.

"Come on Bella, now you aren't being fair. Just tell me." And there it was, that damn amused smirk again.

I started to fiddle with the hem of my shirt as I tried to think of a logical reason I could of said that. Well I know why I said it, but he didn't need to know that. "Um well.. It's something that soothes me.. My mother use to ran her hands through my hair and I hers." Okay it wasn't a complete lie, but I hadn't done that with my since I was little and would have a nightmare. "Sorry if that umm.. Freaks you out."

He turned his face to look at mine and just smiled. He shifted his body so he was now laying on his side, "Well if you want, you can do it.. I won't mind. If it's something that comforts you I want to help. I mean we are best friends now. Aren't we?"

"Oh, okay, if you're sure."

Right, like I'd ever actually do that.

"Oh crap, did you call Jasper and let him know we were already home. He's probably freaking out by now because we weren't in Biology when he went to pick me up."

I shot straight up and started to look around for my phone, forgetting where I placed it when we got home.

Edward sat up and placed his hands on my arms, "I already called him. He's going to stop and pick up some food for all of us. I told him how we left early because of Mike and that you were taking a nap. So he decided to pick up dinner so you could get your rest," he reached up and ran his hand through my hair. "Do you want to go back to sleep?"

"I am tired, but ….. I don't need to sleep right now." I tried to smile, but even I could tell it was forced. My embarrassment was winning out over my drowsiness, and if I wasn't careful, he'd definitely notice.

"Let's just go downstairs and watch a movie instead."

I got out of bed quickly and waited for him at the door. I could tell he didn't buy my flimsy reasoning, but he didn't argue it either. Once downstairs, I let him pick out a movie while I sat on the couch thinking about what he'd said. Once again, my thoughts were off wandering and unrestrained and I had to fight to push them back until I could focus on them later. Preferably when he wasn't around to notice that I was lost in my own thoughts. This day had already been embarrassing enough and I didn't want to make it any more uncomfortable for either of us.

I hadn't even noticed he had picked a movie and put it in until he came and sat next to me and the movie started. I already knew that I wouldn't be able to focus on anything with him next to me, no matter how hard I tried. He took my hand in his and placed it on his knee as he turned his attention to the movie.

Liking Edward Cullen was going to prove to be a very difficult task. A very difficult task indeed.

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A/N: So, we know that you guys just want them to get together already, right? And don't worry, they will – in the future. But, you've gotta remember that they both are under the impression that they aren't good for each other. It's silly really, but it's also Edward and Bella.

R&R, please! We'd most certainly appreciate it!