We left off with a place jump, and now we have another place jump, and we are now back with the Cullen family.

EPOV

Bella had once again fallen asleep in my arms. Her back was still very tender, and she still needed the ointment spread over her flesh wounds. Today there was nothing planned for either of us, like usual, and I planned to use the time to get to know her better. I sat in the window seat with the blinds drawn to keep the sun out of the room. I was on the opposite side of the room from Bella, and watched as she slept peacefully. At around nine am, Bella began to stir.

"Good morning love!" I said walking to the side of the bed. I looked down at her and smiled. She looked beautiful, even with her hair spread all over the pillow. "I have a special plan for us this morning, so you need to get up and get ready." I said looking lovingly into her eyes.

"Ok… but you are going to have to leave for a little bit while I get ready… you know, those human moments" she said sarcastically.

About an hour later, Bella walked out of the bathroom ready for our expedition. "So," she asked casually as we walked side by side, "where are you taking me on such a glorious day?" we continued to walk for a while before I answered her.

"There is this special spot that I would like to show you. It is in the woods, so you will need to be very careful, alright?" I asked cautiously.

"Yes of course. But why would you want to take me into the darkness when it is so beautiful here in the sun?" she said laughing as she twirled around in the sun like a little girl. I smiled when I saw the shine in her eyes, I couldn't quite place it, but it was somewhere between love, happiness and contentment.

"You will just have to wait and see now wont you?" I said playfully.

"Come on Edward. Come play with me in the sun. Why are you so afraid of the sun? I know that you won't melt. That is such a funny rumor don't you think?"

"I just like it better in the shade silly Bella. Surly you would have figured that out by now. I mean after all, you have watched me quite a lot when you were doing your work in the yard, and thought no one was watching." I laughed as I saw her blush. I don't think I would ever get tired of seeing her blush like that. It always made me feel more human in more ways than one.

"I have no idea what you are talking about!" she said defensively. "I have never strayed from my chores. I would never do such a thing as stair at a master. I know better than to do something of the sort." She said a little wounded. She was now walking ahead of me, not looking at me, and I could tell that I had just touched upon a very sore subject.

I grabbed her hand and stopped walking, forcing MY Bella to face me. As soon as her body was against mine, I caught her lips in mine and kissed her. "I am sorry Bella!" I said sincerely. "I did not know how hard that subject was for you to talk about. I will remember that in the future. Can you ever forgive me?" I asked looking away from her.

BPOV

"Can you ever forgive me?" he asked looking away from me.

"How could you ask such a thing," I asked cupping his face and forcing him to look at me. "When you know that I will always forgive you without question? Its like you said Edward, you could not have known that it was such a touchy subject for me. A lot has happened, " I said, starting to walk with Edward's in mine, "since that awful day my parents were killed. It is very hard ok?"

"I am sorry Bella" he said keeping my pace easily. As we continued to walk farther and farther into the forest surrounding his house, I began to wonder where he was taking me. Suddenly, I felt his hand pull on mine, and when I looked back at him, I saw that her was no longer walking, but just standing there and looking at me.

"Edward?" I asked cautiously. "What is it Edward?"

"I am just wondering if I have made the right choice." He said looking down at the ground.

Again, I cupped his face and forced him to look at me. "Edward, I love you, and you love me. Never doubt that. Please? For me?" I said kissing him lightly on the lips.

"Of course I will always question it Bella, but I know that I have made the right choice. Now come on, I still want to show you this place." He said sweeping me up into his arms bridle style and running like only vampires could. We reached our destination a few seconds later, I guessed because we stopped running, and he put me down, grabbing my waist when I started to fall. "Sorry!" he said looking into my eyes. "I should have warned you before I took off like that."

"It's fine." I said looking back, deeper into his eyes than I had in a while. "Now, what is it that you wanted to show me?" I asked looking around, still seeing nothing but trees.

"I wanted to show you why we never opened up the house when it's sunny outside. I wanted you to see why you have never seen us in the Sun." he said looking down sheepishly.

We walked a few more steps, and then I saw it. A beautiful meadow that was surrounded by trees. It was deep within the forest, so no human could find it without getting lost. The sun was shining brightly into the little field. I walked out into the center and started to turn in circles. After a few too many turns, I collapsed to the ground laughing at how it felt to be so free in this small meadow. I looked up to call Edward over to me, but I could not see him anywhere.

"Edward?" I asked scared that he had left me.

"I am right here Bella." He said, and I could just make out his shadow, still hiding in the shade of the trees.

"Come join me, please Edward?" I asked pleadingly. "I am not scared of you or what will happen to you when you enter the sun. I am actually quite curious." I said standing up. I started to walk over to him when he stopped me.

"No Bella. Stay where you are. I will come to you." and he did. Slowly he exited the forest into the tiny meadow. The instant the sun hit his skin; it looked like he was made up of millions of tiny little diamonds. The sun reflected off of his skin in all different directions, in all different colors.

"Edward!" I said in a tiny whisper, to afraid to break the silence. He looked amazing, and I was afraid that even the tiniest of whispers would break him. Slowly he walked towards me, and as soon as he reached me, he grabbed me up into one of the most passionate kisses I have ever had. I knew then that this was the man that I wanted to spend the rest of eternity with. "I love you Edward!" I said, shocking not only Edward, but myself as well.

Edward swept me up into his arms, and sat down there in the middle of the meadow. After a few minutes of kissing, and letting our tongues dance together, Edward broke away from my lips and trailed kisses across my jaw to the skin just under my earlobe. He started to suck on that very sensitive skin, and earned a very pleasurable moan from me. After a few more minutes of this, he planted one last kiss on my lips and then lay back on the grass, pulling me on top of him.

"Bella, I know that it is a very sensitive subject for you, but could you please tell me what happened to you between the night that you were kidnapped to when I bought you?" he asked cautiously holding me firmer to his chest when he felt a sob rack my body.

"Please Edward; don't make me talk about that. Please, anything other than that." I said, sobs racking my body harder.

"Bella you can trust me. You know that. I just want to help you. I think that if you were to talk about this, it will help you in the long run. Please Bella, do this for me." He said kissing me softly on the forehead. He wiped away a tear that was falling down my cheek, and kissed another one off. "Start at the very beginning Bella, that night you were kidnapped" he said soothingly.

"Well, my family and I had been sitting in our parlor enjoying each others company. My father had just gotten back from another one of his trips, and had brought me back a book and my brother toy soldiers for his birthday. Our nanny, Mrs. Copperplate had come into the room and told my brother and me that it was time for bed. We walked upstairs and I gave my brother a kiss goodnight. After being helped into my nightgown I feel asleep. The next thing I knew, I was being awaken my bedchamber maid, Lily.

"I had no idea what was going on. She was shouting that they were coming and that they were raiding the house. The next thing I knew, there were three men that were barging into my room. I threw myself in front of Lily and told her to go get my brother. I told her that her only responsibility was to get my brother safely away from the house. She used the secret door that was built between my room and my brothers to go get him.

"I still am not sure to this day if he is alive or not, but I can only hope that she got him out of there safely." I paused to take a deep breath and sat up.

EPOV

She sat up and took a deep breath. Looking away from me, she continued. "I didn't know what was going on. I didn't know who those me were that had just entered my room. Before I knew what was going on, two of the men grabbed me and threw me on the bed. There was one on each side of me holding me down. Every time I struggled against them, their grip got tighter and tighter. I was quickly losing feeling in both of my arms." She paused to take a deep shaky breath. Before continuing she stood up and faced the opposite side of the meadow. "The third man, he was a lot shorter and plumper than the other two men, walked over to the bed. He took off all of his clothes before climbing on top of me. He said that I had been a very bad girl, and that I deserved to be punished.

"He started ripping off my clothes and he… he… please don't make me say it! Please!!!" she said starting to fall to the ground. I caught her before she hit the ground and held her close in my hands.

"Shh. Bella, it's alright. You are safe here. No one is going to take you away. I Promise!" I said stroking her hair, trying to get her to calm down. "Bella," I said soothingly, "I know that it is hard for you, but you must tell me."

"I can't! I can't tell you. You will look at me differently. You won't want me anymore!" she cried trying to get away from me.

I held her tight to my chest and let her small fragile fists hit my chest. "Bella, you know that's not true! I love you Bella and I would never be able to look at you differently no matter what happened to you. Please Bella, tell me. Please do it for me love?"

After a few minutes of silence Bella took another shaky breath and continued. "He raped me." She said almost to low for even my extra sensitive hearing to catch. "And that wasn't the last time either. I was his personal slave for almost three years." She had stopped crying by now, but there was something wrong. It was like she didn't feel anymore. She had this stoned expression on her face, and her voice was monotone. "I was kidnapped from my house when I was fifteen. I am now eighteen. For three years I was his prostitute. And if I didn't do something right, he wiped me. Not all of those scars on my back are from the last whipping I received from your guard. Most of them are from him. He whipped me into the slave that I am. He even sold me to some of the guards that he had.

"I was passed around among the slave guards. When he finally got tired of me, he threw me in with the other slaves. They stayed away from me. They were told that I was a disease and that if they touched me, no one would ever buy them. Do you see now why I didn't want to tell you?" she asked starting to cry again. "I am filthy, unclean, and unholy. Whatever you want to call me, I am it."

She pushed against me and finally broke out of my grasp. She got up and started running away. I just sat there in complete shock. I didn't know what to do. She was so broken, so distraught. Finally realizing what had just happened, I got up and ran after her. She hadn't gotten very far, and when I found her she was starting to fall. The look on her face showed me that she was prepared for the contact of the fall, but I caught her. I caught her in my arms, and swept her up carrying her back through the forest bridle style.

She wrapped her arms around my neck, and laid her head against my shoulder. I began to sing. It was the lullaby that I had started writing for her. It was my Bella's lullaby. She drifted off to sleep in my arms, and when I finally reached the safety of my room, I laid down on the bed with her, holding her tight to my chest.

Hey guys. I think I was finally able to write you a long chapter. I am working on the next chapter now. It should be up soon. I hope you liked this chapter.

ENJOY!

please R&R

bellaswancullen