Thank you all for the generous support of this story over the last two years, you cannot imagine how it felt to have your love while working on a topic that is so important to me. Also, I know I'm stretching the truth in regards to Jake's sentence, but this is something I needed to do.

As with last chapter, Mizzdee stepped in to beta as ACW's RL made it difficult for her to work on the last few chapters. Both have nurtured me and this story, you both made this possible.

Chapter 21 – All Bad Years Must Come to an End

EPOV

To say I was shocked to see Bella's mom standing in front of me was an understatement. The only things I knew about her was that she was really eclectic and that she had just left Bella's dad for the second time after the whole mess at Christmas. So from the little I knew of her, she wasn't all-bad.

Renee Swan lurched forward and pulled Bella from my grasp and into a bone-crushing hug. I saw Bella look back at me and Renee followed her gaze, smiling brightly as she pulled me into a hug of my own.

"Thank you, for taking care of my girl. She's lucky to have someone so devoted to her."

"Thanks, Renee. I love her with my whole heart." That comment earned a grin from both of our moms; that was until they saw the ring on Bella's hand.

It took about ten minutes for us to explain that it wasn't an engagement ring, just a present I got her, because I wasn't about to get into the whole promise ring thing after the squeal-fest I was just a part of when they thought they were planning a wedding.

The one major bummer was that my mom had insisted that Renee stay with us since she was saving money after starting out on her own. Part of me was happy, because it meant that Bella's mom was able to visit now, instead of a few months from now when she could save the money for a hotel.

As soon as we sat down, my mom started asking about the apartments so Bella, of course, brought up how far out of our price range my choices were, and I talked all about how the places she looked into didn't have enough security.

Our debate had both of our mothers laughing and I hadn't even noticed my dad was home when he called out, "I guess that means you'll be living here until you're 35."

That comment had me grumbling, but for now, there was nothing that could be said.

Sunday morning, Renee ran off with Bella and my mom, so I decided to do some of my reading to pass the time. I knew that with school, this was Bella's only day to spend with her mom, but I hated having her gone for the whole day.

When she returned that afternoon, she looked much happier and I was glad that her mom was able to be supportive of her. Bella told me about how she always felt like the parent in their relationship, but you could see the care and concern they both had for each other. Bella's compassion was definitely from her mother.

BPOV

The morning I drove my mom to the airport was another lesson in patience, but with everything she'd given me this past week, I could forgive her any motherly nagging. Esme and Renee kind of ambushed me on the Sunday after she arrived, a plan already hatched in their minds.

"Bella, you need a new car, this truck sounds like its dying."

"I know, Mom, but money's tight. The only place we could really afford, Edward refuses to move into." I turned to look at Esme and smiled. "Esme, I love you, but I need my own place."

"Your own place…"Esme let the sentence hang in the air for a moment before she pulled out her phone and her notepad. "Bella, you had $600 set aside for your car and insurance, right?"

"Yes," I answered.

"And Renee, you said that you were going to give her $200 towards rent?" Esme continued scribbling.

"Yes, I'm giving her money to help pay for other things, but the money for a place to live is about that," my mom looked at me for direction, but I was clueless.

"Oh my God, it's perfect. I know how you can get Edward to agree to move in with you."

"How?" This I had to hear.

"By moving in there alone," Esme said it like it was the easiest thing in the world.

"Esme, I can't afford it on my own."

"You won't have to for long. Just trust me."She turned her notebook so I could see what she had written down. "You have $600 a month that is part of the loan you receive that is designated for housing. You have been paying it to the University, but now it will just be left in your account when you get the check from the government. You have the refund from the school already, which you were going to use as a down payment on the car. So here's what I suggest. Get the apartment in your name, but tell the landlady you may be adding someone to the lease-"

"But how will I pay for it, Esme?" I asked, getting a little exasperated.

"Simple, my dear. $600 from the loan, plus $200 from your mother is $800 and the apartment is $1100. So that additional $300 can come from what I pay you."

"Esme, I'm so lost," I shook my head and tried to follow her.

"If you're using the loan money to pay for the apartment instead of the car, Edward will get upset, because he's worried about the commute next year when you're student teaching. Plus, you'll be spending every dime you have on this place and he'll never see you. You and I will fix the place up as one of the jobs for my company, we'll find out from the landlady how much we can do and make it as safe as possible. The only thing that will make you safer will be to have Edward living with you. He'll see that it's not as bad as he once thought and if he can keep you from going belly up in the sun, he'll gladly move in."

"Esme, I don't want to trick him."

"It isn't really tricking him dear; you're just showing him the potential he wasn't able to see at first. It worked with Carlisle and our first place and it will work with Edward."

I took a deep breath, not really sure about this plan at all. "You don't think it will piss him off?"

"He may be upset when you tell him, but you're an independent woman and you're moving out of what always was a temporary situation. He doesn't have to follow you, but if I know my son, he will."

Now that my Mom was back on her way home, it was time to put Esme's plan into action. She met me at the apartment and after a long talk with my new landlady, Tami; she was showing me the apartment that would be mine. I showed Esme the place and asked a few more questions about just how much we'd be able to do the apartment to make it safer, but the door already had a deadbolt in it so most of it would be non-permanent fixes.

I took a deep breath as I wrote out the check and signed the lease, hoping I wouldn't be screwing myself up. I had a move-in day of April 15, which was coming up soon, so Esme and I got to work getting everything lined up beforehand.

Schoolwork and being Esme's assistant kept me pretty busy and the two weeks sped by. Luckily for me, there was no restriction on painting the apartment, so when we showed up on our first day, we did all the cleaning and prep.

For the next several days, we painted five rooms of the apartment and then started getting things out of my storage spaces. It was pretty clear that I didn't have much, but Esme convinced me to move Edward's queen-sized bed, because he'd be sleeping on it soon anyway.

Carlisle insisted on doing the office for me, which included two desks, even he believed that Edward would be living there before the next rent check was due. Esme knew several second-hand shops, so she took me to different places to furnish the rest of the apartment inexpensively and told me that she'd let me work off the bill so the place would be ready when I officially moved into it.

On top of all the work I was doing with Esme and school, I was now volunteering at the women's shelter with Cynthia. It was a type of therapy all its own to see a woman come in so soon after being victimized and confidently telling her that there's hope, because I was living proof of it.

It was tiring to be dealing with everything at once, and I was concerned about Edward's reaction, but my moment of truth was here. It was April 27th and I had about ninety minutes before Edward got home from class and I was hoping to have most of my stuff packed up by then.

I knew the moment he came home, because after a few seconds I could hear Edward calling out my name as his feet stampeded up to our room. The door flew open and he saw me standing over the bags.

"Bella, what did I…how did I…when? Baby, tell me what I did wrong and I'll fix it. Did I push too hard? Have I not been around enough? Please, tell what you need, just don't leave me."

His teary-eyed pleading broke my heart and I cursed myself for not telling him. "Edward, please…just breathe." I looked around and led him to the bed where I sat, pulling him down to join me. "You have done nothing wrong."

"But you're all packed up; I saw your things by the door."

Taking another deep breath, I started again. "Edward, I told you that I needed my own place, that I couldn't live with your parents much longer, so I got an apartment."

"But we were going to move out together?" He sounded so small and I needed to make him understand this.

"We still can. I would love for you to move in with me, but the first time we looked at this place you dismissed it, but I loved it. I should have told you earlier, but your mom said it would be better if I showed you the finished product. I'm nearly done packing my things, why don't you put an overnight bag together and spend my first night in my new place with me?"

"So you're not breaking up with me?" Edward asked.

"No. Now pack a bag, I want to show you what we did to the place."

I finished packing my last bag and we loaded it into the truck, along with the boxes and bags that were already downstairs and Edward's bag. The drive was quiet and as we pulled up to the new building, I could hear Edward grumble. "You know how much I hate the balconies here."

"You haven't even stepped inside," I remarked, handing him his bag as well as the box of things I had in his room.

It took two trips up, but soon I was unlocking the door and showing him inside. After double locking the door, we moved into the bedroom where I put down my things and then gave Edward a tour of our improvements, showing the alarm added to the windows and the safety bar for the track in the sliding glass door. He seemed to be appeased, but I wasn't done yet.

"Edward, there is only one way I could feel safer here."

He pulled me close and buried his nose in my hair, "How's that?"

"If you were here with me. You'd practically be living here anyway with how often you would spend the night, so why not make it official. I already made you a key."

Edward pulled back and laughed at how prepared I was. Edward left me for a bit to get some dinner and I used the time to unpack my clothes. We ate dinner at the mismatched dining room set I'd picked out and then did some homework before turning in for the night.

As we lay there, cuddled together, Edward asked me a few questions. "Is this my mattress?"

"It is another one of your mother's brilliant ideas."

We both laughed and then the room grew quiet again. "Bella, if I hadn't moved in here, how would you have afforded it?"

I heaved a sigh as I answered him. "My mom's giving me $200 for rent, $300 would have been from working with your mom and the other $600 was coming out of my loan that would have paid for housing through the school."

"You mean the money you were going to use to get a better car?" He grumbled and I knew that annoyed him.

"Your mom kept saying it wouldn't be a problem because you would move in once you saw that your fears were overactive. She said your dad was the same way, but I should have handled it differently, I hated seeing the way you reacted when you got home today. You have to know that I love you, and I would never just run off. I was waiting for you to come home so I could tell you about the apartment. If there was something wrong, I would tell you."

"Bella," he sighed, "I'm sorry that I was so harsh on this place before. You and my mom made it a home for us and I'm excited to move my things in. But I hate that you were willing to give up a new car if you had to. I thought we both agreed that Bertha has to be put out to pasture."

"I know, and I will," I told him, "I already started looking at cars and I think I found one that I want."

"Baby," Edward's voice was oozing sex and I shivered against him, "I think it's time we break in this apartment."

I leaned up, looking down at the crooked grin that was gracing his face. "I'm only interested in breaking in our apartment."

"Do you want me to pack my things now, or can it wait until the morning?" he asked, his expression completely serious.

I shook my head, "Nope, you can wait, but only if you promise not to let me go all night."

"Believe me; I plan on holding on a lot longer than that."

EPOV

The next morning I went to class, but the moment I was done, I was home packing my stuff, my mom smiled and told me that she was going to make sure all of the things I was taking with me were there by Saturday morning. Bella and I were both excused from our Monday classes because it was the sentencing, but honestly, I really just wanted that to be over with. We had begun to move on and I was ready for it to be a closed case.

I mentioned that in therapy that evening and Dr. G seemed to agree that once we had our closure, it would make moving on from Jake easier, even though he may not ever truly be gone, he would be no more than a memory, we hoped.

Wednesday was Bella's day at the women's shelter, so I spent the evening looking over my notes. Finals would be here in three weeks and it still seemed odd how fast the semester had moved. Everything was coming together and I was excited about the things to come.

Thursday was Bella's solo therapy day, so I used that night to move over the rest of my things, my dad had hooked up our office so I set up my computer and organized all my books and things so that when I had to study I wasn't searching the entire apartment, plus my parents' house to find it.

Bella came home that night, asking about my summer plans, but I honestly didn't have any. I was so focused on the moment that I hadn't thought much beyond it. The one thing we did decide was that we were having the gang over the following weekend to relax and catch up once everything was behind us.

The weekend moved too fast, mainly because of what was looming on Monday, but as we dressed in our suits and got into Ren's SUV for one final trip to the courthouse, I felt ready.

Bella and I met Alec in the hall and walked in together where Judge Santiago sat at his bench a few minutes later. Jake was in his orange jumpsuit, no need to dress for the audience as he was behind bars, his first attempt at an appeal already denied and the state supreme court holding even less of a possibility for him. The only chance of Jake ever getting out was the man sitting on high this morning.

"I've heard statements and read documents on both side of this case in regard to the possible sentences. The state of Washington is a three-strike state, and although the definition of that varies from state to state, Washington's is a stricter version. Your felony drug charges were strike one, and although it is a matter that could be up for debate, the rape conviction stems from the events that led to Miss Swan going to the hospital at the end of September and the evidence that she was the victim of multiple acts of violence previous to that day. The assault charges stem from the attack on October 4th, making four felony convictions, but two separate occurrences."

James looked as though he might comment, but the Judge held up his hand. "It is at the discretion of the ruling official to determine, within reason, whether or not this rule is applicable, and believe me, I've made sure that there was a precedent for my sentence." Judge Santiago turned to Jake and let out a deep breath. "Jacob Black, you were convicted of four felonies, which count as your second and third strike in the eyes of the state of Washington. In accordance with this rule, you are sentenced to life without parole. You will be taken from this court to your current place of incarceration, from there you will be transferred to Washington Corrections Center, and it is there that you will serve out your time. This court is now adjourned."

The gavel hit the bench and the Judge exited the court just before Jake was escorted out. The look of disbelief on his face as he turned to level one last glare at us was surprising. After all this time and everything that happened, he still thought he'd be given a light sentence.

As he was taken from the room, Bella leaned into my side. "Is it really over?" she asked. "We're actually free?"

"We are," I whispered. "Jake can never hurt us again."

I brought Bella home and we spent the afternoon in bed. The release we felt at finally having Jacob Black behind us gave way to some of the most amazing sex I've ever had. I fell asleep with Bella in my arms, but when I woke up a few hours later, I was alone in bed.

I threw on some clothes and found her cooking dinner with a smile on her face. "How was your nap?"

"Nice, I wish I'd woken up with you still next to me, but there's nothing that could make today feel wrong."

"I know," she whispered. "As much as I hate everything that's happened, I've learned that I can't regret it. This year proved that we can live through anything and we've fought for this relationship and won. No matter how challenging the next few years are going to be, we'll make it."

I sighed, loving her confidence in us, but then again, Bella always had faith in us so it wasn't too surprising. She finished making dinner while I started some laundry, both of us laughing at how much better I'd gotten since she taught me back in September.

The rest of the day we spent relaxing, knowing it would be the last real chance to enjoy ourselves before finals started next Wednesday. Bella already had her final papers and assignments started and her one class that had an actual test was on the first day of finals so she was starting to get prepared.

Emmett called around 9pm to talk about the sentencing because he'd just gotten off work and wanted to know some of the details. After a promise that he'd gotten Saturday off, Bella hung up and we watched some TV for the rest of the night.

Our hectic schedules had us moving quickly through the week and before I knew it, Bella was standing back in the kitchen, putting the finishing touches on the fish she was making. She had found a book on southern cooking in Nags Head and was trying one of the more Cajun inspired dishes after how much we enjoyed our dinners out while on Spring Break.

Emmett and Rosalie showed up first, with Alice and Jasper about fifteen minutes behind them. It was nice having the gang back together and as we sat around the table so Bella could be a part of the conversation, the topic of summer plans came up.

"Rosie and I are doing a road trip; we're going to see the country while we can. After this year it just feels like a good time to do it. Plus, I have to celebrate my graduation in style." Emmett cast a sad glance at Bella, and I knew he'd miss her while he was gone. They'd finally come together and now he'd spend a good part of the summer away.

"I'm participating in a Civil War reenactment. My dad got me hooked up with some of his work associates and I'm so stoked. Oh and I got into Frank's class next Fall, so we'll be in the same class, Bella."

"Awesome, you'll love him. Have you started your paperwork for student teaching yet?" Bella asked Jasper over her shoulder.

"No, but I'm waiting for the letter of recommendation from my teachers that way I can get it done and hand it in all at once."

"I'm halfway through it; O'Hara already gave me my letter. I'm excited for next year."

Alice looked over at Bella, "I thought you need three letters?"

"I do, but O'Hara's the most important, my poetry teacher from last semester wrote me one and so did Cynthia."

"Cynthia," I asked, "Isn't she the lady who runs the rape support group you went to?"

Bella nodded, "Yeah, because I lead a peer support group and volunteer at the women's shelter, Frank thought it was a great idea, because it shows my ability to lead beyond working in a classroom setting, and with the children that stay at the shelter, it will make my application stand out."

"Damn, you're going to be fighting off offers when the time comes to choose." Jasper shook his head as Bella finished up dinner.

"I just hope the place I choose is interested in hiring me when I graduate," Bella mused.

"Baby, they'll be fighting over you," I said, taking the food from her and sitting it on the table.

We sat down to eat and everyone complimented my girl's cooking. The conversation continued as the meal passed and Emmett finally asked what our plans were.

"We had our fun in March; we're staying home, this summer. I've got to figure out which Med Schools I want to apply to and that's going to take a while to narrow down."

"Aren't you going to school here?" Emmett asked, his mouth still full.

Bella leveled a glare at her brother. "Edward is applying all over the country. It isn't fair for me to make him only apply to schools that are nearby for my sake. I can teach anywhere, I'll just have to make sure I have everything I need to teach in the state he goes to school in."

"My first choice is The University of Washington; it has one of the top primary care programs in the country." I said it for Emmett, because I knew he needed the reassurance and in reality, I had no real desire to start again to have to do it again in four years once I was done with college and looking for a residency program.

"So you're going to just be hanging out in Seattle all summer?" Alice pushed again.

"Your mom's doing a big restoration just outside the city and I have my volunteering, plus Edward has to take his MCAT's, we need to do boring for a while."

I laughed at Bella's comment, completely agreeing.

After dinner, we helped Bella clean up and then moved over to the couches to watch a movie. Alice tried to talk us into a tearjerker, but Bella deflected her with talk of a shopping trip after finals were done, knowing that would appease her. She also reminded both Alice and Rosalie that her new Ford Escape would have more room for their shopping bags; she just had to wait for it to arrive at the dealer.

I was so happy that she managed to get a deal for the lease and she'd have to junk Bertha, but it was time. We were all moving on, and some things just have to fall away. The important things were still with us and we'd be making new memories to overshadow the bad.