A/N: *hugs to everyone*

Benjamin was not a happy camper.

Bella was hanging out with him in his room while his parents had an increasingly loud conversation elsewhere in the apartment. Benjamin was currently smashing two of his action figures together violently. His brows were knitted, his normally happy smile turned into a dark scowl. She had never wanted to hug someone more, but she wasn't his favorite person at the time being either.

"Benji," she tried, but he leveled her with a glare that silenced her.

"My name is Benjamin," he said icily. "Only my mommy and daddy can call me Benji. You are not my mommy." With that, he deliberately turned around so he was sitting cross-legged with his back to her.

Sighing, Bella laid back on his bed, feeling helpless. She couldn't comfort Benjamin, and she couldn't stand beside Edward. She was getting so sick of feeling out of her depth.

The arguing voices got closer, and the door to the room came crashing open. Bella sat up quickly, hearing Edward pleading. "Kebi, please don't do this."

"Benjamin. Come on. We're leaving."

Benjamin stood, his expression pensive, and he backed away from his mother rather than moving forward. "It's Daddy's turn. We're going to the zoo. He told me."

"You're coming home with me where you belong," Kebi said, taking a step toward him.

Benjamin twisted away from her, his expression furious. "No. No, I won't."

"Kebi-" Edward tried, putting his hand on her shoulder.

"I don't want to speak to you." She shrugged him off. "Benjamin. Come with me right now."

Bella moved quickly to stand beside Edward just outside the door. She put her hand to his back, unsure of how to help or what to say. Her heart and stomach were in knots.

Benjamin dodged his mother's hands and darted for the door, yelling "no" the whole way. His face was twisted and furious. Edward tried to catch him, but the little boy actually shoved his father away. "No! I don't like you. I don't like you right now." He gasped, tears beginning to steam down his face as he turned his glare on his mother. "And I don't like you. You are being mean. You are being mean to each other and yelling. And I don't want to go. It's Daddy's turn, and I'm not going, and you can't make me."

With that, he ran down the hallway to Edward's room - the only room with a lock - and slammed the door behind him. His heartbreaking sobs were instantly audible.

Edward splayed his hand over the door and rested his forehead there for a few seconds before he turned to Kebi. His voice was soft, calm but drained and sad. "Please. Don't make this ugly. It's not going to be easy, but it doesn't have to be ugly."

She huffed, wrapping her arms around her midsection. It was clear from the look on her face she hated her son's tears as much as Edward did. "You think what you did is not ugly?" she challenged, her voice wavering. "You brought strangers into our business, Edward. My parents, Amun, they all wanted me to go to a judge, but I never did. For years I never did. I told them you were a good father, that you would never intentionally try to hurt me or him."

"I'm not trying to hurt either of you. What choice did you leave me?" He raked his hand through his hair restlessly, and it was all Bella could do to keep herself out of the middle of it, knowing she could only make things worse.

"You couldn't talk to me? I had some bored looking jerk handing me papers to sign as if I were some criminal who would steal your son?"

Edward winced. "What would you have said, Kebs? What would you have done if I'd told you I wasn't moving, I can't move across the country. Would you even consider leaving Benjamin here with me?"

She shrunk backward at the very idea and swallowed hard. "If you won't come, a child should be with his mother."

"I'm a good father. You know it. You've said it. If you won't stay, there's no reason he wouldn't be better off with me, with his friends, with-"

"I can't stay," she snapped. "What would you have us do? Amun's job won't exist here, and then what? I should support all four of us on my tiny salary?"

"And yet you expect me to move across the country with nothing? No job, no place to live, no support?"

"I'm not asking you to do that."

"Or lose my son?" Edward blew out a sharp breath, rubbing his eyes. "You see? This is impossible. I can't ask you to leave him here with me any more than you can ask me to let him go without a fight. What else is there to do but let a stranger make that choice for us?"

He stepped toward her, tentatively reaching out. Again she shrugged away from his touch, and he sighed, dropping his hand to his side. "This is going to be horrible for him. You have no idea how much I hate that, but I don't know what else to do. What we can do is be civil with each other and not disrupt his routine until we absolutely have to. Please leave him here."

"And how do I know you won't keep him?" she challenged, but her voice wasn't as angry as it could have been.

"I have never lied to you. I've been good to you, Kebs."

"Don't call me that," she hissed, reminding Bella of her son. "I'll leave him. For now. But you made this ugly, Edward. You fired the first shot."

She stormed away then, brushing by Bella without so much as a glance in her direction.

Almost as soon as the door had closed behind her, Edward slumped, the energy and the fight going out of him. He leaned heavily against the wall, his hands over his eyes. He slid down to the floor, and Bella was over to him, sliding right down beside him.

"Have I mentioned," he muttered bitterly, "that I hate this?" He sighed, tilting his head against her shoulder. "She's right. I fired first."

"You didn't have a choice." Bella twined their fingers together, squeezing his hand tightly. "These things get messy. Firing the first shot was just protecting your rights."

"Tell me I'm doing the right thing," he whispered.

She pressed a long kiss to his hairline. "You're doing the right thing."

In truth, she didn't think there was a right thing. She couldn't imagine being in Kebi's situation any more than she wanted to be in Edward's. But she was his girlfriend, and now wasn't the time for pragmatism. He needed to hear he wasn't a monster.

Edward took another few moments for himself before he got to his feet. He knocked on the door to his room. "Benji?" he called, his voice gentle. "Open the door."

"I don't want to leave!"

"You're not leaving. Mommy went home for now."

After a few tense seconds - they could hear Benjamin sniffling - the lock turned and the door opened a crack. The little boy peered up at his father with red rimmed eyes. "I don't like you right now."

Bella's heart broke, but Edward nodded. "That's okay. That's understandable. Do you want to come out and talk about it?"

Benjamin shook his head, his eyes brimming with tears again.

"How about a hug?" Edward's voice wavered ever so slightly, and Bella thought he could use a hug from his son maybe more than his son could use a hug from him.

Benjamin opened the door all the way and flew into his father's arms. He clung tightly, burying his face at Edward's neck as he whimpered a little. Edward closed his eyes, sitting back on the ground with Benjamin in his lap. For long seconds they just held each other.

"I love you. Mommy loves you. There's nothing in this world that can change that. Okay?"

"Uh huh." Benjamin's vague agreement was muffled against his father's shoulder.

Edward rubbed his back in comforting circles. "You still want to go to the zoo?"

"Okay. But I want it to be just us."

"Ben-"

"It's okay," Bella said quickly. "You need some boy time. I'm cool with it."

Edward shot her a grateful look over Benjamin's shoulder. He tried to stand, but the boy clung stubbornly to him. With a sigh, Edward stood with Benjamin in his arms and stepped over to Bella to kiss her. "Thank you," he whispered near her ear.

"I should see if my roommate is still alive." She kissed Edward's cheek before she put a hand on Benjamin's shoulder. "I'll see you later, Benjamin. Okay?"

Rather than answer, Benjamin turned his head as if he was trying to burrow right into Edward's skin to get away from her.

"Benji. Bella is talking to you."

The little boy only gave a grunt.

"It's okay. Really," Bella said, trying not to be hurt. She had no idea why Benjamin had decided she was public enemy #1, but it was probably only to be expected. Who knew what he had heard his mother and Amun say, or what little-boy-logical conclusion he'd arrived at with whatever he understood about this whole situation. "Call me," she said to Edward.

Benjamin's needs aside, it killed her to leave him.

~0~

That week was not an easy one.

Benjamin had been an unholy terror both at home and in school. Edward had received not one but two calls from his teacher. In a week. From a boy who had never been in trouble before.

Kebi and Amun tried to spin it back at him. If he wasn't fighting, of course, Benjamin wouldn't be so confused and worked up. It was probably true, but there was the rub. Life wasn't about easy choices. Parenting was so often about the long run, and in the long run, he did believe Benjamin would be better off staying in Seattle.

"In a lot of ways, it would be easier if Kebi wasn't a good mom, if Amun treated him badly. Is that horrible?" he asked Bella one evening.

"I don't think so. I feel the same way. I'm glad he has so many people in his life who love him, but it would make it easier for me to see her as the bad guy if she was... bad."

All week, Bella did her best to be the support Edward needed. Benjamin didn't make it easy. He was mad at the world. He seemed to have glommed on to the fact Bella was the easiest person to control, so he frequently would order her out of the apartment.

That Thursday, with Esme and Carlisle's gentle prodding, Edward put his foot down.

"I want you to apologize to Bella. Right now."

"No. I mean it. I don't like her. She should go away. She is not okay with me anymore. You said we can get ice cream. I want to get ice cream, but I think Bella should go home." He crossed his arms defiantly.

Edward crossed them right back. "I think you just lost your ice cream."

Benjamin's eyes widened but then narrowed just as quickly. "You hate me."

"No. I most certainly don't. I think you're being very mean to someone who has not been at all mean to you. Now Grandma, Grandpa, Bella and I are going to watch TV. You go to my room and think for a while if you want to keep being mean or if you want to apologize and watch with us." When Benjamin only glared, he added. "Now, Benjamin Rafi Cullen."

Scowling, Benjamin turned to run down the hallway.

"My room, Benjamin," Edward warned.

"You hate me!" Benjamin insisted again before he slammed the door to Edward's room.

Edward closed his eyes, breathing in and out through his nose. "That sucked," he muttered to no one in particular.

Esme rubbed his back, and Bella squeezed his hand.

"If it wasn't a work night, I'd tell you to take Bella and go out for a stiff drink," Carlisle offered.

Opening his eyes, Edward gave his father a bemused look. "Bella can't go to a bar anyway, Dad, but thanks." He slung an arm around Bella, cuddling her close. He sighed. "Besides, I have to talk to Benji again when he calms down."

Bella said nothing, but hugged him back, needy for his embrace. Sometimes, like just then, she felt so young. Too young.

She didn't quite understand what she thought she was too young for, and why it made her feel so helplessly clingy in this situation where Edward needed so much more support, until she received a thick envelope that Saturday.

When she read the words, she was completely, irrationally upset. It took everything she had not to burst into tears which was both bizarre and outrageously stupid. This was what she'd wanted. It was what she'd worked for.

Bella didn't even try to tell Edward until Sunday afternoon. It was eight blocks from her dorm to the garage, where Edward had asked her to meet him. She walked the whole way, needing to think.

Att the garage, she found Edward out of uniform - it was his day off, after all - talking with Emmett and Jasper. It was immediately clear he'd had a run in with Amun that morning when he and Kebi arrived to pick Benjamin up.

"Ridiculous, man." Jasper shook his head. "Like a mother should get the kid right off the bat, no questions asked."

"It all depends. Like, I wouldn't trust me by myself with a baby," Emmett said.

Jasper snorted. "Are you kidding? You'd set the kid down and forget where you left him."

Emmett rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but you're different." He pointed at Edward. "The whole half and half thing worked really well, but you could do it by yourself."

Edward's posture relaxed when he saw Bella then, and he opened his arms while the other two greeted her. She acknowledged the boys, but cuddled up to Edward, tucking her head under his chin.

"Bella?" She could feel the vibration of his voice in his throat. He shifted, holding her a little away from him so he could give her a once over. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah." Even to her own ears the assurance sounded thin. "I walked here. I'm just a little worn out, that's all."

He looked like he was about to call her on her bullshit when his eyes zeroed in on the envelope in her arms. He took it from her. "What's this?"

She just nodded her head, her throat too tight to speak, as ridiculous as that was.

With a worried look on his face, Edward opened the envelope and took out the paperwork found there. He started reading the top letter, and his eyes almost instantly went wide. He looked up at her. "This is the scholarship you applied for last year?"

Bella nodded slowly.

Edward skimmed some more, and his face lit up in a huge grin. Bella yelped when he suddenly slung an arm around her waist and spun her around. Setting her back down again, he waved the paperwork at Emmett and Jasper. "See this? This right here says I have the smartest girl in the state."

Jasper grabbed the paper from him as Edward was distracted by giving Bella a smooch to the cheek that made her giggle. "What this actually says is you got a full ride and then some."

"Same thing," Edward said. He cupped her face between his hands. "Baby, I'm so proud of you."

"Nice, kid," Emmett agreed. "Really nice."

Bella found herself smiling and blushing at their attention, finally letting happiness creep in around the edges of the odd despair that had fallen over her when she saw the notification letter. It was a good thing. No, hell. It was a great thing. She would graduate without debt, and she could take much fewer hours at the diner with what she'd been awarded.

She wrapped her arm around Edward, feeling as though she would disappear into his skin if she could. Though she was happy and proud of herself, she was also a little dismayed. She knew it was the root of her clinginess, the desperation that lingered just under the surface throughout this whole ordeal with Benjamin.

The fact of the matter was, this letter meant she was stuck here. It wouldn't be a very wise decision to leave when her schooling was paid for. She couldn't give up her dreams to follow Edward.

Because there was something no one was saying, but Bella knew anyway. If Edward lost, if Kebi retained the right to move her son across the country, he would go. His parents would help. It wouldn't be the best thing for any of them, but they would do it.

And Bella wouldn't be able to follow even if she wanted to.

A/N: Many thanks to Songster for her help this chapter and next chapter. Next chapter is the hearing. Eeep.

How we doin' out there, kids?