AN: Alright I know I know it's freaking forever! Trust me I know! It's been killing me. My computer crashed and I had to get all new software and all that shit! Anyways here is chapter twenty five!

Disclaimer: I don't own we all know this so stop rubbing it in!

Chapter Twenty Five:

My Family

The trip to the restaurant was quiet seeing as Edward and I went to it in his car with Rose, Emmett, and Renee following us in Emmett's Jeep. We got to the most expensive restaurant that Forks has which was a steak house that had a twelve point buck on the wall. Yeah real fancy.

Edward helped me out of the car as Emmett was parking next to the Volvo. Renee stepped out of the passenger that was next Edward and I. She smiled sweetly at me and Edward; he had his arm wrapped around my waist.

"You too have new love written all over your faces." She said with a big and proud smile on her face.

"That's what I think every single time I see them," I hear my father's voice from the side walk to the restaurant. I look over at him to see him with a big smile on his face.

"Charlie it's so good to see you," Renee squealed and ran over to him and gave him a hug. I instantly straightened and I could tell that Edward knew that I was strained because he started to rub soothing circles on my lower back.

Charlie didn't seem to miss a beat and hugged her back as Emmett stood by pretty much in the same stance that I was. "It's getting pretty chilly out here why don't we go join everyone," he said with a smile as he looked at the four of us and then back at Renee.

We all followed Charlie and Renee who seemed to be talking and laughing quite loudly about past times together that they had. We got to the table only to see Sue Clearwater and Jasper and Alice. I said a happy hello to them and then sat in between Edward and Rose. The table filled with chatter but it wasn't among whom I expected it to be, no it was between Renee, Charlie, and Sue. And they all wore big smiles.

By the time the waitress came everyone seemed to have calmed down. "Is there anything else I can get you?" the waitress asked in a seductive voice to Edward after everyone had ordered, but that didn't mean the attention was off of her. She was raising her eyebrow at him as she placed a hand on the back of his chair.

"I think I'm good, love do you need anything else?" Edward asked me in a sweet voice as he grabbed my hand and moved it to under the table. I turned my attention from not really paying attention to the catty waitress to looking up at Edward and smiling because of how uncomfortable he was.

"I'm good but I think my mother would like another glass of wine she's been waiting for you to stop batting your eyelashes at all your tables for about ten minutes now," I said looking at her only to see her pained face. She nodded her face and walked away only to trip over her own foot.

I turned back to the table to see my parents and Sue looking at me with wide eyes. I just thought Hell hath no fury when Bella Swan is scorned. I actually chuckled at my own little joke which made them eye me a little more. Renee smiled a huge grin which confused me a little.

"Well now I know where her personality comes from!" she said and then barked out a laugh.

Charlie shook his head and looked between Renee and me, "I haven't seen anything like that since prom."

"What the bitch was all over you, and you were my date. I had no other choice but to bring things into my own hands," Renee said as she winked at him which made the whole table laugh.

"What did you do?" I asked and I felt Edward and Emmett stiffen, I hadn't really said anything directly to Renee except for hello. I patted Edward's hand that was in my lap still and then nudged my elbow with Emmett's so he would know that all was fine. They both sighed at the same time which made me smile a little to myself.

"I just called her skank and told her to leave Charlie to a real woman, oh and I slapped her when she tried to come back with an insult." She said with a shrug of innocence.

Everyone laughed and looked at me and Edward spoke up, "Hmm kind of like the Jessica thing and the Jane thing." He smiled his crooked smile as he looked down at me at which I blushed lightly and looked over at Renee.

"So how's your job?" I asked trying to change the subject which everyone but the two of us laughed lightly at.

"Honestly it's a real bitch. It's easy and I can pretty much do anything I want and still get off with a shrug and say that I wouldn't do it again. I mean what's fun with that?" she asked as I laughed along with everyone else.

"What indeed?" I asked and she smiled brightly at me.

Somehow through evening Emmett ended up switching spots with Renee so that she could be next to me as we talked about anything and everything. It felt like she was a lost part of my soul that I had found. It was amazing that I actually really did have a mother figure.

We all talked it seemed though Renee and I seemed to be the loudest out of everyone. We had so much in common like it was unbelievable at how much. I mean I guess it's pretty obvious that we would have something in common since we were mother and child but I mean that I haven't been around her in years and years and yet she still seemed to have seeped into my mind and body.

Sue Clearwater was smiling at us with a wide grin and then turned back to Charlie. Renee whispered something in my ear about how Emmett used to act when he was younger and before she left, and I laughed loudly picturing a toddler running around in nothing but pull up diapers for potty training.

Everyone looked at us again as we began to almost fall out of our chairs from laughing so hard. Edward held onto my shoulder trying to level me and my mom at the same time seeing as she was leaning on me.

"What so damn funny?" Emmett asked with a slight smirk on his face, oh if he only knew what we were talking about.

Renee grew serious all of a sudden with her back straight and her chin held up high, "Emmett Richard Swan I don't think your father or I taught you to talk to your elders like that. Especially when the people you cuss at are discussing a time where you were running around dancing in your potty training diaper!" she squealed out and then we both broke out into a laughter followed by everyone else except for Emmett who was blushing almost as bad as I did.

My cheeks were flushed from all the laughing by the time we were leaving the restaurant, and I couldn't help but smile every time I would look up and see Renee laughing at something. Edward and I rode home alone in a comfortable silence but I knew he wanted to ask something.

As we pulled up to his house so that he could park his car I sighed and held his hand to make him not open his door. "What is it?" I asked looking at him as I rubbed circles on the back of his hand.

He smiled down at me and kissed me lightly on the lips, "How is it that you can be freaking out one minute that you won't let go of my hand and then the next to laughing your butt off as I try to hold you up?"

"Easy I found out that she wasn't as bad as I thought in fact she's a lot of fun, I can tell why Charlie loved her for so long," I said with a shrug.

"Is the reason you like her so much is because you too are almost identical in sense of humor and looks?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"We act alike?" I asked confused.

He laughed and shook his head, "Seriously Bella I can't read you sometimes."

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" I asked innocently.

"Definitely a good thing but sometimes it can be annoying," he said before kissing me again on the lips and I quickly grabbed his neck and twirled my fingers in his hair to make him stay put, I was enjoying the feeling way too much for him to just pull away.

He tangled his hands into my own hair and held me close to him as if I was going to disappear. He lightly traced my bottom lip and I accepted him immediately, his tongue ventured out into my mouth and I became lost in the taste of him.

He pulled away a little later to catch his breath but he didn't seem to waist much time because before I knew it he was kissing my neck. I tilted my neck so he could get a better angle at it because I was enjoying this way too much for him to stop again. He sighed on my neck and then released me slowly at which I pouted at.

He chuckled lightly and tapped his clock that was in the car, "I need to get you to your house before your mom pulls you out of here so she can talk to you more." I still pouted; right now I didn't care about my mom, Charlie, or anyone else. It was just Edward and I kissing in his car like we haven't done in a while. Ok a while is really like a couple of hours, but still this was kissing time no one else's.

Wow I just sounded like a little kid that wanted to get her presents on Christmas and everyone was trying to stop her. Well Christmas time and presents are very important. I thought and then laughed internally. I really am a kid.

"Alright let's go," I said with a sigh but kissed him lightly on the lips before I got out of his car. I turned around and waited for him at his trunk only to see that Renee was standing on the porch reading under the dim light. I blushed lightly thinking that she had seen Edward and me kissing, and this is going to be really uncomfortable.

Edward pulled me to him by wrapping his arms around my waist and we started to walk our way towards my house. Renee who had heard us coming up the steps of the porch looked up with a grin on her face. "Hey kids, you guys have a fun night?" she asked.

I stared at her in shock. Wasn't she going to go all big parent on me like Charlie would have? "Yes Renee we had a wonderful night tonight." Edward said politely with his signature crooked smile.

"That's great it was so great meeting you Edward. I know I don't have to worry about Bella dating some jerk that treats her badly with you around," she said with a knowing small smile. She knew. She knew all about Jacob. Who told her and when?

"No ma'am I would never do such a thing to Bella." Edward said stiffening at the change in topic.

"Well Rose just left with Jasper and Alice should be leaving soon she just wanted to give you and Bella some time. I think everyone is pretty beat." Renee said standing up and giving us a big smile just as Alice walked out.

"Hey bro you ready to go?" Alice asked walking over to Edward.

"Sure thing Alice," he said and then kissed me lightly on the cheek and then whispered lightly in my ear, "I love you sleep well."

"Thanks I will. I love you too." I said whispering in his ear and then kissed his lips softly again.

Edward and Alice walked back towards their house and I was left with Renee who was smirking slightly. "You know you and Edward remind me so much of Charlie and me. What him and I had," she said quietly.

I looked at her a little confused, "I don't know if I should take that as a compliment or as an insult."

She smiled lightly and I could tell now why she had such strong laugh lines on her face. "Take it as a compliment; just don't make the same mistake as I did."

I pulled her inside with me and up the stairs as quickly as I could and before I knew it she was sitting on my bed with me next to her and the door locked. "Are you saying that you wish you hadn't of left not just because of Emmett and I but also because you miss Charlie also."

"Sort of," she said with a sigh and I felt like I was talking to my best friend about her boy problems. "Charlie and I loved each other very much but when Emmett came along things got stressful, he wanted to stay and raise Emmett like he was raised but I wanted to make my dream a reality. I stayed because I loved Charlie so much and Emmett.

"Then you came along and I thought maybe now that I had you and Emmett was a year older that I could get over my wanting to complete my dream, but it just made it so much stronger. Charlie and I fought constantly because of this and one day I just couldn't take it any longer so I left and started making my dream a reality. I want you to know that there wasn't a day that I didn't not think about the three of you." She said and then grabbed something from her pocket and handed it over to me. It was a very worn out photo of Charlie, me, Emmett, and Renee all smiling big smiles at the camera in a pumpkin farm.

I felt tears start to prickle at my eyes. Seeing this photo that I had kept away from everyone else come out of my mother's pocket all worn out made me want to weep my eyes out. I walked over to my desk and grabbed my favorite book which was Wuthering Heights. I walked back over to her and gave her back her picture; I had one of my own. I opened it to the place where I had stopped. The same photo she was holding was my bookmark.

I held it out to her and she took it silently looking down at it as her eyes prickled with unshed tears as did mine. "Every single time I would hold this photo I felt closer to you, to Emmett and Charlie. For a reason I had no idea why. Now I do. You could have been holding that photo the same time that I had been and I didn't even know it. I always thought that you didn't love us that you didn't care about us and that's why you left. But seeing this it makes me really realize that you really do love me as your daughter and you want to make this work." I said quietly and I heard her choke out a sob and then she threw herself on me to give me a hug and we fell back onto the bed laughing wet teary laughs.

"Do they know this?" Renee asked after awhile of us just lying on my bed.

"No, I think Charlie knew it was gone and that I had it but I don't think he remembers still."

"You're wrong, Charlie can remember the smallest things, and I know that for sure."

I smiled as I continued to look up at my ceiling. "How bad was it Bella?" she asked quietly and I didn't need to question what she was asking about, I could tell from her voice.

"Bad sometimes I wish I could just go away and never come back," I said and my voice cracked.

"You couldn't have known that he was going to hurt you like he did."

"He never acted like psycho beater boyfriend he just didn't like me hanging out with a lot of guys because he didn't like the idea of maybe cheating on him. Even though he cheated on me with three different girls."

"Bella sometimes the guy you think you know really isn't the guy you're with," she said and then turned on her side so that she was facing me. "I've been a sucker for romantic novels and movies and I see that you've taken a liking to it too, but I'm sorry to bust your bubble a lot of the times your prince charming just happens to be a frog. I'm not saying that Edward's a frog by any means I just mean that it may not be what you think it all is."

"I've thought that from the very beginning. A lot of stuff has happened to me in these past few months and I'm just so tired I feel like I could sleep for a week and still be tired. I wish with all my heart that I could completely trust Edward, but in the back of my head I have this nagging voice saying watch your back otherwise you're probably going to fall." I said looking up at my mother.

She laughed and shook her head. "That's what I would call a mother's voice. And by that I mean we mothers like to know that our pride one's- our children know what's up and what's down at all times otherwise they may fall and get hurt. We never want them to get hurt. So seeing as I wasn't here to tell you this you have my voice telling you to be careful otherwise you may end up getting hurt."

I smiled at her and nodded. I then asked what's been nagging at me for awhile, "Do you still love my father?"

She was quiet for awhile and then finally spoke up, "I did for a very long time, but I was too ashamed to come back and say what I did was wrong also I knew that he would have some girl wrapped around his finger like he deserves. But then I finally got able to just be over with what I couldn't have, I hoped though that I wouldn't have been replaced for Emmett and you though because that would have been absolutely dreadful, I don't think I could have been able to live to talk if I saw some other woman in pictures with you as a fifth grader who had taken my place and that you loved like a mother."

She sighed again and started to ruffle with my hair, "People always say that you'll remember your first love, but that's not the case for me because Charlie was my second. I'll always remember and treasure my second love not my first. And you should too." I smiled and we both fell asleep like this.

AN: Ok so there it is, you've read it now it's time for the review part... and don't worry you'll be getting your next chapter soon I promise!