AN: Didn't mean to make you all wait so long. My mum's in hospital, quite serious so I've been a bit busy.

For the lovely readers who reviewed the last chapter, the JessPOV isn't quite finished. Figured I'd better get this to you first to put you out of your misery, 'cos Bella's got some explaining to do…..

Chapter 25

BPOV

It's funny how quickly your life can change. All it takes is the blink of an eye and everything you thought you knew is gone. The surety with which you've been leading your life crumbles away and all you're left with is an enormous hole. If you're lucky you can find a way to maneuver around it, if you're unlucky you find yourself gripping for dear life onto the edge as your legs dangle freely without any chance of finding something or someone to grip onto, and if you're shit out of luck you find yourself on some sort of free fall, not sure of when you are going to hit the bottom, but knowing that it's coming. That's kind of where I found myself, again, the day after leaving Edward with Jessica.

Edward would always mean more to me than he ever knew. My heart broke as I walked away. Again. The first time I'd walked away with his virginity and the memory of a night that was perfect in its simplicity. No strings, no pressure, no girlfriends or boyfriends at the time. Just a simple night where we got to enjoy the company of one another freely. But this time I was leaving behind my heart with the most caring, compassionate, loving, sweet boy. I wasn't sure whether he was going to take care of it, or whether he was going to crush it in his hands. I knew he had the ability to do both, I just wasn't sure which one he was going to choose when he found out the truth behind why I didn't end up finishing the school year at Forks High School.

My trip to Phoenix was long. Longer than I remembered from previous trips. Every other time I had returned I had been leaving behind my father who, don't get wrong, I loved dearly. But I was always returning to my mother, my best friend. I didn't have that to look forward to this time and it bought back the pain of that time in my life after the accident with such clarity that I wasn't sure I was going to be able to go through with what I was about to do.

I spent some time thinking over the conversation I'd had with my grandmother the evening before just after I'd returned from the Cullen's. She was confused at first, which was not entirely unusual. She was talking to me in mixed up sentences, talking about the things we did together last week. Even going so far as to call me Renee a couple of times.

As she became more lucid she talked about our regular phone calls and she asked about my father. Her mind was slowly coming around, but I got confused as she asked about my boyfriend. I had told her that James and I had broken up, in fact we'd had an in depth conversation about it, of which I reminded her.

"But Bella, I saw him last week. He came to visit me. Such a lovely young man he is," she said.

She must have been slipping again.

"He said you had been thinking of going to college in Seattle but that he'd managed to convince you to go with your original plans and come to Phoenix."

What? There was something about that statement that didn't sound like the ramblings of an elderly lady who was losing her mind.

"Grandma. You know I don't have a boyfriend." Well….not technically.

"Bella, don't be silly, of course you do. That nice young man you've been seeing all these years. Now, there's no need for you to worry about paying for college. I've had money put away for your college education since the day you were born, Renee was never any good with her money so I knew I'd need to do that for you."

"Thanks Gran, but the money from…..the insurance money and all of Mom's other assets, you know there's more than enough money to pay for college there."

"Nonsense child. I won't have you spending that on education. You should spend some of that on a holiday, and then when you and James are ready you can buy a house together. I've already taken care of it."

"What do you mean you've taken care of it?" She was opening up now.

"I've already paid for it. James helped me transfer the money to his account so he can take care of it for you," she said so proudly.

My heart started beating so fast I thought I'd have a heart attack as I calculated the potential amount of money that was.

"Just enough for one year right?"

"Well let me see. No, I think we ended up deciding on all four years. Yes, it was all four years worth."

My plane arrived in Phoenix pretty early on Sunday morning. I'd left Forks the night before so I could be on the first flight out of Seattle into Phoenix on Sunday morning. Not even the sharp rise in temperature or the sunshine were enough to lift my spirits. I caught a cab straight to my grandmother's. She was excited to see me, albeit a little confused at my sudden appearance. I caught up with her for a couple of hours, before seeing the director of the nursing home to talk to them about how it was possible for someone to walk in and help my grandmother transfer a very large sum of money from her bank account.

My next stop was the police. My father had already made phone calls and started the ball rolling on my behalf, however it was looking likely that as Gran had transferred the money voluntarily, that it was unlikely the transaction could be reversed, and in all likely-hood the money had been moved to another account or withdrawn completely.

I knew where my next stop had to be and it was not a stop I was looking forward to making.

I looked at my mobile to check the time, realizing it was still off I quickly turned it on and waited as it alerted me to the number of messages that would be sitting there.

Edward.

I had thought about calling him before I left Forks. But I couldn't help but think about what was going on with him and Jessica. What if he'd changed his mind? I mean, she walked into the house last night and even Carlisle couldn't take his eyes off her chest. And then when I'd seen her sitting with Edward and he was being sucked in by it all I knew I had to get out of there. I couldn't tell what he was thinking, and I didn't have time to find out before leaving. At least this way in the unlikely event he did want to choose her in the end then he didn't have to feel guilty about it for my sake.

I was on edge emotionally, and I knew hearing Edward who was now so far away would likely bring me completely undone, so I decided to leave his messages until after I dealt with my next issue. James' mother. If I was going to get to him it would be through her.

The cab pulled up to their house and I paid him before taking my bags and pulling them up the front step.

To say she was surprised to see me would be an understatement. I'd always had a good relationship with Jeannie, and I found myself really happy to see her, despite the awkward circumstances.

"Oh darlin' James is going to be so pleased to see you."

"Yeah, I bet he is," I replied sardonically. She ushered me into the house and we sat at the kitchen table.

"He was so upset when he came back from Forks after spending the weekend with you." She said as she poured two iced teas. "Said he wanted to move up there with you because the thought of being apart was just too much. And you know, I thought he had for a while because he just disappeared, but then he called the other day from that frat house sayin' he'd been layin' low for a bit, savin' money so he could come visit you again real soon."

Hmmmm, it was sounding suspiciously like Jeannie didn't know we'd broken up. I wasn't sure what the best way to approach this was. I just smiled at her as I took a sip of my iced tea and considered my next move. I decided that I needed to be honest with her, she was my mother's best friend, she'd loved me once before. Surely she'd see James' despicable act as wrong and help me get the money back.

"Jeannie, I'm not sure why James didn't tell you, but it kind of sounds like you don't know that we broke up that weekend….the one where he came to see me."

"What, no honey!" She said in disbelief. "He didn't tell me. What happened…why? I don't understand?" She looked stricken.

"Look Jeannie, it just wasn't working out. The distance. We're just not meant to be you know?" There was way more to it than that, but that was all she needed to know.

"I can't believe it." She said softly. "You two were supposed to get married." I could see all of the wedding plans that she and my mother had made slipping away from her.

"I'm sorry Jeannie," I said, spinning the glass of iced tea around in my hands so I could avoid looking into her eyes.

"Then what are you doing here? In Phoenix? I thought you'd come to see him?" She asked, perplexed.

"I came to see my grandmother."

"Oh, is she alright? She hasn't taken a turn has she?"

"No, no, she's…..well, she's about the same. Still confused. No, something's….someone convinced her to transfer a very large sum of money from her bank account, and I'm here to help her get it back."

"Oh my goodness, how much Bella? Who would do such a thing? It's a very good thing she has so much of it, it can take a long time to get money back from fraudulent individuals, that's if you ever see it again."

How to put this tactfully?

"Well, it would appear that she was convinced to transfer the money she'd put aside for my college education into an account so it could be paid up front to the University of Phoenix."

Her brow furrowed in confusion and she turned to me. "That doesn't sound so bad?"

"I'm not necessarily going to college here, and the person that convinced her knows it. There's a chance I'm going to college in Seattle Jeannie."

"When, why….Oh! So they can keep the money. But who would do that?" Jeannie never was very smart.

As softly as I could I replied. "It was James."

She looked at me for a minute before shaking her head vehemently. "No." She said. "I'm sorry sweetie but James would never do that. Not to you, not to your gran. Not to Renee…" and as she said my mother's name I could see her mind was ticking over. She would believe James over me and my gran, but for Renee's sake, she may just believe me.

She went to open her mouth a couple of times as if wanting to argue with me, but whatever was going on in her mind was convincing her otherwise.

"What proof do you have?" She asked, but not in an accusatory manor, it was more as if she wanted to see the proof so she could march on over to her son and make him fess up.

I pulled the copy of the bank statement that I'd taken from my grandmother and pushed it across the kitchen table towards Jeannie.

She noted all of the pink highlighter from several transactions and her eyes almost bugged out of her head when she figured out how much money Gran had transferred at James behest.

"How….I mean, how did he convince her to do it?"

"From what she said she still believed that we were together, she'd forgotten that I'd told her we'd broken up or he convinced her otherwise. Then I guess he'd talked about me going to college here and about saving his money so he could help me pay so she handed it over so he could take care of it all for me. She's from another time Jeannie, I guess Pop just looked after all the money up until he died and she expected that's what James would do for me."

"Hmphfff," she sighed as she thought to herself.

"I was hoping you could help me get the money back?" I asked skeptically, knowing full well she may prefer to side with her son on this one, but it didn't stop me from hoping she'd take the moral high ground and go into bat with me.

"Of course honey, of course. I'm just not sure how?" Well, that was at least a start. "Let me call him. I won't say anything, I'll just see what I can do to get him back here so we can do it in person. If he senses something is off he'll run a mile."

I made my way to my friend Sarah's house. She and I had always been close. If her dad hadn't been going through chemo when my mom died I would have gone to stay with her for the rest of the school year. I had called her last night before I left to see if it was okay if I stay for a few days and she was so excited and happy to hear from me that it almost made the trip worth it.

As I sat on their spare bed that night I finally decided to listen to my messages. I had three from Edward, one from Dad and one from Alice.

Edward's first message sounded like he didn't know I'd left yet. He was calling to catch up with me. He didn't say anything about whether he'd broken up with Jess or not though, but he sounded ridiculously happy. My heart broke at the thought of what he was feeling now. His second message was frantic.

"Bella, what the fuck. I can't believe you just left without telling me what was going on. What can I do to help? I want to come down there. Please, Bella, just call me. Please."

The next message was from my dad, "Ah, Bells, just calling to check that you got in safe and sound. And to let you know that we don't think the police are going to be much help, but you've got all those contact details so go see George Mulvey anyway. And um, also to let you know, that Edward Cullen came by, he was a bit upset, but I explained it all as best I could. But I think you should call him. Um…anyway Bells, call me when you know what's going on. Love you. Bye."

There was another one form Edward. "Bella, please call me back. I just want to make sure you're okay. I….I don't know….your Dad said he wasn't sure if you were coming back or not. Please tell me you're coming back okay. It was all just about to get good with us. I…you just can't leave now. Call me."

Shit. My heart broke as I sat there listening to Edward's messages not knowing how long it would take to sort this shit out, but knowing there was a possibility it could take a while, and I wasn't sure how he was going to deal with that. In fact, I wasn't quite sure how I was going to deal with that.

I dialed his number and he picked up almost instantly.

"Bella?"

"Hi."

"Oh my god, how are you? Where are you?" He sounded frantic.

"I'm so sorry Edward," I was so close to losing it completely. I'd had such an emotional day what with where I left everything with Edward, and returning to Phoenix. "I had to come back…I'm.." I was almost crying.

"Shhh, Shhh, it's okay. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, yeah I guess. At least for now anyway. I just can't believe this is happening."

"So your dad filled me in on what happened. Did you see your grandmother yet?"

"Yeah, it's all such a mess. James has clearly manipulated her into giving him the money. She thought she was doing the right thing you know?"

"Where are you now?"

"I'm at my friend Sarah's house. They're happy for me to stay here while I sort it out. I just don't know how long it's going to take. I'm so sorry Edward."

"I know B. I just….I want to be there with you." This gave me so much hope.

"Did you….did you talk to Jessica last night?"

"Yeah." I could hear the smile in his voice.

He remained quiet, but I had to ask. "How did it go?"

"Yeah, good. Well, that's probably not how she saw it, but, yeah. We broke up. I broke up with her Bella."

I breathed a very heavy sigh of relief. "….good," I whispered quietly and almost choked up.

"Yeah, so. Anyway it's done. She didn't take it well, I tried to be as nice as possible but she just didn't really get it. There'll be a shit storm at school this week. But anyway."

"I'm sure she'll have her little friends to do her bitching for her and give her all of the attention she needs."

"Oh she'll be getting plenty of attention. Turns out her grandmother wasn't as sick as she made out. Jess went to Portland to have her nose done and get a boob job. Can you believe it?" Well, that explained a lot.

I laughed lightly for the first time in twenty four hours. "Actually, I can believe it." There was a silence for a moment. "So your single again I guess?"

"Technically yes, but…" he broke off, the uncertainty of our current situation hanging in the air.

"But what?"

"Don't 'but what' me Bella as if you don't know what I'm thinking. Emotionally I'm very much attached already Bella, you know that."

"Yeah, I guess I do." But the reality of our current situation was so uncertain.

"I want to be there with you so badly Bella. Can I come, I can take a couple of days off school."

"I think that would only make things worse Edward. James was angry when we broke up. He already knew that I'd been with you when we broke up the first time. And while I'm sure he didn't know for sure you were the same guy when he saw you through the window that afternoon it probably doesn't matter. If he sees you with me in Phoenix he'll know enough to think we're together and it won't go down well."

"How long is it going to take do you think?"

"I honestly don't know Edward. But I know enough about James to know that getting the money back isn't going to be as easy as just demanding it from him. The police can't do a great deal, so his mother and I need to come up with a way to get the money back without him taking off with it and disappearing completely."

"I don't like the sound of this Bella."

"It'll be okay Edward. To be honest I think the hardest part about the whole thing is being back in Phoenix. I'm just reminded of my mom all the time now. Before when I was here I think I just ignored it all or something when I was recovering. Now I don't really have that excuse so I think I'm going to have to deal with it all."

"That's not necessarily a bad thing."

"No, you're right. It's just not going to be easy is all."

"Feel free to talk to me any time if you need."

"Okay I will. Look, I should go, I've got to meet up with James' mom early in the morning before she goes to work so we can start planning this out."

"Okay then. Well, good night Bella. Let me know if there's anything I can do."

"I will, thanks Edward, you don't know how much I appreciate it, really." I wanted to tell him I loved him. He was so caring and sweet. And I just missed him so damn much. But I couldn't say it for the first time over the phone. Not like this.

"okay, take care alright. Sweet dreams."

"You too. Bye"

Over the next couple of days Jeannie and Sarah's mom helped me come up with a plan to get the money back from James. Unfortunately it was likely it would take more than a couple of days.

Jeannie was going to tell James that she had been to see my Gran, and that Gran had mentioned giving the money to James for my college education. Seeing as Jeannie had never been told we'd broken up she was going to let James know she knew he had the money and that she knew what it was to be used for. This would hopefully stop James from doing anything stupid with it. At the same time she was going to let James know that Gran had taken a bit of a turn and that I was coming back to Phoenix to be with her. We were pretty certain James would get in contact with me knowing I was back.

Hopefully from there I would be able to convince James that I was staying in Phoenix and there was a chance for us. I had inherited far more from my mother's estate than James had managed to swindle from my grandmother. And I was set to inherit again when my grandmother eventually passed away. She was one rich lady thanks to very wise investing from my pops, and James knew it. We were gambling on James thinking he would get his hands on far more money in the long run if he did the right thing in the short run and either gave the money back to Gran, or sent the money on to the University.

At the end of the week I explained the plan to Edward. I knew this wasn't going to go down well with him. In fact he'd be down right livid the plan involved having anything to do with being in contact with James, let alone leading him to believe we'd be getting back together, albeit under false pretenses.

"What?" Edward exclaimed once I'd finished explaining the plan. "You can't be serious can you?"

"It's the only way we can think of at the moment. We need to make sure he doesn't run with the money. The only way to do that is to make him think that his mom sees nothing wrong with him having it."

"Then why do you need to stay there for that?"

"If James thinks I'm in Forks he'll know I'm around you. He doesn't trust you or my new group of friends so he'd be suspicious if I stayed there. I need to make out that this is long term, that I'm staying in Phoenix now and that I'm planning on going to college here as well."

There was a moment of silence and then his response was low and tentative, "are you?"

"I've been accepted, it was always my plan. But I've also applied to UW and a few other places, so I haven't quite decided."

"Do I factor in to any of this Bella?" He asked quietly, and my heart almost broke.

"….I….I can't honestly answer that at the moment. Yes, maybe, I don't know. I can't let James get away with this Edward. It's not right and I have to try to fix it. This is the only way I can think of to do it. If I could be in Forks with you I'd be there."

"I know, it's just….it was all just about to get so good."

"Do you really think that? Jessica would have given us hell. We probably would have had to keep hiding for a while anyway. I just…I just need to sort this out okay."

"Okay." I knew he didn't agree. But I could see no other way out of this.

My time in Phoenix seemed to drag on. Not being able to afford to miss out on any more school I had to re enroll. It was extremely weird going back to my old school in Phoenix after a couple of months' absence, but it was also confronting emotionally. Being back in Phoenix was like having to deal with my mother's loss all over again. While I had James before to ward off any black thoughts or people who wanted to make me face what happened, I didn't have him to do that, and that was a good thing. Edward had shown me that dealing with it head on was really a lot more helpful than ignoring it and trying to forget. So while it was extremely painful in the short term, I was now convinced that in the long term it would be beneficial to stay in Phoenix to help me heal emotionally.

At Sarah's mother's urging I started to see a therapist. While difficult at first, the memories of the accident and its consequences were being worked through and she gave me coping mechanisms to help deal with all of the stress it was causing on my life. While some of it had been on a conscious level, much of it had been at a sub conscious level. So while I thought I'd started coping well, I had in fact been showing signs of stress which, if left unchecked, would probably manifest later into much more serious emotional issues. My therapist was very supportive of what Edward had been doing with me to help me heal, she was not, however, supportive of the way our relationship had been developing.

I was missing Edward terribly. We talked, texted and Skyped regularly at first. But his growing frustration at not being able to help and my unwillingness to return began to cause ripples, the fall out from which would often end up with one or both of us becoming moody, snappy and irritated. As a consequence we began to communicate less frequently. My needing to be in contact with James was also a massive bone of contention and it became very obvious that the state of my relationship with Edward was a key factor in my therapy hitting a few hurdles. It wasn't until just before spring break that we really started to fight. And by the end of spring break, when Edward was convinced I could have come back to Forks to visit, or he could have come to Phoenix, we were at a complete impasse. The impossibility of our situation was breaking my heart, but the progress I was making with healing my soul was too significant to ignore. So it was with a very heavy heart I had to let him go.

AN: I was surprised so many of you thought Bella ran at the end of the last chapter because of what happened with Edward & Jess. Yee of little faith!

Please don't hate me for this one though! Only one chapter left (maybe two if I'm feeling wordy, which I think I am…better go finish it and the JessPOV now).

Let me know what you think, if you're feeling like you want to change how this story finishes send me a review and I'll consider it! (I'm being evil now!)