BPOV

Once the tears began to fall, I couldn't stop them. My body convulsed as sob after sob ran rampant through me, and yet, I couldn't stop them, couldn't be strong any longer. For fifteen years I'd lived under the impression that my parents hadn't wanted me anymore, that they'd sent me away to a monster who raped me and beat me, used me for a quick buck and an easy fuck. But now, all of the sudden, they were here with claims of innocence and longing to be involved in my life. How was I supposed to know if they're telling the truth? If I can trust them again? And why did the old man come into the diner every day for two years and not tell me who he was?

"Baby, are you okay?" Edward whispered, and I shook my head because I wasn't okay.

I was far from being okay. I had parents and a brother, people who suddenly wanted me, but I didn't know how to be that person again. I'd grown up, learned the hard way that life sucked and people only wanted me until I had nothing left to give them. Would Edward throw me away, too, when he got what he wanted from me?

"That will never happen," he whispered, and I realized that I'd muttered my musings out loud. Edward placed his hand under my chin, tilting my head backward. "I love you, Bella. I will never get enough of you, and I will never hurt you."

There was nothing but truth and honesty in his eyes, though I still found myself struggling to keep the tears from falling. "I believe you. I do, but it's hard for me to trust myself."

"I'll just have to prove it to you, then, won't I?" he murmured.

"You shouldn't have to, though," I grumbled.

"Shouldn't I? We've only known each other a couple of months, and half of that was spent with me being too much of a bitch to spend more than five minutes around you because I was scared," he rambled, his thumb stroking my cheek. "I will prove that I'm that man you deserve, Bella."

"You have just by being here," I whispered, leaning up and pressing my lips against his.

It wasn't until I heard Carlisle whistle followed by the sound of him laughing that the realization that Edward and I weren't alone hit me. My face warmed as I pulled myself away from Edward and glared at Carlisle, who waved me off as he walked around the bar and took the seat next to Rose.

"I guess I'd better get to work," Edward mumbled, clearly embarrassed, too.

Trying my hardest to ignore the smirk on Carlisle's face, I sat down next to him and picked up my sketch pad, hugging it against my chest.

"How'd the meeting go?" Carlisle asked, and I shifted my eyes to his. "That good, huh?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "Depends on who you ask, I guess. The test came back proving that I'm their daughter, but I'm not really their daughter, not anymore. Does that make sense?"

Carlisle nodded. "You're not the little girl you used to be, and they're going to expect you to be her."

"Yeah," I murmured. "But she's dead."

As the night wore on, I found myself struggling more and more with the events of the afternoon. I knew who I was, who I used to be, but to have to prove myself to them, to have them sitting across from me as Garrett spouted out the results like he was giving up the winning lottery numbers was difficult. Not to mention that fact that I wasn't sure I liked Garrett, either. Had he just been cautious about believing me because of his friendship with Marcus and Renee? Had he sat through more than one of these tests, only to have to deliver the news that whoever claimed to be me, wasn't really? Had that turned him into a cynic, or was there more to his resentment than that?

About three hours after the bar opened, Emmett walked over to where Carlisle, Rose, and I were sitting, asking Edward for a bottle of water before wrapping his arm around Rose and looking over at me. "You okay, Ninja-girl?"

I shook my head because I was tired of pretending that I had my shit together. "Not even close to be okay."

"But she will be," Edward said, handing him the bottle of water and winking at me. "Because she's stronger than she thinks she is."

As Edward turned and went back to work, Emmett nodded and took a big drink before kissing the top of Rose's head. He took the two steps toward me, turning his head so that he was looking down at me. "I don't know what your story is, Ninja-girl, but I'm here if you need me. Anytime, anywhere, all right?"

"Why do you care?" I asked, causing his eyes to widen. "You don't know me. For all you know I could be a crazy ax-murder, luring Edward into my trap."

Emmett smiled, though it didn't quite reach his eyes. "Nah, you could never hurt him."

"What makes you think so?"

"Because behind the mask you put on, the one where you try to act like you're not scared, is a woman who desperately wants someone to save her. And Edward, well, he's your savior." Emmett leaned down and pressed his lips to the top of my head. "Just as you're saving him."

Stepping away from me, Emmett walked back of the door and I turned and looked at Rose. She smiled. "He means it, you know? Emmett is the kind of guy who . . ." Rose trailed off, almost like she realized that she was about to share too much. "Well, he's amazing, and he'll be there anytime you need him. Loyalty is one of his faults, or gifts. Depending on how you look at it."

"I can see that," I whispered, unsure of what else to say.

Just after last call, the door to the bar opened and I looked over my shoulder, surprised to see Jasper standing there. He'd been so angry when he smashed his hand against the wall outside of the bar, breaking three knuckles. Pissed at me for costing him his job at the dinner, yet here he was back at the bar with a cast on his hand and his eyes roaming around the room in search for his girl.

Alice came bustling out of the VIP room, shoving a fistful of cash into the back pocket of her tighter-than-sin jeans. She shifted her eyes up toward Edward, but froze when she saw Jasper standing there in the doorway of the bar. The last of the patrons waltzed out of the place, not realizing the heaviness of the moment, nor caring about anything other than their own problems.

Shaking her head, Alice looked over at Edward. "Sorry, E, but I can't."

Alice turned and headed toward door leading to the back, but stopped when Jasper called out, "Al, stop!"

Alice turned to face him. "What do you want, J? Hmm? What do you want from me?"

"I just . . ." He trailed off, shifting uncomfortably. "I want to talk. It's been ten years, Al. Ten goddamn years!"

Alice nodded, her hand coming to rest on her stomach. "I live everyday with the reminder of how long it's been. I certainly don't need you to remind me."

"So do I," Jasper replied. "I looked for you, but by the time I got to Mississippi, you were gone and your momma hadn't heard from you in a year."

"Well, probably took that bitch six months just to realize that I wasn't there, anymore," she snarked. "Or one of her boys, at least. Nobody for them to fuck when she was too drunk to suck their cocks. Speaking of, how is your daddy?"

"Dead," Jasper muttered, and Alice's eyes widened.

"How?" she whispered. "When?"

Jasper shifted his eyes around the bar, and shook his head, clearly not comfortable discussing that part of his story with us sitting right there, yet nobody seemed to be able to move.

"Fine, J, whatever," Alice scoffed, turning and walking away from him.

"I killed him," he muttered, and she stopped, but didn't turn toward him. "It got worse after you left, after I tried to leave, and he made it clear that he wasn't going to stand by and watch me disgrace the family name."

Alice snorted, finally turning around to face him. "Like he was one to talk about disgrace anyone."

Jasper nodded.

"He hurt you pretty bad?"

Once again, Jasper nodded, and when he looked up at her, I saw the pain and fear in his eyes and I thought back to the day in the diner, when Red threw his food on the floor, the way he shielded my body with his, and I understood. Jasper hadn't been able to save Alice from whatever his father had done to her, or to him, which explained the scars on his back and neck. Like me and Edward, Esme and Carlisle, and I suspected Rose and Emmett, Alice and Jasper had been through hell, but had they survived? Had any of us?

"I stopped him before he could get rid of me for good, though," he mumbled. "Made sure he wouldn't be able to hurt anyone ever again."

"I didn't want to leave you," Alice murmured, wrapping her arms around herself. "But after he . . . She made me leave, said it was for the best, that we could start new, but we couldn't. She was never going to stop whoring herself out, and I couldn't stay and be a victim."

"Like she knew what was best for you," Jasper groused. "She never cared about you, Al. Never."

"No, she didn't," Alice admitted. She sighed. "Look it's not your fault, okay? She refused to see what her lifestyle did to me, what they all did to me. And he wasn't any different. He was just one more asshole who crawled into my bed in the middle of the night. Only difference was that he had the unfortunate luck to knock me up."

Jasper flinched backward like she'd reached out and struck her. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," she whimpered. "Wasn't your fault then, not your fault now."

"Ally-Cat?" Emmett mumbled, breaking into their conversation. "You have a baby?"

She shook her head, her hand coming up to rest over her heart. "Not anymore. My daughter was born at twenty-two weeks. She was a fighter, though," Alice whimpered, unable to keep the tears from falling. "But she wasn't strong enough, and . . ."

"Ally-Cat," Emmett whispered, walking over to her and pulling her into his arms. Placing a kiss on top of her head, I saw the ease of their friendship. While they flirted relentless with each other, they were the best of friends, much like Carlisle and myself. "I'm sorry, honey."

"Me, too," she wept. "Take me home, Em. Please?"

Emmett nodded as he swept her off her feet, and looked at Jasper first and then Rose. 'Babe?"

Rose didn't utter a word as she followed them out of the bar, leaving only me, Edward, Carlisle, Esme, and Jasper standing there. Sharing a look with Edward first, I climbed off my barstool and walked over to Jasper, slowly placing my hand on his shoulder. He tensed at the contact, but didn't pull away.

"I wanted to marry her," he whispered. "I would have raised the baby as mine, saved her from the hell Al and I had lived through. I would have been a good dad."

"I'm sure you would have," I murmured. "Do you still love Alice?"

Jasper looked over at me. "I've loved her since I was fifteen. She's everything to me, Bella."

"Then don't give up on her," I said, shifting my attention to Edward. "She's worth it."

"And if she won't let me love her?"

Turning back to Jasper, I shook my head. "Then she doesn't, but what do you have to lose?"

"Nothing," he admitted. "Without her, I have nothing."

Without letting me respond, Jasper turned and walked out of the bar, letting the door close behind him with a deafening thud.

"Well, that was . . . intense," Carlisle stated, and I rolled my eyes and looked back at him. "What?"

"Thanks for stating the obvious, asshole," I quipped, walking over and sitting on the stool next to him. "We're just a bunch of fucked up drama queens in this place, aren't we? Crying and airing our business all over the place."

"You know, Bella," he started as a smile curved upward on his lips, "you're kind of a bitch."

I smirked. "I know, that's what you love the most about me."

"I do," he admitted, turning on his stool and looking over at Esme, who had returned to clearing off the tables. When he spoke again, his voice was so soft that I knew I was the only one who could hear him. "I'm in love with her."

"I kind of figured," I murmured, leaning my head on his shoulder. "Does she love you, too?"

"I don't know," he whispered. "I'm too afraid to ask, too afraid to tell her how I feel."

"Why?" I asked, looking up at him.

He tore his attention away from her and looked down at me. "Because if she doesn't feel the same way, I don't know that I would survive. I've worked so hard to keep my life from falling apart, from leaving myself open to anyone who could hurt me, but I can't do that with her. I need her. I hold her in my arms at night, and it feels so natural and normal, but it's not, right? I mean, I've only known her a couple weeks."

I shrugged my shoulders. "That's true, I guess, but maybe this is how it's supposed to work. Look at me and Edward. What are the odds of us meeting, of falling in love, of everything leading to this moment?"

"I don't know," Carlisle murmured. "You gonna be okay? After finding your family and everything, I mean."

"Honestly, I have no idea," I admitted, shifting on my stool so that I was facing him. "I feel very . . . overwhelmed by everything. A new job, Edward, finding my family."

"It's okay, though. You know that, right?" he asked. "To be cautious with them. It has been fifteen years, Bella. I know they want to know you, but it's okay to be careful."

I nodded. "That's what scares me the most. If they knew, really knew, everything, would they want me?"

Carlisle shrugged his shoulders as he stood up, tossed some money on the bar for his beers. "If I had the answer that question, Bella, I wouldn't be a fucked up drama queen myself, would I?"

"Probably not," I admitted.

Carlisle leaned down and kissed the top of my head before walking over to the door to the back, where Esme was waiting for him. She smiled at me before they left, and I hoped more than anything that she'd make him happy, that she'd be the person that loved Carlisle in return. He was an amazing man, who deserved to be happy.

"You about ready?" Edward asked, and I looked over at him. He was standing at the far end of the bar, his hands on his hips and a smile on his lips.

"Yep," I replied, standing up and walking around the bar to him. "I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted."

"Me, too," he laughed. "Been a long day, and a dramatic evening."

Placing my hands on his chest, I shifted my eyes up to his. "Thank you."

"For?" he asked, his forehead furrowing.

"Just for being here when I need you. I could not have gotten through today without you by my side."

Edward smiled and brought his hands up to my face, brushing his fingers across my cheeks. "I needed to be here, too."

"You did?"

He nodded. "You're getting a chance with them again, Bella. A part of me needed to see that not all families are assholes. I know that things are still up in the air, and you're still not one-hundred percent comfortable around them, but you have a mom who wants to spend time with you and a dad who watched you for two years."

"And a brother who hates me," I groused.

"Marcus doesn't hate you. He's just scared, I think."

"Yeah, well, so am I," I grumbled. "I don't want to talk about them anymore. Can we go home?"

"Mine or yours?" he asked.

I bit my lip. "Either, but if we go to yours then I need to stop by mine and grab clothes. I start my new job tomorrow, not that I have anything decent to wear."

"We'll go to yours, then," he said. "And I'm sure that anything you wear will be fine. Maybe we can hit one of the thrift shops after you get off, see what we can find."

"Not until I get paid," I told him following him through the back of the bar.

"Understood." Edward handed me a helmet before climbing onto his bike and holding it steady for me.

As I wrapped my arms around him, I closed my eyes, thankful that he hadn't turned his back on me, that he loved me. Because I would need him forever.

Thank you for all the reviews. Really struggled to get into this chapter, not sure I love all of it. What are your thoughts?