A/N:

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN THESE CHARACTERS, WE ALL KNOW THIS


Carlisle POV

Two years, three months, and 12 days…that's how long I've feared the sound of phones ringing in the middle of the night. One year, seven months and ten days is how long the sound of a phone ringing at any time of day has made my wife and I exchange worried glances while trying to brace ourselves for the possible realization of every parent's worst nightmare.

Finding just a solid hour of peaceful sleep each night has become a battle my wife and I have repeatedly lost. At one point in time I'd even gone as far as to disconnect every phone in the house before heading to bed, and turning both of our cell phones off, thinking not having to fear the sound of it would help. It did nothing to assuage our fears. If anything, it made us worry even more. With the rising of the sun the following morning, came the resolving conclusion that there was no way for either of us to escape the horrors of where our children were headed.

It just happened that the phone call we'd been dreading came shortly after eleven in the evening.

"Hello?"

"May I speak with Dr. Cullen please?" he asked as I rolled over to turn the bedside lamp on.

"Carlisle…who is it? Is it about Edward or Alice? Please tell me," Esme pled, sitting straight up in bed, tears already forming in her sleep deprived eyes.

"Speaking…who is this?" I answered groggily as I held up my hand to her, asking her to wait a second.

"Officer Rios of Seattle P.D., I'm sorry for calling so late sir, but it's about your children, Edward and Mary Alice. Lieutenant Mancini requested that I…"

"Officer Rios," I said and Esme gasped before a quiet sob tore through her chest. I quickly grabbed her hand as I continued speaking, "Pardon me for interrupting, but…are my children okay?"

"Yes, they're safe…at the moment. I'm sorry but I'm not authorized to disclose any more on the situation. Captain Mancini wishes to speak with you on the matter personally. Would it be too much of an inconvenience for you to come down to the station immediately?" he asked.

"Esme, go get dressed," I whispered to her.

"Of course not, we'll be there as soon as possible. Thank you for calling officer," I responded calmly, even though I was anything but. My nerves were on edge, my stomach churning in fear of what could possibly be happening. At bare minimum I knew my children were alive…I was in complete darkness of anything further than that.

Five minutes later, we were in the car headed for the station. I'd never been one to break laws, but I'm sure I'd broken at least a dozen through the duration of our silent trip, ranging from speeding to narrowly running red lights and failing to stop or yield.

"Esme, will you please say something?" I begged her as we climbed the steps of the precinct building. She stopped and turned toward me, her posture stiff and unyielding.

"You will help them," she demanded fiercely.

"I'm not sure yet that I even can help them," I groaned as I both pinched the bridge of my nose and ran a hand through my hair in agitation.

"If you can, you will. I will not stand by and let you leave them to their own defenses yet again. We can see how far that's gotten them now," she said as she pointed to the building.

"Alright…okay," I relented, holding my hands in front of me in surrender. "I'll do what I can…I promise."

She took off ahead of me and I sighed at the starless sky above me as I moved to follow. It was infuriating that she always assumed I just didn't want to help them anymore when the truth was I'd do anything humanly possible for them…as long as they'd both accept the help and not waste my efforts. Our children were as stubborn as the day is long…talking sense into either of them and trying to fix all their problems for them in the past had proven to be about as effective as performing a lobotomy on one's self. Pointless and impossible. Why she couldn't see that, I had yet to figure out.

"Carlisle, Esme, I'm sorry to disturb you at such an hour," Eleazar greeted us with sincere regret etched across his aged features. It'd been quite some time since we'd seen each other last, a year at the very least.

"It's quite alright, but if you could let us know what's going on, it'd be much appreciated," I responded as I shook his hand.

"Of course, follow me…it's best if we discuss this in private," he said with a firm nod.

We followed behind him through the labyrinth of hallways and up an elevator until we came to his office. After entering the room, he quietly shut the door behind him and moved to stand behind his paper strewn desk.

"Please…have a seat," he offered with a wave of his hand in the directions of the two chairs across from him.

"We appreciate the hospitality, being that we're family and all, but if you could just cut to the chase…How much trouble are they in?" I asked as I sank down in the chair.

"We'll get to that, but there's something we need to discuss first. How much do either of you know of Edward's lifestyle since he left your home?" he asked as he sat down in his seat.

"Virtually nothing. We've had little to no contact with him since he walked out. We tried to keep up with him for a while, but it became impossible to track him down over time," I replied, wondering where he was going with his questioning.

"So you wouldn't happen to know any of the names of the people he associates with on a regular basis?" he asked, looking as though he had a dire need for the information.

"No…we don't. Eleazar, what's this about?" Esme asked worriedly.

"Your son has gotten himself involved with some very dangerous people in the drug trade business. About a month or so ago my narcotics division got a tip that a new kid on the street was peddling heroine, cocaine, crystal meth and various other substances. Large amounts of it too. When the tip came in, the caller mentioned the name "Big E", but I didn't think anything of it at the time because they always have some kind of call sign or tag name.

"They investigated the information, but came up empty handed on anyone named "Big E" at the time. What wasuncovered with the investigation, however, was that your son and his friend were well known local small time dealers. Against my oath to uphold the law, I directed my men to focus on finding the bigger players…but a few weeks ago when it came to my attention that "Big E" is in fact Edward, it became impossible to ignore any longer," he said as we sat there utterly speechless.

"You mean to tell me my sonmy Edward…is a drug dealer?" I spluttered.

"Unfortunately…yes," he responded.

"Is he…oh God," Esme sobbed, "Is he going to go to prison?"

"That's why I've brought you both in. I need you to talk some sense into him," he said as he leaned forward and I scoffed.

"What is it exactly that you want us to try and convince him of? Because honestly, the kid listens to anything we have to say as efficiently as a goddamn rock."

"I need him to give us the name of his suppliers...the leaders of the drug ring he's involved himself in. We've tried interrogating him and threatening him, but he's not budging. He's convinced that we have no evidence on either of them to hold them longer than the standard forty eight hours, but I assure you he's wrong. As much as I'd like to be able to turn my head and let him walk out of here, I can't. He walks out of these doors with those people still out on the streets and he's as good as dead. His only options of safety at the moment are giving up the names and staying here until I can ensure he can be moved safely, or being housed in solitary confinement in prison…which I can't guarantee," he said as Esme started crying in earnest.

I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees and my face in my hands, trying to process it all as best I could.

"Please…I can't stand the thought of him wasting away in a jail cell," my wife sobbed. "We'll do anything…anything."

"I don't want to send him to prison, believe me I don't, but the evidence we have on him can and will land him at least a solid ten years, and once he's in the system, I have no way to keep him safe. The people he's tied himself to are terrifyingly dangerous. Every informant we've ever been able to get our hands on has either turned up murdered or has gone missing before we were able to get the information from them. That's including the ones we've locked up for their own safety," he said and I threw my arms up to stop him. I couldn't listen to any more of it. Just thinking about what could happen to him was terrifying me.

"There's no other way? Not even if we take him and move?" I asked, needing there to be some other option. Any other option if he wouldn't listen to reason.

"No…there isn't. He'll never be safe with them still out there. They'll stop at nothing to find him," he said and I cracked. My torso lurched forward with the force of my emotions ripping out of me.

"How can you be so sure?!" I shouted, knocking my chair over as I stood and started pacing. "What reason would they have to hurt him if he doesn't talk?"

"Because they're already after him Carlisle! When we moved in to secure them, we found two of their guys sneaking around the side of the house, guns in hand! Do you have any idea how close they all came to leaving that property in body bags the way those two did?!" he bellowed as he rose from his seat. "If I hadn't ordered my men to move in at that moment, they'd both be dead!"

It felt like I had the wind knocked out of me hearing that I'd almost lost both of my children in a single moment. I couldn't even begin to think of what I would have done if Eleazar and his men hadn't moved in when they had.

"Look…I've done everything I possibly could to keep him out of trouble, but the minute I became aware of just how much danger they were in, the only choice I had to save them was to arrest them. I can't undo that, nor would I choose to knowing now just how close I'd been to being too late.

"The only way I can see getting him out of this mess is by cutting him a deal, his suppliers' names and locations for his freedom. I can't do that without the trade. I need the names Carlisle. Even if I can somehow manage to find him safety in prison, Alice and their friends will still be in mortal danger when they walk out of these doors, and I've got absolute shit to hold them on for anything longer than forty eight hours," he said as he came around the desk to comfort his cousin, my wife, who was in near hysterics.

I righted my chair and angled it toward her, taking my seat and grasping her hands in mine. I pressed my forehead against the backs of her hands and tried to figure out a way to make this work. If it was the only shot I had at saving my children, I had to make it work. I couldn't lose them this way. It had been hard enough just living knowing they wanted nothing to do with me. Having to live while knowing they were no longer part of this world would be impossible.

"Carlisle…please…you can do this. I know you can do this," my wife pled, squeezing my hands in reassurance.

"Eleazar, I hate to ask this of you with everything you've done already, but if I can manage to get him to give you what you want, I need something from you," I said, lifting my head to kiss her hands before speaking to him.

"Name it…if he gives me those names I'll give you damn near anything you ask for," he replied with a single nod.

"I need them in rehab…both of them. It can't be anything either of them can just walk away from either, because they'll just sign themselves out after twenty four hours and I have no doubt we'll be sitting in this exact spot again sometime in the future. I need this to be part of the deal if we're ever going to get our kids back," I told him, praying he'd agree to it. His response was nearly instant.

"Consider it done. I can make it a mandatory condition for their release," he said as I let out the breath I'd been holding.

"Thank you Eleazar..."

"Don't thank me just yet, Esme. If this doesn't work, I'll have no choice but to book him," he said as he leaned against his desk.

"Can we see them now?" I asked, feeling as though I was strapped to the chair, the weight of the world resting on my shoulders and pinning me down.

"Sure, I'll have Officer Rios escort Esme down to see Alice and I'll bring you down to Edward. I think it'd be best not to subject Esme to him right now as he's been rather…ornery this evening. It's just with their relationship in the past, I think we'd stand a greater chance of him cooperating if…"

"It's alright," I sighed, interrupting him as I waved it off. "We understand."

"Alright then, let's get this show on the road," he said as he picked up his office phone and quickly dialed an inside extension.

"Carlisle…what about their friends?" Esme asked as Eleazar spoke in hushed tones into the phone.

"Esme dear, we don't even know those kids. If they aren't in any serious amount of trouble, they should be able to just go on with their lives and hopefully make better decisions next time. Let their parents handle them how they see fit. Our responsibilities lie with Alice and Edward right now," I responded, only slightly curious as to why their parents weren't here along with us. I would have figured the boy's parents would have been called in at the very least seeing as how it sounded as though he'd stepped in just as much knee deep shit as my son had.

"Officer Rios should be up in a few minutes," Eleazar said as he hung up the phone.

"Thank you," Esme and I replied simultaneously.

"I know this is the last thing you're going to want to hear, but I need you to think of somewhere in this country other than Washington to send Edward and Alice in the event that we can actually get him to talk. Until I can guarantee that there is no one left on the streets from this ring to pose a threat to Edward, it just isn't safe for them to be anywhere near here," Eleazar stated.

"I was already thinking as much...I'm just at a loss as to where," I responded, having been already contemplating doing just that.

With everything I'd heard already, and I was sure it was just the tip of the iceberg, it was easy to see that they, especially Edward, wouldn't be safe in this area for a while...if ever again. Getting them out of here would have been my first instinctual move, with or without Eleazar's suggestion of it. I just didn't know where.

"What about Florida?" Esme suggested after a few minutes.

"Florida?" I asked, curious as to how she came up with it. "Why Florida?"

"Well…I was thinking, if we have to send them away, I want us to be wherever they are. Carlisle, even if they get better, we as a family won't if we aren't there. Sending them away will only possibly fix half the problem. This isn't just their struggle, it's ours too, and how will they ever see that if they're thousands of miles away from us?" she responded.

"But why Florida of all places? There are at least a dozen centers across the country that can provide them with top level care," I asked again.

"Yes, but, if we send them to Florida we can stay with Charlotte and Peter until the house is sold here. Maybe Peter can get you on the faculty where he works, and I can help Charlotte out in the flower shop until I can get established in the area," she said, hope sparking in her eyes as I mulled it over.

"Esme, dear, let's just take this one step at a time, okay? If he agrees to talk we'll discuss what we're going to do next," I told her as a quiet rapping at the door sounded before it swung open, revealing the suited officer I'd spoken to on the phone earlier in the evening.

I stood and hugged my wife, steeling myself to see this through and make Edward see reason just once in his god forsaken life before watching her depart the office to go see our daughter. For a second I almost wished I could trade places with her, the fear of coming face to face again with his wrath churning my stomach yet again. No matter what I did or said, whether I kept cool and calm or reacted fiercely, any involvement of mine whatsoever only ever fueled the raging fires coursing beneath the surface of that kid.

It was sad to admit that I was afraid of my own son, my own flesh and blood. He was just so damn volatile and hateful all the time, what option did I have left but to be afraid of his next actions or the next distasteful words that would inevitably come spewing out of his mouth.

"Let's get this over with," I sighed, running a hand through my hair.

"It'll be alright, Carlisle. He's not as far from your grasp as you think," Eleazar said as he patted me on the back and led me from the office.

"My son is about as detached from me as he can get. I lost my hold on him a decade ago and I've regretted it every day since," I said dismally. He'd never know how much I truly missed the bright and lively boy I'd once cherished with my entire being.

"Like I said, he's not as far from your grasp as you think. I spent some time watching him from behind the two-way mirror while we gave him some cool off time after the initial interrogation. He's hurting Carlisle. I couldn't see it when I was in the room with him, but goddamn did it show when he was alone in there," he said as he led me down the hall and to a stairwell door.

"Please don't give me hope right now, if this doesn't work I don't know what I'm going to do," I groaned as I shook my head. He stopped, his hand resting on the doorknob in front of him as he turned to me.

"I know this doesn't seem like it right now, but I really think that him being arrested was probably about the best thing that could have happened to him today," he said as I scoffed and looked at him incredulously. Since when was getting arrested ever a blessing?

"Hear me out," he said as he held up a hand to silence me. "I already told you that the people he was working for were after them, and while there's a very minute possibility that they could have only been after his friend, they were bound to go after him soon because one of my officers that was running loose surveillance on him for me warned me that he was getting ready to make a run for it. That alone would have painted a target on his back. You don't just up and run from people like this. It's a surefire way to get yourself killed. He wanted out Carlisle…he was trying to do it in an unsuccessfully calculated maneuver, but I believe that he was trying to get out."

"For all of our sakes I hope you're right, because if you're not, I don't have much of a leg to stand on in there," I grumbled as he opened the door and ushered me through.

I took a deep breath and said a silent prayer as we stood in front of a heavy wooden door, the only identifying characteristic upon it being a single letter 'A'. Through the small steel reinforced pane of glass on the side of it, I received the first glimpse of my son, my true son, in ten long years as he sat at the table, void of any expression, his eyes as unseeing and pained as his mother's in her final days as he stared back at himself from the mirror across from him. It was the look of personal failure and self hatred, and it had haunted me for the last twenty years of my life. I never wanted to witness it again, much less in his eyes…the ones that were so very remarkably similar to hers.

I stepped back from the door to rein in my emotions before entering the room. I was sure that look in his eyes would disappear the very second he spotted me. They'd cloud over with the wrath I had become so familiar with over the years and hateful words would spill from his lips. The vision of the boy I'd just seen and could barely remember would disappear in the blink of an eye and be replaced with the enraged twenty year old mass of destruction I'd come to readily recognize in an instant.

For all of Lizzie's despair that she was a failure as a mother, it had never been her. She'd never failed…it would have been impossible for her to have. She had been such a loving and affectionate woman. God I'd loved her so. I should have paid more attention to the signs. I should have been more focused on my wife and newborn son instead of my residency. If I'd just have seen how deeply she was being affected by post partum depression, I could have done more for her and she'd still be here. We'd still be a family. I'd still have my son.

"Are you ready?" Eleazar asked.

"No," I whispered as my gaze flitted to him. "What have I done? He's in there because of me, because of my failure as a husband and a father. What have I done to him?"

"Carlisle," he said sternly as he grabbed my shoulders. "You need to pull yourself together. You go in there like this and you'll lose him. He needs his father right now, not someone willing and ready to take all of the blame. It was his actions, his decisions that got him here…not yours."

"You need to let go of your past mistakes and stop letting him use them as a crutch. That kid in there may not look like it when you walk through that door, but he's scared shitless. If we lose him in there, that scared kid that still has a chance to turn his life around, is going to walk out of prison gates years from now a hardened criminal. There isn't going to be a second chance for him…this is it Carlisle. It's either the end of the road or the beginning of a new one where you pave it together," he said as I pushed myself off the wall and paced the corridor.

He was right. There was no way I could deny it. I may have made mistakes when he was just a child, but allowing him to continue blaming me for everything while simultaneously faulting myself wasn't going to get us anywhere. I'd always half heartedly accepted his blaming me for what had happened to his mother, only because it was better than him thinking any part of it was his fault, but this…this he couldn't pin on me.

He'd chosen to leave when neither Esme nor I ever wanted him to go. He'd chosen to lead a life of crime and involve himself with those kinds of people. He could have come home at any time, just as Alice could have if she would have agreed to get herself help. It was time to bring them both home…whether they were ready for it or not.

"Let me in with him," I said, squaring my shoulders and taking a steadying breath.

"Are you sure you're ready?" he asked, pulling the keys from his pocket.

"As ready as I'll ever be," I nodded, praying I'd be able to keep my emotions in check. I wasn't sure anymore if I wanted to cry or rip him a new asshole for his current situation.

He unlocked the door and stepped in ahead of me and I saw the very second Edward's demeanor shifted.

"Hey Captain Dickwa…what the fuck are you doing here?" he spat, his cocky grin turning into a fierce scowl the second his eyes landed on me.

"Good to see you too, son," I said as I pulled out a chair and sat down across from him.

"I'll reiterate for you since you've apparently gone deaf since our last encounter. What the fuck are you doing here?" he sneered as I leaned forward and crossed my arms on the table.

"I came to help you. You look like shit by the way…you could use a shave and a decent night's sleep. When was the last time you rested for more than just a few short hours?" I asked, highly concerned over his appearance. The dark puffy circles under his eyes and his bloodshot corneas suggested a high degree of sleep deprivation. I'd know because I'd seen it in the mirror many times over the past few years.

"And it looks like you could use a salad. Fast food joint run out of heart attacks in a bag so you decided to check out the menu at the local P.D.?" he chuckled sinisterly, the sound of it sending a chill down my spine.

If it wasn't for the mop of bronze mess on his head, and his striking green irises…I wouldn't recognize the young man sitting across from me. There wasn't even a trace in him of the person that had come to my door asking for help for his sister before he'd lost his temper. The fact was, the person sitting across from me at the table was a complete stranger to me, and that shattered my already broken heart.

"Quit being a dickhead, I didn't come here to fight with you. I came to help if you'll let me do that for once," I sighed, leaning back in my chair.

"Help me?" he laughed, the sound of his baritone voice reverberating off the walls in the small room. "You mean help me like the last time? The only time I ever came to you and you refused?"

"You wanna help me?" he asked as he leaned forward, placing his handcuffed hands on the table and narrowing his bloodshot eyes at me.

"Yes…I want to help you," I responded as his jaw clenched and his lips tightened into a thin line.

"Then get that asshole to tell me where Bella is and then get the fuck out. I haven't needed you for years and I sure as fuck don't need you now," he seethed, pointing at the door and then jabbing his finger in my direction.

"Have you lost your goddamn mind?!" I roared, standing from my chair and slamming my hands down on the table. "Do you have any fucking clue how much shit you've dug yourself into?! What kind of danger you're in?!"

"What the fuck do you care?! Since when do you of all people give a goddamn flying shit what happens to me?!" he screamed back, shaking with rage.

"You're my fucking son! Of course I care what happens to you! I've always cared! Do you know what it does to me to see you sitting here in handcuffs knowing you're two steps away from destroying your entire fucking life because you're too goddamn bullheaded to save your own ass?"

"You don't get it do you?" he sneered. "If I open my mouth, I'm fucking dead. I've seen what they do to snitches. I won't make it two fucking steps out of those motherfucking doors if I say one fucking word."

"You won't make it two steps out of those doors if you don't," Eleazar cut in, dropping a folder on the table. I shook my head and sank back down in my seat, feeling utterly hopeless.

"Do you recognize these two kids?" he asked as he slapped a set of photos down in front of him. Edward looked at them and then tilted his head to the side, avoiding both the photos and Eleazar standing next to him.

"That's Justin McElwee and Kevin Duvall. Justin disappeared the day after a minor brush with the law. We had no clue he was involved with the same people you are until after we discovered his body. Do you think it mattered to the people that did this to him that he had only been arrested for a DUI?" he asked as he thrust the picture in his face again before tossing it on the table and reaching for the other one.

"Kevin was just like you. Wouldn't utter a single word in exchange for a plea bargain and witness protection. This was how he was found in his cell. He'd been in prison for three days. Three days,Edward. If you won't tell me who's responsible for these two kids, then tell me how it is you think you're getting out of here safely without my help," Eleazar said as he dropped the photo down on the table. "As long as they're out there running the streets, your days are numbered pal, and there's nothing I can do about it if you don't start talking."

"Where's Bella? I want to know where Bella is," he demanded, his jaw and fists clenched tightly.

"She's safe…for now. How long she stays that way depends on you," Eleazar responded cooly as he hiked up his pants and took a seat in a chair next to him.

"You can save your fucking mind games for some stupid fucker. I'm not falling for your shit. I made damn sure no one knew who the fuck she was. Now, where the fuck is she?" he spat.

"You sure about that?" Eleazar asked as he pulled the folder toward them and opened it to sift through more photos.

"Here's you and her getting in your car together," he said as he tossed the photo in his direction, and continued describing photos as he dropped them in front of him. "You and her at Johan and Addie's diner, here's another one of the four of you leaving an apartment building together. Another one of the two of you at the diner, some more of the two of you in your car, here's a bunch of Alice and Jasper, some of just Bella…a lot of just her actually, and here's one more of her and someone else pulling you out of the backseat of your car."

"It was you tailingme?" he growled, angrily pushing the photos away from him.

"Not closely. We never got close enough that you or anyone else would have noticed. I knew putting any type of heat on you would ultimately put you in danger…all of you. I've tried to keep your ass safe every step of the way, something you've made increasingly difficult for me over the last few weeks."

"Not closely," he scoffed. "How the fuck do you explain all this shit if you weren't following me closely? And keeping me safe? Really? You fuckers shot out the house we were in. How the fuck is that keeping us safe?"

"The bullet that went through that kitchen window didn't come from any of my mens' guns. It came from the one belonging to this man," he said, moving the folder in front of him and pointing to one of two gruesome photos on a sheet of paper. "Eyewitnesses identified the car they'd shown up in, but when we ran the plates, they came back as stolen and no VIN tags could be found on it. While inspecting it, we found these photos inside of it along with some drug paraphernalia and a camera, but nothing providing either of their identities. What are their names Edward?"

"I don't know," he growled.

"Have you listened to a word I've said to you? Both of these men were getting ready to ambush the four of you when we arrived on scene. I have no doubt that if we'd have arrived just minutes later, you and your friends would have traded places with these two. It'd be the four of you laid out on metal gurneys in the city morgue…not them."

"Oh Jesus fucking Christ," Edward groaned, turning his head as the color drained from his face.

"Who are they? Who sent them after you, Edward?" Eleazar asked, pounding a finger over their pictures.

"Son, please, just cooperate so we can get you out of this mess," I pled. I didn't know how many more details I could stomach.

"You've gotta give me something to go on here, kid. I've got two nameless bodies chilling out in the morgue and I've got nothing leading me back to whoever the hell sent them after you," Eleazar urged with a forceful tone.

"Fucking shit! I don't know who the fuck to believe anymore! How do I know those aren't your photos and that wasn't one of your bullets that blasted past us?! Fuck!" he roared, nearly falling out of his chair and stumbling backwards into the wall.

"Son," I said as I jumped out of my seat, quickly making my way over to him. He was breaking down and it was tearing me to pieces to witness. "I swear if you just give them what they're asking for you won't go to prison. I'll keep you safe...I'll get you and Alice as far away from here as I can…"

"I don't fucking trust you!" he roared, pushing me away violently. "Why should I fucking believe you?! You'll probably just walk the fuck away as soon as they get what the fuck they want out of me!"

"I won't…Jesus I swear on my life I won't. I'm here Edward. I'm not leaving here without you…without both of you," I vowed, my eyes tearing from seeing just how badly I'd damaged my own child.

He'd been so lost in the world for so long, unable to trust anyone, and here…in this moment when his very life depended on it, he couldn't find an ounce of faith in his own flesh and blood standing before him. And it was all my fault. I'd lied to him for half his life to spare him the pain I'd gone through, and in the process, caused him more pain than I could have ever imagined one person could possibly endure.

"Edward, you give me the names and locations of anyone you can think of that poses any of you a threat, and on my word as a police officer, if not as a member of your family that loves and cares for you, as soon as they're in custody you'll be on the next flight across country to join Alice in rehab," Eleazar said as he stepped forward.

"Rehab that's just fucking awesome…you do realize I'll never make it there don't you?" he laughed humorlessly as he slid down the wall, a single tear cascading down his face.

"You will, I'll make absolute certain of it myself," Eleazar promised.

My son's eyes closed as another tear cascaded down his face, his chin began quivering and his breaths became uneven as I literally felt him detach himself from the entire world around him. It was as if the air around us had shifted as his resolve set in, sending fear rippling down my spine as an emotionless voice broke free from his lips.

"I won't. Let me see Bella, and then I'll give you what you want," he said and then opened his eyes, the look in them nearly crippling me as he focused only on Eleazar. "Just let me say goodbye."

"I have your word on that?" Eleazar asked.

"It's the only way I can keep her safe. If I have to spare myself to do it, then so be it," he said, his head flopping back and thumping against the wall.

"I'll be back in a few minutes. You're doing the right thing, Edward," Eleazar said as he thumped him on the shoulder and stood from his crouched position. I waited until the door closed and locked behind him before crouching down next to my son.

"We'll get through this. We'll get you out of here, you can breeze through your stay in rehab and then all of this can eventually become a distant memory," I said, hoping to coax him back from whatever had him so resigned in his supposed fate. Whatever end he thought was coming for him would have to come over my dead body because I was not about to let it happen.

"You know…I used to wish we could sit this close without wanting to tear each other apart," he mused, sounding so goddamn wistful and calm that I found myself fighting not to just grab a hold of him and keep him safe in my arms. Protect him from everything he was thinking and feeling, and everything that was capable of doing him any harm. For the first time in a decade, my little boy was actually speaking to me, and I hated the knowledge of what was making him do it with every fiber of my being.

"I've wished for that every day of the last ten years. We can son, starting now. I'm here, and I swear I'm not leaving here without you," I croaked, my voice thick with emotion as his head lolled to the side and he focused his desolate gaze on me.

"It's too late, Dad….it's over. For what it's worth, I'm sorry" he said, a tear slipping from the side of his eye and carving it's way down his face. I couldn't take it anymore, I lurched forward and pulled him to me tightly.

"Jesus Edward, it's not too late. It's never too fucking late, do you hear me?" I demanded as his cuffed wrists lifted over my head and his arms wrapped around me, clinging to me desperately as a sob ripped through his chest.

"Promise me…fucking promise me you'll get her out of here. Whatever the fuck happens to me…get Bella as fucking far away from here as you can and keep her safe," he pled, his tears soaking the shoulder of my shirt as his arms tightened behind me to an almost painful degree.

"Don't talk like that!" I gritted through clenched teeth, tears rolling down my own face as I held onto him for dear life. "You're going to make it out of this. God…please, please don't fucking give up. I've missed you too damn much to lose you now."

"She's beautiful…the most beautiful thing I've ever fucking seen. She's had such a hard life. I wanted so bad to get out of all this shit and give her everything I could. Do it for me…give her the world, give her everything I couldn't," he said with a trembling voice just as I heard the door open.

"Carlisle, Esme wishes a word with you," Eleazar said, causing Edward to immediately pull back, shielding his face as he lifted his arms back over my head.

"In a minute," I replied, not removing my gaze from my son.

"Look at me, Edward," I whispered, pushing his wild hair away from his forehead and tried not to focus on how devoid of life his eyes were. "This isn't the end for you, this is just the beginning. I won't let go of you this time…I can't live in this world without you."

"It's too late…there's no fucking way out of this for me," he said, shaking his head as he started to rise from the floor.

I rose to stand in front of him, desperately thinking of something to say to make him stop thinking the way he was. It was killing me to hear and terrifying me to even contemplate the possibility that he was talking about ending his life with his own hands.

"Carlisle," Eleazar urged. I looked between him and my son, completely torn and feeling helpless as to what to do.

"Go…I want to get this shit over with," Edward said, jerking his head toward the door.

I stepped forward and grasped the back of his head as I pulled him to me. "I won't be far," I sighed as his head rested against my shoulder.

I couldn't remember when the hell he'd gotten so damn tall, causing another surge of emotion to course through me knowing just how much of his life I'd missed in the destruction of our family.

"I know…just go," he said and then cleared his throat as he stepped back, bringing both of his arms up to his face to brush the sleeve of his sweatshirt against his face.

It had never been so hard for me to turn around and tear my gaze away from him. Our encounters usually ended with him storming away and me slamming a door or him speeding away from me. The pain of knowing that my little boy had been hidden somewhere beneath the surface of all that anger and hatred for all these years felt as though it could tear me limb from limb with every torturous step I took away from him. I'd lost hope long ago that any part of the boy I knew remained within him, and to know he'd been there all along…was crippling.

"I'll be back in a minute with Bella," Eleazar said as he sat a bottle of soda down on the table for him along with a bag of chips I assumed he grabbed from a nearby vending machine. Edward just nodded silently as he sat down in the chair, not giving the items a second glance.

"Eleazar," I said as he shut the door and locked it. "He needs to be on suicide watch. I'm terrified he's going to do something stupid."

"The holding cell we have him and Jasper in has constant surveillance. I'll make sure he has no way of causing himself harm in there," he nodded as he led me into the room adjacent to the one we'd been in.

I immediately noticed the two way mirror Esme was standing in front of, providing a clear view of our son, and I briefly wondered how long she'd been standing there. I walked up behind her and wrapped my arms around her, her watery gaze never veering from her view of him through the glass.

"I'll give you two a few minutes of privacy," Eleazar said, stepping out of the room and shutting the door behind him. It remained silent between us for a series of moments as we gazed at his slumped over form at the table through the glass.

"I've never seen him look so broken," she whispered, her palm pressing against the cool surface. I didn't know how to respond, not wanting to alert her yet to his possible suicidal state, so I avoided it by asking a question in return.

"Did you see Alice? How is she?" I asked worriedly.

"She's…a mess Carlisle. I just don't get it. Just a few weeks ago Addie was telling me how much better they were doing. That it seemed like they had found a bit of happiness and stability…and now this," she said, tearing her gaze away from the mirror as she shook her head and looked up at me.

"I don't know what to tell you Esme, I know just as much, if not less, about their lives than you do," I replied after sighing and shaking my head.

"It looked like you two finally managed to bridge the gap...that's a good thing," she said, heartbreak clear in her hushed words. I knew how badly she'd hurt for so long, and how hopeless she's felt when it came to her destroyed bond with Edward. I'd hurt just as badly and felt just as hopeless, but truthfully, I wasn't sure just how long he'd allow the door between us to remain open once we were out of here.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves here. He's in a pretty precarious emotional state right now. We may have taken a small step in the right direction, but we've got a long way to go. Who knows what lay ahead of us," I told her, unsure if his willingness to let me in, even momentarily, was because he was truly ready to give me a chance or if it was just because he was convinced this was the end. It was hard to tell.

"Do you think they'll ever allow us to be a part of their lives again?" she asked, tears welling up in her eyes as she looked from him to me.

"I hope so, honey...I truly hope so," I whispered, touching my lips to her forehead.

A figure moving in front of the window on the door to his room caught my attention and I watched as the door opened and Eleazar stepped into the room. He walked forward and motioned for Edward to turn in his seat as he said something to him that we were unable to hear. We watched as he raised his wrists and Eleazar removed his handcuffs and placed them in his back pocket before turning back toward the door and motioning for someone to enter.

Esme gasped as a frail brunette stepped into the room, pausing next to Eleazar as he spoke, his gaze shifting between the two of them but theirs focused only on each other. The only indication that we had that they'd even understood a word he'd said was a slight nod from the pair as Edward stood from his seat.

"Oh my...that's the girl from the diner," Esme voiced, seemingly stunned as she stepped even closer to the glass.

"Her name's Bella...you know her?" I asked curiously as Eleazar stepped out of the room.

The door had barely latched shut when she appeared to sob as she took her first step toward him. It stunned me to see my son move so fast, rounding the side of the table nearly instantly and enveloping her in his arms.

"She works for Addie and Johan. They adore her...God it all makes sense now. All of her cryptic talk of seeing changes in him while stealing not so stealthy glances at her. She's the reason for the changes Addie and Johan saw in him," she rambled as I watched my son interact with her in awe.

The way he gently inspected her wrists where her handcuffs had been, kissing each one tenderly before pushing her hair away from her face and holding it between his hands as if she were the most precious thing in the world. Every minute action speaking volumes of an adoration and tenderness I could have never imagined he'd have been capable of.

"Excuse me...I just need to flip that switch right there," Eleazar said, startling me some as I hadn't heard him reenter the room. The second the switch was engaged, the sound of my son's voice came through a set of speakers in the room.

"...sorry Bella...God I'm so sorry. I fucked up bad. We should have ran a long fucking time ago," he said, his voice saturated with emotion and remorse.

"Edward...I'm scared...what's going to happen to us?" she spluttered through her tears, gripping onto his sweatshirt as he swiped away at her tears with his thumbs.

"Don't be scared, baby. I'm gonna fix this shit. I'll do whatever the fuck I have to so that I know they can't hurt you, but Bella..." he paused, fighting to rein in his emotions as a sob nearly broke free from him. "You have to promise me something. When you get out of here, get as fucking far away from here as you can and never look back. Swear to me that you'll run and only stop when you know you're safe."

"No!" she wailed, shaking from the force of her gasping breaths through her sobs. "I'm not going anywhere without you!"

"Baby please...I'll fucking die if something happens to you because of me. I swear I'll find you, no matter where you go...I'll find you baby, just please, run," he pleaded, crushing her to him so she wouldn't see the lie on his face that even I could see clear as day. In his mind, he wasn't making it out of here. He was just telling her what she needed to hear so he could ensure she'd do as he asked.

"He can't possibly want her to take off on her own...she's all of what? Seventeen... Eighteen maybe? Where are her parents for Christ's sake?" I nearly growled. With as estranged as our relationship was with our children, we were here...why the hell weren't they?

"She doesn't have any, and she just turned eighteen," Eleazar replied after clearing his throat. Esme released another gasp as we turned to face him to see the grim expression upon his face in the dimly lit room.

"We did a search for any reports of missing children fitting her description after she told us she'd run away from home approximately three years ago, but nothing came back. I placed a call to the local police department where she said she'd grown up and was told that her mother passed away five years ago, proceeded by her father six months ago. Nothing's come up on any other living relatives," he said, shifting in his seat to lean forward.

"Jesus," I muttered, looking back through the glass to see them embracing tightly. Edward was speaking to her, but not loud enough to make out what he was saying.

"What I can't figure out though is that her father had been the Chief of police in her hometown of Forks at one point, but resigned sometime after his wife's death. It doesn't make sense that there were no reports of a runaway child. As if it isn't strange enough that it had gone unreported with her father having been a cop, a Chief nonetheless, it's even stranger still that no one else reported her missing. Someone somewhere in that small town had to have noticed that his daughter disappeared," he said, appearing completely bewildered.

"Could she have fabricated when she ran away?" I asked, knowing there had to be a logical explanation for it.

"It's possible...but I don't see why she'd alter the timeframe in that direction," he replied, leaning back in his chair and gesticulating with one hand as he explained further, "Logically speaking, if she was going to lie about when in fact she ran, she would have said after her father passed, or at the very least, after she'd turned eighteen...which was only a few weeks ago. It would have been less suspicious that a report hadn't been made in either of those scenarios."

"Carlisle...we can't let her run off on her own with no one to turn to," Esme said, placing her hand on my upper arm. I covered it with my own, tracing my thumb over her fingers as I looked back over at Eleazar.

"Are there any other options available for this girl aside from running and hitting the streets again?"

"Look, I'm going to be straight with you," he said, rising from his seat and making his way over to the two way mirror. He leaned against the edge of it, one hand in his pocket as he angled his body towards us and pointed at her with the other. "These kids, this girl and their friend Jasper...they don't have a wing and a prayer of making it off these streets alone. From what I've uncovered thus far, her father lost the house in a foreclosure just prior to his death and there was no trust fund or life insurance left behind since he had been unemployed dating back to when he left the force. It's fairly safe to assume at this point that she has absolutely nothing with which to make a fresh start. We can line them up with a homeless shelter, but the chances of them finding decent jobs with no skills and being able to make it out of there are slim to none."

"Doesn't he have any family either?" Esme questioned as I ran a hand through my hair. This situation just kept getting worse by the minute.

"We haven't been able to locate any so far, and he declined his right to a phone call...just as she did, claiming there was no one for him to call. We ran a background check on both of them, and they both came back clean aside from a minor brushes with another precinct just outside the city limits on his part for loitering. It netted us with names for his parents, but their whereabouts are unknown. For all we know they're running around under false aliases," he replied and then looked down at his watch before looking in on the adjacent room.

I moved from my wife's side and pressed my arm against the glass, resting my forehead against it as I focused in on my son and his girlfriend. He was leaning against the wall, holding her tightly to him with his head nuzzled in her neck. As if he could tell he was being watched at that precise moment, his head lifted, his eyes seeming to focus directly on mine as his mouth formed a silent plea. A silent plea that tore me apart in the form of the single word of 'please'.

"Eleazar...I need to speak with my wife in private, please," I requested, closing my eyes as I pulled myself away from the glass and stood up straight.

"Certainly...I should be getting her back to her holding cell anyway. When you're ready we'll discuss how this is all going to go down before we proceed any further," he said with an obliging nod.

"Thank you," I replied as he turned to make his way out of the room.

Esme turned to stand next to me as we peered through the glass, watching as Eleazar entered the adjacent room.

"I'm sorry, but it's time kids," he said, keeping his position at the door. Edward nodded to him before focusing his gaze on Bella's face, his eyes welling up with tears once more.

"I love you...so fucking much," he said as a tear slipped from his right eye and he bent his head down to kiss her. It was a chaste kiss, nothing more than a lingering peck, but the searing pain that was so evident in his expression before he even pulled away stripped away what little resistance remained in me.

"They're coming with us," I said firmly.

I had no other option. I couldn't bear to be the one to take away the one person in the world he'd managed to form such a strong connection to. If I left her go, cast her back out onto the streets she'd been on, whatever hopes I had of reestablishing our relationship would surely vanish. The brief glimpse I'd gotten just a short while earlier of the son I'd lost so long ago, would be the last I'd ever experience.

Any chance I had at reconciliation needed to start with an act of faith on my part to earn even just a sliver of his trust. Trust in keeping a promise I'd denied an answer to when he'd demanded it.

"Thank God," my wife breathed, as if she'd been holding her breath, her hand coming up to rest over her heart. "I didn't think I'd have the energy to fight you on it tonight."

"Esme...I know I can be unreasonable from time to time," I said, pausing as she shot me an incredulous look. "Okay...a lot of the time, but I'm not heartless."

"I wouldn't have married you if you were," she said as she hugged herself to my arm.

"I need you to go back to the house and start gathering clothes and anything important that can't be left behind until we can come back to retrieve it. We need to be ready to leave as soon as we can get them out of here," I told her, knowing we'd be pressed for time. "Call Charlotte in the morning and alert them to the situation. Ask her to get the names of any local treatment centers that provide both mental health and substance abuse treatment on an inpatient basis. We don't know those two kids, what they do or don't need in terms of help, so it's best we cover all our bases."

"Should I ask Peter to look into any available physician openings at the hospital?" she asked as I shook my head.

"No...I'm not worried about that right now. I chose to focus on my career over my family once. I won't do it again. I'm putting in my resignation at the hospital first thing in the morning. Practicing medicine will always be something I have the option of returning to...but this may be our last chance at mending our relationships with our children," I said, looking in on my son.

I knew it wouldn't be easy, that it would be a tremendous struggle to repair the destruction our family had suffered, but I had to have faith that we could overcome it. I had to hope that if they saw how hard we were willing to fight for them, that they'd fight not only for themselves and their futures, but for our future as a family together as well. No, it definitely wasn't going to be easy, not for any of us, but then again, nothing worth fighting for ever is.

We spoke for a short while more, Esme filling me in on her brief visit with Alice while we awaited Eleazar's return. It was unnerving to hear how much weight my daughter had lost since I'd last seen her in February, especially knowing it was directly related to her drug addiction. Even more unnerving than her physical state, was my wife's description of her unstable emotions. Hearing how she bounced back and forth between crying, laughing, and screaming repeatedly within less than an hour terrified me with the probability that she'd done serious permanent damage to her neurological chemical receptors. Highly volatile and uncontrollable bursts of emotion were a clinical sign of prolonged and heavy narcotic abuse. I could only pray that it would subside over time with sobriety.

When Eleazar returned, he briefed us on his plans. He was confident that with the information Edward gave him, he'd be able to get a trace on every name within a day and be ready to move in on them within seventy two hours. After telling him that their friends, Bella and Jasper, would be coming with us, he decided that it'd be best to move them separately. His plan was to have Esme going with the girls to a small airport in Wenatchee and me going with the boys to a separate airport in Yakima, both places two hours outside of Seattle, and we'd depart the station as soon as he got word that his men had "secured their targets".

Our not understanding the necessity of driving two hours out when SEATAC airport was so much closer elicited Eleazar going on to explain there was a slight possibility that there were members of the drug ring that Edward may not be aware of, and to avoid the possibility of being followed, the kids would be separated into two transport vehicles, each taking round about routes to their destinations.

When he started talking about decoy cars that would randomly split off from the actual transport car...he lost me. It all seemed like one giant dangerous game of cat and mouse, or a scene straight out of an action thriller movie. It was completely surreal.

How he'd managed to work out all of these details in the short period of time since Edward had agreed to cooperate, left me wondering if he'd formed this plan well beforehand, anticipating the possible need for it once he'd discovered my son's involvement with these kinds of people.

Hearing all the details of how quickly everything had happened, from his getting confirmation that "Big E" was Edward just a few weeks prior, to his giving the command to bring Alice and Jasper in with hopes of them having knowledge of Edward's immediate whereabouts - only to find Edward with Alice and Jasper when they stormed the house...all of it left me feeling dizzy and nauseated.

"Wait...if you were having a hard time keeping tabs on him, how do you have any physical evidence against him?" I asked, confused.

"Your son's a smart kid...he's slick too. He's got a real knack for keeping himself under the radar and avoiding arousing suspicion from others, but he made a crucial and stupid mistake. I told you how one of my officers had spotted him after he had disappeared for about a week and he informed me that his behavior was highly suspicious and that he had a hunch Edward was getting ready to make a run for it...well, my best guess at this point, is that something spooked the hell out of your kid yesterday and sent him fleeing in a panic. What it was that set him off, I have no clue, but he ditched his drug supply in a fast food restaurant dumpster," he replied and I groaned. Of all the stupid things to do...right out in the open nonetheless.

"An employee there spotted him and thought it was suspicious so he wrote down the license plate number and went to investigate. When he fished out the bag and found its' contents, he called the station immediately. His physical description of the person he saw dumping the bag was spot on, not to mention the license plate number matched that of Edward's car, directly links that evidence to your son. The truly damning part of all of it though, is that the contents of the bag were riddled with his fingerprints. Had it not been for him making that one single mistake...we'd be sitting in the middle of a completely different situation."

"How so? These people would still be after the four of them," I interjected.

"True, but he wouldn't have been facing a prison sentence and a permanent record of criminal behavior that would ruin his entire life if he continued to refuse our offer," he said and then cast me an apologetic look.

"Carlisle, you have to understand that my only intention of bringing Jasper and Alice in yesterday was to find Edward and get him out of there before it was too late. I hadn't foreseen my men finding him there with them, nor had I ever imagined having irrefutable evidence of his activities dropped in my lap, limiting my ability to get him out of the danger he'd placed himself in without getting myself and my entire department caught up in bureaucratic red tape," he explained regretfully.

"Thank you, Eleazar...for everything. We owe you more than we can ever repay for everything you've done," Esme said tearfully.

"They're good kids deep down, Esme. They just lost their way and need guidance to find their ways back. They're not the typical street running thugs we see around here every day that run around causing problems everywhere they go," he shrugged and then looked down at his watch as I checked in on Edward through the glass. He was hunched over, resting his head on his forearms. Looking down at my own watch I realized it was nearly two am, and he had to be just as exhausted as I was, if not more so judging by his appearance when I'd first seen him.

"It's late, what do you say we get this over with so we can all get a little bit of rest. I'm sure you both will be getting about as much of it as I will these next few days," Eleazar commented.

I simply nodded and rose from my seat, fishing the car keys out of my pocket to hand off to Esme. She didn't need to hear any part of what was to come, not that it'd be any worse than anything we'd heard already...then again, I couldn't be so sure of that. Lord only knows what kind of information was locked away in that boy's head from his two years on the streets.

Eleazar and I walked Esme out to our car, and after he promised to give me a lift on his way home, I kissed her goodnight and watched as she pulled out of the parking lot. Just minutes later I was once again sitting in the interrogation room with my son, only this time on the same side of the table, in the seat next to him. Once again I found myself having no way of knowing whether his docile acceptance of the support I was trying to provide for him was out of genuine want for it, or a product of his conviction that this was the beginning of the end.

"Hey," I said quietly, placing my hand at the back of his head. He slowly turned his head toward me as I grasped the back of his neck. "I promise."

His chin trembled as his jaw clenched and his eyes closed, an uneven breath stuttering its way out of him before his eyes slowly opened again, focusing back on mine with their glassy appearance from unshed tears. "Thank you."

"It'll all work out, son. Let's just get through this first step and then we'll find our way from there, okay?" I hedged, needing for him to gain at least a little hope.

He nodded, a ghost of a smile appearing for the briefest of moments as he locked his eyes with my own, and for once there was no glare, narrowing, or hatred burning within them - just despair and regret. In seventy two hours I hoped to be rid of one of them...the other...well the other would take time and effort to remove...from both of our eyes.

"Whenever you're ready, Edward," Eleazar stated, sitting across from us, files spread out across the table, pen in hand and hovering over a legal pad, and tape recorder rolling.

My son looked from him back to me, and after searching my eyes for whatever it was he felt he needed, he nodded just once and took in a resolving breath before looking back at Eleazar and started in on an extremely detailed and graphic account of the last two years of his life, parts of which shook me to my very core, and it all started with a sentence that left me fully unprepared for what was to come.

"The two men in those photos...the ones you say were at the house...they're names are Paul Rizzo and James Lacrosse. They both worked for Jared Black."