"... Bella, are you going to talk to me?"

"Sorry. I was thinking."

Apparently, I've paused for too long, trying to work out how I'm going to convey the events of this morning to Garrett. I take a deep breath, and jump right in. Quick and clinical seems the best way to do this.

"Ok," start, my words rushed for desperation to just get it all out, "so last night Edward and I had a fight. He told me that I was a hypocrite for calling him an avoider because I didn't even know why we were taken. I was angry with him, but I realised he was right. So this morning, I spoke to Charlie."

I trail off, my momentum faltering as white-hot rage starts pumping through my veins at the very thought of what Charlie told me.

"And what did he tell you?"

"You know already, don't you?"

There's a slight sneer to my voice that I can't keep out.

"I do," he nods, "but I'd like to hear it from you."

I roll my eyes.

"Of course you do."

He laughs a little but gestures his hand for me to continue.

"It was money! Money! We went through all of that, over fucking MONEY!"

"Not exactly, Bella."

"I know that! Some asshole I've never even met had been laundering money from the hospital Carlisle works in, and he was helping my father with the investigation."

"He was the star witness, actually," Garrett offers.

"Oh, fucking fantastic!" I cry sarcastically. "So because of Edward's father doing the right thing, and my father doing his fucking job, we got taken! Just so some douchebag who broke the law anyway could try to avoid prison time that he deserved! Argh!"

I try to stand up, needing a physical way to vent my stress, but the moment my injured foot hits the floor I hiss and sit back down.

I settle for reaching for the salt-shaker in front of me and hurl it across the room. When it hits the stainless steel of the fridge it makes a very loud and satisfying noise.

"Bella, don't throw things," Garrett instructs evenly.

I slump in my seat, angry and deflated at having been chastised.

"Now, I understand you're angry, and probably unsatisfied with the reasoning you've received for why you were taken."

"I haven't even met the person who decided to take us! I only met the men that he hired to do the dirty work for him! Do you know how frustrating that is? I could have met him before, I could have seen him since, and I have no idea!"

"Bella, you would not have seen him since. The two men who took you were quick to reveal who they were working for in hopes of decreasing their own sentences, and paired with the fraud and embezzlement investigation, the police were able to take the man who did this to you into custody almost immediately. You have nothing to fear from him anymore."

"I'm not scared, I'm angry! I'm angry that I won't get the chance to see this man and do something to him! I just... I want to do something!"

"You will get your chance, Bella."

"When?"

My hands clench into fists at the idea of facing the spineless man who nearly ruined two lives because he was too much of a coward to face up to his own actions.

"At the trial."

Oh.

"You can testify about what you went through, and help put in prison for as long as he deserves."

"It's not enough! I need... I need justice for what he did! He didn't even look at us, or see what happened to us... he just, he just let them do that! It's not enough! He needs to suffer!"

The tears are coming again now as I get to the crux of my anger.

"Bella," he says in his soothing voice. "Are you familiar with the stages of grief?"

"I think so," I murmur, wiping my face off in attempt to retain some semblance of togetherness.

"Anger is one of those stages. You're dealing with what happened to you... I know it hurts, but you're taking bigger steps than you may realise."

I meet his eyes then, silently asking for more reassurance.

"You're angry about what happened to you, which means you're no longer denying it, or the impact it had on your life. This is a good thing."

When he phrases it that way, I can't help but feel a little better. Knowing that what I thought to be completely irrational and ridiculous anger is actually a stepping stone to recovery, I start to relax a bit. My shoulders loosen, just a little, as I lean back in my chair.

Garrett notices the slight change in my posture and smiles.

"I have to ask though, Bella, if you're having issues with channeling any anger or aggression you may feel, please contact me. We can talk about it, or you can take up a method of dealing with it similar to what Edward does. Don't break any more plates, alright?"

He winks at me playfully, and I begrudgingly nod back, feeling pretty foolish now about the whole temper tantrum.

"Take it easy today, destress and do something that doesn't require much deep thought, alright? We'll talk in a day or two - whenever you're ready, but don't hesitate to call me if you need something."

With that, he stands, waves, and then leaves. I take a moment to process the events of this morning, trying to fight down another wave of anger as it bubbles up inside me. Charlie enters the kitchen with a happy-looking Checker tottering along behind. As soon as he lays eyes on me, he darts over, jumping up at my legs in a request to be picked up.

"Hey, precious," I coo as I place his ever-growing body on my lap, laughing and pushing him down when he tries to give me kisses. I look up at my father, loitering awkwardly on the other side of the kitchen.

"Is there... is there anything you want or need, Bella?"

"No, not at all."

"Alright..." he looks at the door behind him, "I'm gonna head into the office for a while. Please... please call if you need anything at all, won't you?"

"Ok."

Just before he leaves the room, I open my mouth again.

"Dad?"

He turns.

"Sorry about this morning."

"Don't be," he says with a wry smile. "I was pretty pissed off when I found out about it too."

I smile back at him gently until his eyes dart away, his awkward personality taking over once more.

"I'll see you tonight. Be good, kid."

I can't help but roll my eyes at the familiar farewell.

"Yes, dad."

He hesitates for a second and then quickly bustles out of the room, and I giggle to myself. He tries so hard to be there for me, and hopefully one day he'll realise just how much I appreciate it.

I sit at the table for a while, gently combing through Checker's soft fur, until he starts getting fidgety and bored. I set him down and he scampers over to his recently-acquired doggy door. I watch with an anticipatory laugh as he eyes it suspiciously, then pushes at it with one paw, as if to check that it isn't somehow locked this time. He pushes it again, letting it gain some momentum, and then dashes through it, trying in vain to get through before it swings back down and touches him, resulting in a surprised yelp when it gently taps his backside on his way out.

Sighing, I limp out of the kitchen and into the living room, picking my phone up off the counter on my way through. I scroll through my contacts, hovering over Edward's name and wondering if it's too soon to call and invite him over to help me pass my Carlisle-mandated day of rest. Rolling my eyes at my own insecurity, I call anyway.

"Hey, Bella."

"Hi."

I'm not sure why I feel so awkward.

"What's up? You sound weird."

He sees straight through my attempt to sound casual in one word, I note with slight amazement.

A one syllable word, no less.

"I feel like a totally needy stalker asking this considering you only left a bit over an hour ago, but can you come back over? I have a day to burn and nothing to do."

"Oh wow," he huffs, "way to make a guy feel special."

I laugh, the tension broken by his teasing.

"Shut up. Are you free?"

"For you? Always."

"Please refer to my previous statement about shutting up."

He laughs.

"I'll be there in 20, Miss Needy... or is that too long for you to be deprived of my presence?"

"Don't make me repeat myself again, Edward," I threaten. He just laughs again and then the phone disconnects, leaving me smiling on the couch and feeling better already.

He arrives, bursting through the door and panting theatrically while bracing his hands on his knees as if he'd run the whole way instead of driving.

"Did I make it? Are you still alive or have you died from missing me so much?"

"I hate you," I respond in greeting, but his cheeky smile incites one from me in return.

"Liar," he shoots back casually, wrapping an arm around my waist and lifting me up onto his hip like a baby. His newfound strengh shocks me more than a little.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Watching you limp around is kind of sad," he teases, "so I figured I'd carry you."

"Could you have done it in a way that doesn't infantalize me?" I huff. "Bridal style, perhaps?"

He gasps.

"Jesus, Bella... I knew you were into me pretty hard, but I think it's a bit early to be talking marriage."

I smack his chest.

"You are an asshole."

He drops me onto the couch and puts in the DVD he's brought with him, something about an amusement park in the eighties.

"Why this?" I ask as the opening credits run, "do you have a boner for the lead actress or something?"

"No... well, maybe, but it's done by the guy who did Superbad so I thought we'd give it a whirl. And the soundtrack is apparently awesome. If it sucks, we can just turn it off and fool around for a while."

"What is with you today?" I ask, playfully exasperated.

"You love it."

I refuse to dignify his answer with a response, mainly because he can tell when I'm lying. After a short while spent sulking at his crude comments, I settle into his side as we watch the movie, his arm around my shoulders. I'm disrupted when he playfully attempts to subtly grope me when a small sexual scene occurs, but we quickly settle back into a comfortable position. Things between us have always felt so natural, but now it's an entirely different sensation. We're doing things that everyone does, experiencing rites of passage as opposed to horrible traumas and their resulting fall out.

I feel... normal.

A small part of me is troubled by how much I crave to be average, but nothing about my life has been average in so long, so I push it down and let myself enjoy the feeling. I'd had enough of scary and broken for one day.

AN: So... there it is.

Also, to everyone who sent me their work - a giant thankyou! I did read something by everyone and tried my best to leave a review here and there... RL fucked me up the butt this past two weeks but i really did try my best! Btw, i was right - you are all very talented (and attractive).