Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. I am in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise, I just use their creations to have my wicked way with them. No copyright infringement is intended.

This story would be nothing without my amazing beta-team, Jadsmama and Ladysharkey1.

Law: noun 1. the principles and regulations established in a community by some authority and applicable to its people, whether in the form of legislation or of custom and policies recognized and enforced by judicial decision. 2. any written or positive rule or collection of rules prescribed under the authority of the state or nation, as by the people in its constitution. Compare bylaw, statute law. 3. the controlling influence of such rules; the condition of society brought about by their observance: maintaining law and order. 4. a system or collection of such rules. 5. the department of knowledge concerned with these rules; jurisprudence: to study law.

Law

If anyone would have told me six months ago that I would have turned into some sappy son of a bitch, I would have decked the fucker. But there I was, pining away for my girl while she was hard at work making something awesome of her life as my fingers idly played sections of Amelia's song.

It was imperfect, like I was. But yet in myself, the incompleteness hadn't bothered me as much as it did in this composition.

I couldn't stand it: to know that the artist I'd looked up to for years—my own ancestor, or so it appeared—had gifted the world with an unknown masterpiece that sat unfinished. It broke off with a dissonant note and a page torn off its score.

It was unworthy of the maestro's talent.

What was there, though, was so powerfully perfect that it took my breath away the first time I sat down to play it. Knowing what we did, it was as if you could almost feel Johannes' love for Amelia, but also his fucking despair through the notes; the unfinished movement speaking of such hope that it was so damned heartbreaking to know the truth.

Heartbreaking and very fucking confusing.

Even though only a few days had gone by since we'd uncovered Johannes' letters, there were still so many questions that needed answered. Was I really his great-grandson? What actually happened in those months between their tryst and both their deaths? Had Henry Blake known? And what about the Stanley family?

Then, of course, there were also the questions about how we'd found those damn letters. I mean, how the fuck did they end up in my mom's possession? Had she just found them in the attic, like my girl had done with Amelia's diary? And what the hell had she been meaning to do with them?

After everything my dad had told me about her, I had a hard time believing she kept them locked up in her desk drawer just for shits and giggles.

And speaking about dad's revelations regarding my mother: I still didn't really know what to think about those either.

The only thing I knew for a fucking fact right then was that I was in love. And that Bella was even more fucking perfect than the most amazing musical composition in the world.

Bella was so damn broken but at the same time, she tried so hard to fix herself and everyone around her that it sometimes looked like she was carrying the weight of the fucking world on her shoulders. It made me just…I really just wanted to draw up a fence around my girl just to keep her safe and fucking destroy everyone who threatened to hurt her.

Which might have been a problem considering the whole court thing.

"Fucking finally!"

I rolled my eyes at Tanya's dramatics a few hours later as I entered the apartment for the first time in what seemed like years. "Cool it, Tan. I've been busy."

"Yeah, and if it hadn't been for your dad answering the fucking phone," she seethed, rearing her Amazonian frame up against me, "I would have had no choice but to think you were busy dying!"

"But you called him so you knew I was safe," I quipped, sauntering over to the fridge to get myself a bottle of water.

"That's not the point!" she snarled, doing her best to keep her voice as low and relaxed as she could so as not to damage her precious instrument. "The whole point of living together is to keep the other informed of what the hell is going on. I have enough on my plate already without having to act as your personal assistant while worrying my ass off about you!"

I sighed, knowing she was right and that I'd acted like a piece of shit friend to her once again. "I'm sorry. I should have called, I know, but so much bullshit was going down that it completely slipped my mind."

Tanya smirked, her shoulders lowered in acceptance of my shitty ass explanation as her gaze zoned in on me. "Care to tell me what kind of shit that was? I smell a good story somewhere in there and…well, you owe me one."

I did, and I was more than happy to unload some of the crap that had been going on over the past couple of days, especially since Tanya could offer me a fresh set of eyes and a really fucking honest opinion which she wasn't afraid to share.

When I was done, though, the reaction I got out of her didn't go much further than a 'holy shit' and a pair of eyes that blinked rapidly as she opened and closed her mouth like a fish on dry land.

"So how're things going on this end?" I asked. "Rehearsals still going okay?"

Letting out a dramatic huff only an opera diva could manage she ranted, "Don't get me started! The woman singing the part of Aida is an absolute bitch who makes me look bad when, in reality, I don't know which incompetent fool has ever classed her as a soprano because I haven't heard her hit a clear high 'C' in the rehearsals!" She huffed, her eyes spitting fire as they gazed out of the window. "And the director goes along with it and has us all running around like we're her fucking lackeys. All because he's so damn scared his big name diva is going to run out on him."

I smirked, knowing this wasn't the first, or the last time, we'd be having this conversation. "Just wait until you've made it big time," I tried to comfort her, because it was really all I could do apart from letting her rant. "Then you'll have them all running around for you."

"I swear I'm going to kill her one of these days," Tanya scowled, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "And you know what? Since I'm her understudy that might actually work out well for me."

"Yeah," I teased, downing the last of the water inside the little bottle. "Because you're going to be the most famous opera diva on Rikers Island!"

"I suppose you're right," she smirked, rolling her eyes as her lips scrunched into a displeased pout. "By the way, your lawyer called. I think they've set a date for your trial."

Shit. I'd been expecting it, of course, but to have your nose shoved into the looming prospect of jail time was like having a bucket of ice poured all over you. "I'll give him a call," I muttered, scurrying off to my room to get away. "I have to dash, though. Got classes starting at the community center in two hours and I need a shower and shave before I head over there."

Tanya smiled sympathetically, understanding my need to escape the harshness of reality for as long as I could.

Teaching at the community center helped, though, and I had to admit it was a relief to finally do something normal for a change; something that didn't involve stealing one hundred year old Bibles, lying, crazy bitches, and crazy beautiful girlfriends.

Though, I also had to admit that the thought of meeting up with Bella after my final class was a relief as well. Being away from her made me feel uneasy; like all kinds of shit could happen to her without me being there to protect her. At least I knew she was careful enough to not take any risks and all that shit but the rest of the world? Nope, I didn't trust them one fucking bit.

It was why the real relief only came when I finally spotted her halfway through my final class of the day, her petite frame almost hidden in the doorway as she peeked in through the window. Grinning, I turned the page, making sure the kid I was supposed to be teaching could go on butchering Debussy's Clair de Lune while unabashedly staring at my girl.

My Bella. A part of me still couldn't believe my luck in finding the one thing I'd never been searching for.

And man did it feel good!

"Hey!" I nodded at her as Tiny Tim packed his shit back up and studied the score I'd given him to practice on for next week. Not like it was going to matter since Timmy Boy didn't actually possess the one thing that was absolutely detrimental to being a musician: talent.

Well, at least he was having fun.

"Are you done here?" Leaning against the doorframe she let her eyes wander around the room, her bottom lip stuck in between her teeth in a way that made me want to throw her down right there and then and fuck her like there was no tomorrow.

I nodded, swallowing as I fought for control, my mind finding distraction in shoving my shit back into my messenger bag as I cleared out the room. "You still want to swing by your place?"

She nodded. "I need to collect my mail and see if everything's still in order. It's still Mike's ass on the line if something happens to the place."

I took her hand as we walked out of the center, narrowly managing to avoid a run-in with Rose on our way out as we chatted about our day. That meant I mostly listened to the developments on the Johannes van Leyden case while she pretended to be interested in the mundane crap I'd spent my time on while we'd been apart.

It was great, though—normalcy, again, being just what I needed to forget about the future and focus on the present day. But knowing my luck, both my future and my past met us in the doorway to Bella's apartment building in the form of Jacob Black. What's with the guy? Does he have some sort of homing device that alerts him to whenever I'm hanging around his place so that he can fuck up my life even worse than he already has?

This time, however, there was something different going on. For starters, Jake was displaying none of his usual cockiness as he noticed me. In fact, it was almost like the motherfucker was scared or something.

"Jacob." Bella greeted him, her voice short and none too friendly since she knew the truth about her 'friend'. Her voice picked up a whole lot of warmth, though, as she turned to the chick who was with him and the small child. "Leah, it's good to see you again! How is Seth doing?"

"We're good." I could tell the other woman was weary of us, her eyes shooting between Jacob, Bella and me. "What's going on here?"

"Nothing!" Jake was quick to answer, his voice as high as a five year old girl's.

"Right!" I'd had enough of that sanctimonious asshole. There was no way I was going to save his ass with this chick, whoever she was. "You call ruining my fucking life nothing?"

"Cut off the dramatics, Cullen!" Jake snorted, the asshole I knew and despised coming back out of the woodwork. "You and I both know it won't be as bad as that. Shit never goes down on your side of the island."

I. Saw. Red.

After all that shit he still thought I was going to walk away from this with a slap on the wrist? What did the fucker think he was? Some kind of connoisseur of legal shit just because he'd ended up behind bars a few times? And where did he even get off thinking shit was going to be any different for me just because my dad had some money in the bank? They pinned a fucking backpack full of drugs on me, for God's sake!

"Edward…" Bella put her hand on my arm, warning me not to take shit too far. Though I could tell she was chomping at the bits to lay into Jacob Black as well.

Leah, meanwhile, looked like she was following a tennis match, though the look in her eyes had shifted from weary to downright hostile as she glared at her brother only to have them settle on my girl. "Bella? Do you know what's going on?"

"Bella!" Jake lashed out, trying to reach her only to meet with my fucking fist. There was no way I was going to let him put his filthy paws on her.

"Jake!" Leah screamed, though I couldn't be sure whose side she was on at that moment since she didn't exactly lift a finger to help him.

"I fucking told you to stay away from her!" I snarled, barely letting Bella hold me back. "You may have been able to involve me in your filthy little schemes but I'll be fucking damned if I let you and those idiots friends of yours taint my girl!"

"Idiots?" The dots seemed to connect in Leah's head as she turned on her brother. "Jake…tell me you're not back to hanging out with those guys again? You promised me!"

"If you mean Sam Uley and his gang of drug dealers, then yeah," I explained for him, since Jake still had trouble letting go of his jaw while trying not to cry like a fucking baby and all that. "A couple of weeks ago they set me up when the cops raided their apartment and Jake here, instead of helping me out like the friend I thought he was, let me take the fall for it."

"Is that true?" I could tell that Leah would have none of that shit as she rounded on her brother. If I were you, Jake, I'd protect my balls. "Did you do that?"

When he didn't answer and instead scurried off with his tail between his legs, she turned around, having had all the confirmation she needed. "I'm sorry Bella, Edward." She seemed genuine as she apologized, the whole shit confusing me even more. "I don't know what happened yet, but I know I'll find out one way or another and I promise…If Jake knows what's good for him, he'll make this right."

She sighed, shaking her head as she looked at me. "When I agreed to let him have my spare bedroom, he promised me he was done with those losers. It was one of the two conditions I had: stay on the right side of the law and get a decent job. Knowing now that he not only broke the rules but lied to me, and then he tried to set someone else up to take the fall? That's shit's not going to fly."

I had to admit I was starting to like this woman more and more, even as she went on, "I've had it with him and the way he keeps thinking he can run around and play God. Contrary to what you may think, the Blacks are actually decent people and if I want to set the right kind of example for my son, I've got to make sure the right people will end up being punished, even if it means his uncle will be one of them."

It all moved so fast from that point on. One moment Bella was straining to keep me from bashing Jacob's head against the side of the building, the next I had Jenks on the phone, asking me to come in first thing the next day because there'd been a 'development' in my case.

Adjusting my tie as I held onto Bella's hand for dear life, I walked into the building the next day, trying not to think about how much my future depended on this one meeting.

But still, it was never far from my mind.

I mean, as much as I wanted to believe that Jacob Black had—for once in his fucking life—done the right thing, the prospect of actually having him step up and rat out his buddies as he told the truth was so fucking foreign to me I had a hard time putting it into fact.

But there we were, sitting in front of some asshole with a fancy degree as he told me that all charges against me had been dropped, the sound of his voice sounding muffled as if he was speaking through a glass hole. I was probably having some sort of out-of-body experience or something.

It was all true, though.

The charges were gone. Jake was in custody, along with the whole gang of miserable sons of bitches who ran with him. And the police were asking me to help them. About a month or so ago, I would have hightailed it out of the building in search of pussy and Jack to celebrate being a free man once more.

But not now.

With me being all concerned about staying on the straight and narrow to look after my girl, I found myself helping the police and giving them a full account of what had gone down that night. The satisfaction of finally being able to pay Jake back for being such a fucking asshole only made this whole 'doing the right thing' shit more appealing.

Hey, just because Bella's made a reformed man out of me didn't mean I'd turned into a pussy.

I spent what felt like fucking hours in that office cooperating my heart out and helping with everything they needed. Hell, I would have even kissed that fucking ugly loser right on the lips if it meant that shit would come off my record any fucking sooner. All I cared about was that, when I walked out of the office after spilling every single last fucking secret, I would do it as a free man. And Jesus, did it feel like a fucking ton of weight had been dropped from my shoulders!

It was why I was a little surprised when coming out I only saw my dad sitting where I'd left both him and Bella before I went in.

"One of the clerks came by to explain what was happening and suddenly she remembered something," Dad explained, looking all sorts of apologetic. "She told me to congratulate you and that if she wasn't be back in time, she'd meet us at the restaurant."

I frowned, trying to hide my fucking disappointment because, fuck, I really wanted my girl to be there. "The restaurant?"

"We're going to celebrate, of course." Dad rose with a smile, enveloping me in a hug that told me just how relieved he was. "I've got my son back and he's not going to jail. I think this calls for a little party, doesn't it?"

I nodded, allowing him to tug me off to whatever restaurant he had in mind as an uneasy feeling started to take hold of me. And, for once, it didn't have anything to do with the prospect of jail time.

I kept telling myself that it was okay; she was only going to drop in at work, figure out whatever she had to and be back by my side in no time.

Only, when an hour and a half had gone by and she still hadn't answered my call, I knew better.

Something was wrong.

Thoughts?