EPOV

For a solid ten seconds, the bar was completely quiet as everyone stood and watched Emmett and Rose. They were getting married. They were having a baby. It wasn't until the sound of a tray of glasses fell to the ground that the tension inside the room was broken, and everyone shifted their attention from the happy couple to Alice, who looked like she'd just been sucker punched.

"Ally-Cat," Emmett said, taking a step toward her, but Alice put her hands up and shook her head before running through the back. A moment later, I heard the backdoor slam shut. "Fuck."

"Wow," Bella murmured, turning and looking at me. "Is she going to be okay?"

"I don't know," I admitted.

"Should someone go after her?" Bella asked.

"Probably, but I can't leave the bar, and I don't think she wants Emmett near her right now."

Bella nodded and pulled a cell phone from her pocket. "Know where she'll go?"

"Tattoo parlor? Or maybe Sunset Park? I don't know."

Bella turned her attention to her phone and she typed out a quick message before closing it and shoving it back into her pocket.

"Who'd you text?" I asked, trying not to sound jealous.

She smiled. "Jasper. Something tells me, he's exactly who she needs right now."

I agreed, but before I could reply, Emmett and Rose approached the bar. "Hey, congrats, man!"

"Yeah, thanks," he murmured. "Think Alice is okay?"

I shifted my eyes to Rose, who looked uncomfortable. "I don't know. I'm sure hearing that you're having a baby is hard on her. You know, after losing her daughter and everything."

Emmett nodded, but didn't say anything as he tightened his arm around Rose.

I looked over at Bella, who was staring at the bottles of vodka again. Leaning forward, I placed my hand on her chin, turning her face toward me. "Do you want one?"

"Yes," she admitted. "But no." Bella slid off the stool. "I think I'd better leave. There's way too much temptation here."

"Can I still come by after we close?" I asked, coyly.

Bella smiled. "Of course. Maybe I'll cook for you."

"Oh, baby, you know just what to say to guarantee that I'll be there," I laughed.

Bella turned to Rose and Emmett. "Congratulations. Glad everything worked out."

"We still have a lot to talk about, but," Emmett looked down at Rose, who was smiling, "she's my life, Ninja-girl, and I'm not letting her go. Not ever."

"Good." Bella looked back at me before turning and walking out of the bar, letting the door close behind her.

Emmett got Rose settled at the bar before turning and heading back to the door. I grabbed Rose a bottle of water and placed it in front of her, causing her to look from her new fiancée to me. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," I told her. "This is going to come off sounding much meaner than I intend, so please forgive me, but don't leave him again." Rose opened her mouth to protest, but I held my hand up. "I'm sure you had valid reasons for leaving, but Emmett—he's not the kind of guy who falls in and out of love, as I'm sure you know. It took a lot for him bring you here, and a lot for him to pick you over Alice."

"Me over Alice?" Rose asked, sounding shocked.

I nodded. "Emmett and Alice, they're close. Closer than close. I understand jealously," I told her, thinking about how I felt when I'd heard about Bella and Carlisle sharing a bed. "But for a long time, Em, Alice, and I were all each other had. Now, things are . . . different. There's Bella and you and Jasper, Carlisle, and Esme. I know it scares the fuck out of me. Alice isn't a bad person; she's just not used to having to compete for Emmett's attention."

Rose sighed. "I'm not asking her to compete with me, Edward. But I spent too much time trapped in a horrible marriage with a man who had no problem flaunting his whores in front of me. Now, I'm not calling Alice a whore. I like her. I think she and I could be friends, but I won't settle for being second best. Not again."

"And you won't," I told her, picking up a towel and flipping it onto my shoulder. "Just give her a chance, okay? Alice is one of those people who loves for a lifetime."

"You mean like Bella?" Rose asked.

"I hope so," I admitted.

"You've give me some unsolicited advice, Edward, so now it's my turn." Rose shifted on her stool. "You told me not to leave Emmett. Well, I'm telling you not to leave Bella. I don't know what that girl's been through, but there's a darkness in her eyes that kind of scares me. But she took a chance on me and gave me a job when, and I know this as fact, Mr. Call told her I was worthless. She stood up for me, told him to give me a chance. And even though that job didn't work out for either of us, I consider Bella to be a friend."

Rose paused and looked over her shoulder at Emmett for a moment before turning back toward me. "I was going to have an abortion. The baby isn't Emmett's, and I . . . Well, like I said, I spent a long time being someone's second choice, and I didn't want any part of him." She shook her head. "Bella told me to be sure I was ready to live without Emmett before I just gave up on him. I let Emmett go once because I was forced to, and I almost gave him up again because I was scared that I was too damaged for him. Don't let her go, Edward. She needs you, and . . . I think you need her, too."

"I do," I admitted. "I'm in love with her, Rose. And it scares me, because love isn't an emotion I've ever felt, from anybody."

"Yeah, me, too." And once more, Rose looked over her shoulder at Emmett, who winked at her and smiled. "Like I said, you gave me advice, and there's mine to you."

—SMTS—

By the time I made it over to Bella's apartment, it was after three in the morning. Emmett and Rose had left as soon as we locked the doors, leaving just me and Esme to close the place done. Since Carlisle had been working a double, I gave her a ride to the clinic, where she promised that she'd stay until he got off at seven. I didn't like leaving her alone, but knew that he wouldn't let anything happen to her. He loved her.

Bella's door was open when I arrived at her apartment, which automatically had me on edge. The last time I stumbled upon her open apartment, she was drunk. Had she given into temptation? Slowly, I stepped inside and placed my helmet and keys on the floor. When I walked into the living room, however, I found Bella perched up on her stool, one of my T-shirts on and her hair had been pulled up into a messy bun.

She had a paintbrush tucked up over her ear, one in her mouth, and another in her right hand, while her left hand was covered in different colors of paint: red, blue, orange. She was beautiful, but it was the look on her face that hit me that hardest. Her eyes were wide and her cheeks were flushed, and it was clear that she was lost in her own world, her own nirvana.

I envied her; the peace surrounding her. It had been weeks—no months—since I found myself so lost in my music that everything around me disappear, and for that short amount of time, I was just Edward. Not the boy who had been abused and thrown away, but the man who'd survived.

"Are you going to keep staring at me?" Bella asked, looking over her shoulder at me with a coy smile on her lips. "It's kind of distracting."

"Sorry," I murmured. "It's good. Your painting, I mean. It . . . it looks good."

"It's . . ." Bella shook her head as she placed the paintbrush in her hand in the Mason jar and stood up. "I don't know what it is." She placed her hands on her hips. "Are you hungry? I didn't have much, but managed to put together a couple homemade chicken pot pies."

"Sounds great," I told her, gesturing back to her front door. "Do you want me to leave it open?"

"Oh, no, I didn't realize I'd left it open," she mumbled as she turned and walked toward the kitchen. "Just needed to get inside quickly."

I closed the door and then followed her into the kitchen. "Why?"

"Huh?" she asked, looking back at me before placing the small cookie sheet with two pot pies in the oven.

"Why were you in a rush to get inside?" I asked, leaning against the counter next to her.

Bella sighed and looked over at me. "When I left the bar, I . . . I don't know . . . I guess I felt a little overwhelmed, and . . . there are like a dozen places to buy vodka between the bar and my apartment." Bella blew out a heavy breath. "I wanted to stop, Edward. I wanted to stop so bad, but I didn't. I just tried to get back here as fast as I could."

"But you didn't," I said.

"But I, God, did I want to," she groaned. "I just . . . I just tried to lose myself in my painting." Bella smiled. "Guess it worked, because the next thing I remember was feeling you staring at me."

"I couldn't help myself; your beautiful," I whispered, feeling embarrassed.

Bella inhaled a sharp breath. "I'm not sure I'll ever get used to hearing you call me beautiful."

"You are, though." I turned toward her, placing my hand on her cheek. "I look at you, and . . . I never want to lose you, Bella."

"You won't," she murmured. "I can't . . . I don't know how to breathe with you're not around me, Edward."

"Me, either," I admitted. "I love you, Bella."

She smiled. "I love you, too."

But before she could kiss me, or I could kiss her, the timer on the oven chimed, alerting us that our dinner was ready. Bella laughed softly before she grabbed a pair of oven mitts and placed the cookie sheet on top. She slide each one on a plate, grabbed a couple forks from the dishpan, and gestured for me to follow her into the kitchen. As we settled on the sofa, her on one end and me on the other, I found myself so enthralled with her. She was amazingly strong.

"This smells so good," I moaned, taking a huge whiff.

"It's one of the few recipes I remember from . . . before I was . . . taken or whatever," Bella told me. "My mother would make these at least once a week because the old man loved them."

"Have you talked to her?" I asked. "Since the other day, I mean."

Bella took a deep breath. "No. I, um, I don't know what to say to her. I've spent years thinking they gave me away, sent me to live in Hell with . . . him. I just . . ." She frowned. "I can't be that little girl they remember. I'm not seven, and there are things they'll never understand about me, things I've done, things that were done to me."

"Maybe they don't want you to be that little girl," I suggested. "Maybe, I don't know, maybe they just want to know who you are now."

"I don't even know who I am," she scoffed. "I know I need to talk to them, to really sit down and talk with them — all of them — but I'm scared."

"Your mom, the old man, your brother—I'd give anything to have a family that wanted me," I confessed, feeling silly for getting emotional. "My mom and dad made sure I knew how much they hated me, how I wasn't worth shit. And I know it's not easy, baby, I do, but you're not alone, anymore. You've got me."

"You'd go with me?" she asked, batting her lashes at me.

"I'd do anything for you," I vowed.

Bella's lips quivered as she nodded and placed her plate on the coffee table, and then pulled her knees up to her chest. "Would you stay? You can have my bed, and I'll sleep here, but I just . . . Will you stay?"

I nodded. "For as long as you want me."

Thank you for all the reviews. I am so sorry for not updating in a few days, but my daughter, who is a type one diabetic, was rushed to the ER Friday in full DKA. Her blood glucose was over 600, her potassium was high, and she was dehydrated. She spent two days in the PICU, and we've spent the last two days just trying to get caught up on life. Thankfully, she's fine now, but she was very close to slipping into a coma or even dying.