Disclaimer: I don't own anything Twilight related. Warning sexual situations, drug abuse, some violence.

Chapter 52: Bittersweet Victory…

****Special thanks to LSU15 for betaing****

Once we were free to go with Chris, we left the courtroom as soon as possible. I couldn't get out of that place fast enough, or away from the people who had wreaked havoc in our lives for so long.

Tanya filed our adoption petition with the judge before meeting us outside.

"Is that really that simple?" I asked as she met us outside the building.

"Well, you'll have court mandated visits until the adoption is final, but it should be simple. You've had social services involved since Chris was born, so it's really a matter of updating the paperwork from guardianship to officially adopting him ," Tanya explained.

"That easy?" Edward asked in disbelief.

"Well it's easier now that you two are married. Before, you two adopting Chris as an unmarried couple would have been nearly impossible."

We looked at each other in disbelief that this might go our way and quickly at that.

"And the McCarty's can't come after us?" I asked.

"They can try, but it will be the same situation. You're married with a home and careers. You've been caring for Chris since he was born and to them he wasn't as much as an afterthought. And if they try that stunt with your sister again they'll get shut down before it goes to court. The law has recognized your claim," Ben explained, "Edward, Bella, this is the best thing you can do gain permanent custody. Those letters your brother and sister-in-law wrote clearly state they didn't want either set of grandparents to raise Chris. There is a minimal six month waiting period and that's it. Chris will be your son legally."

"That's it," I said smiling at Edward, hugging Chris close to me.

"That's hardly it, but its relief," Edward replied, wrapping his arms around us us. No one would ever be able to take Chris again. The relief we felt was palpable. It felt like we could breathe for the first time in a long time.

The losing side of this battle was currently storming out after us. Aro looked at us with malice and then turned his attention to Jenks.

"You incompetent fool!" he bellowed, "This was supposed to be a simple case and you blew it!"

"Simple Aro? You were fucked the moment those two morons, morons that you chose might I add, tried to bribe officers of the court! I just lost a major account over something that should have been cut and dry. You should have dried Mary out before she took the stand," Jenks yelled back, shoving his finger into Aro's chest.

Sulpicia stood there observing the whole scene with tears running down her face. It was hard to remember that she was a victim here too. Deciding to be the bigger person, I handed Chris to Edward and approached her, ignoring her husband.

"If you want to see Chris, you're more than welcome to. I am not going to keep you away from your grandson. Call me, we can set up a time that either Edward or I will be available. I know how much you loved Vanessa and Chris should know that Mrs. McCarty. But if you or your husband ever try to take him away again, the next time you see him he'll be 18 and it'll be his choice." Chris was our son and our job was to protect him; even if it meant protecting him against his own family.

"You think that I'm going allow you to raise my grandson, Isabella?" Aro rudely butted in before she could reply.

"You're not going to let me do anything Mr. McCarty. Your daughter, my brother and the court is going to," I interrupted him, "We're here because you're a prick. I'm just stating the obvious, you narrow-minded asshole. You treated your daughter and wife like they're chattel and you want to mold Chris into a younger version of you. If scientists hadn't figured out that men determine gender you would probably be blaming your wife for Vanessa being a girl. I'm just telling your wife what I'm willing to do so Chris can have his grandmother in his life. But if you are around Chris or attempt to tell him anything negative about my family or I get an inkling that you're going to try to sue for custody again, I'll end you."

"Are you threatening me Isabella?" Aro asked malevolently.

"I don't threaten Mr. McCarty, I make promises. Do us all and favor and don't fuck with me," I told him keeping my voice calm, stoic, like we were discussing the weather and not coming out of a war like we just did. His jaw dropped. I guess no one had put him in his place before. "That's all I have to say to you."

Turning to the other prick standing there, "Mr. Jenks, you invaded my privacy. You illegally obtained information from a man I have a restraining order against. I will be filing charges against you and your firm, and notify the state bar. What you've failed to realize is I'm not the same person who left New York all those years ago. I'm a hell of a lot stronger and I don't take threats against me or my family lightly."

"You think they're going to take you seriously Isabella?" Mr. Jenks had the audacity to sound incredulous.

"Mr. Jenks, whatever you think of me personally, I am a married woman. I know that under the eyes of the law, I'm considered Edward's property. Most people don't like having their property accosted, so yes, I think they will take my complaint seriously."

Jenks paled, realizing I was right. As a married woman, the law would take my restraining more seriously than they did when I single. Especially when the images in question showed a couple having sex in the privacy of their home. It reeked of perversion. Either way, Jenks was going to have a miserable week.

First, he lost a major case that should have never been brought to court. Second, he lost my father and his firm as clients. Third, I was going to file a complaint with the state bar. A miserable week indeed, but a vindicating one for me.

With that I turned to back to my family. "We're celebrating!" I exclaimed. Chris clapped and babbled loudly while reaching for me. All of our happiness was written all over his cute face.

"Yes, we are!" Edward said, handing Chris to me.

*****AMW*****

To celebrate we ended up at Vincents, my favorite Italian restaurant in the city. With a few bottles of wine and amazing food to celebrate, it was the perfect ending to a stressful, but exceptional day.

Unlike my wedding night, I limited myself to two glasses of wine. Seeing Mary had brought home substance abuse and I didn't want to be compared to her or her inability to control herself, ever. I briefly wondered if she would make bail tonight, but decided not to dwell on it. Frankly what good would it do? She had chosen her path and I had chosen mine.

"What's your plan now Bella?" Rose asked, the sun setting behind her, the light and her cigarette casting a reddish, smoky halo around her.

"Well, Edward and I were talking, we want to give notice at our apartment and move to the Long Island house as soon as possible," I answered.

"You want to leave the city?" she asked surprised, "You loved living in San Francisco so much, I thought you'd love it here too."

I laughed remembering how much I had loved it. "You're right I did love it, but I can't breathe in Manhattan. Our apartment is fine, but it's not home. The house is right on the Sound and it's beautiful and I can just be there. Do you know what I mean?"

Rose nodded, "I understand that; this place can be oppressive. It's one of the reasons I haven't been back to Boston that much." She looked wistfully outside at the street for a moment.

I knew Rose had never made peace with her family, much like Emmett hadn't. I realized how incredibly lucky I was that my parents and I had rebuilt our relationship. It wasn't without its struggles, but we forged a way back to each other and I was grateful we were in a better place.

"What about school? You're almost done," she said.

"I just have a few seminars left. That can be managed from Long Island, as well as my clinicals," I replied, twirling the red wine in my glass, holding it to the setting sun to see the light stream through my glass, projecting a red glow. "When are you guys going home?"

"Day after tomorrow," she replied, snubbing out her cigarette. "I have to get home."

I nodded, knowing she had been gone too long from her own life. "I owe you a visit. We'll come soon," I promised.

"You better," she said with an easy smile. "By the way, very good on how you handled the McCarty's and Jenks after court. Very classy and cutthroat at the same time."

I shrugged my shoulders. "Balls in Mrs. McCarty's court. It will be a cold day in hell before I let her bastard husband around my son."

"And that's what makes you an amazing mom," Rose told me, taking my hand, "I'm so proud of you Bella. You've grown so much since I first met you, sweetie."

Tears gathered in my eyes as these words from Rose were the truest praise I could receive. "I wish you would move here."

"I wish you would move back, but fortunately we have planes that help," she said, squeezing my hand lightly and then called out to Emmett, "Okay old man, you need to take me back to our room."

Emmett's eyes lite up with the suggestion. "You got it m'lady. The finest yellow cab I can find. Bella, Edward, we'll see you later."

We wished them well and the celebration started to break up soon after they left.

"Home?" Edward asked.

"Home," I agreed, as we picked up Chris. Poor guy was tired from all the love and attention he'd been getting all evening. I'd give him 2 minutes before he was out for the night.

***AMW***

Two weeks later…

"I can't believe that Tanya got us out of my lease. With my deposit no less," I told Edward as we sat in our new living room on the floor. We were unpacking the contents of our boxes into our mostly empty living room.

As a wedding gift, Tanya negotiated an early termination of my lease so we could move into my parents' old house without paying a penalty. It had been a relief to get out of the city and settled in Long Island. Our new house looked skeletal with our furniture from my apartment. We went from a four room apartment to a 5 bedroom home, with a library, dining room, eat-in kitchen along with a few additional rooms that we could make to fit our family's need as time went on.. It was daunting to say the least.

So far, only our room and Chris' room look complete. We were watching the news, some clip on the Woodstock festival came on. As far as we knew, Jasper was there helping set up. We had put him on the bus yesterday after dinner, which had been awkward. Awkward by running into Mary and Felix. We had been at Frankie and Johnnie's steakhouse, by the Port Authority.

Last night…

"Guys you didn't have to do this, I would have been fine with a diner," Jasper drawled as we sat down.

"Are you kidding me?" I replied, "You can't come to New York and not come to Frankie and Johnnie's. It's a New York institution for the lovers of red meat."

"Well then who am I argue," he replied, looking at the menu, his eyes bulged. "Guys, not that I'm ungrateful, but this really expensive and you have a child."

"We're celebrating," Edward said, "Tanya got us our deposits back and it's the first time we've had dinner past 7:30 in over a year." My parents were watching Chris that evening, giving us an evening to be adults.

Jasper chuckled. "You know I could see you as a father Edward, but it's totally wigging me out that you're so fucking responsible. Sorry Bella."

"Don't worry," I giggled, remembering how long it took for Edward to clean up his mouth. Then I sobered for a little taking in Jasper. He was so skinny and even dressed up a little he didn't look good.

"Jasper, are you sure we can't talk you in staying here permanently?" I asked. Despite our rocky first impressions of each other and Jasper's drug use, we had a formed a friendship over the past few weeks. He was terrific with Chris and had helped us fix up the Long Island house. I wish I could help him get clean.

"Bella if anyone could convince me to stay put it would be you, but my buddy got you first," Jasper replied, with a wink. "But I'm not ready."

"When you are, will promise to call me?" I asked, putting my hand lightly on his on his.

He smiled, when we heard yelling. Curious to see what was going on, we looked up and saw Felix arguing with the manager. Mary was standing next to him looking bored.

"What do you mean there is a problem with my credit card?" he demanded, "My card should be fine."

"I'm sorry Mr. Whitman, but it was declined. Do you have another one we can try?" the manager asked looking frustrated. He was clearly trying to keep his temper in check.

Felix looked over in our direction and we stared at each other awkwardly. We hadn't seen each other since the court case. The rumors were that Felix had been fired when he got back to the office. Jenks had bailed them out, but getting arrested for trying to bribe a court officer was not like failing a drug test.

The partners would have overlooked the positive drug test since it was Mary, not Felix, but Felix made the bribe and that was not acceptable. At least not when it was part of the court record, which was pubic.

"What are you looking at?" Felix sneered.

"Not a thing," I replied coldly, turning my back to him. Edward put his hand on the small of my back to keep me calm.

"That's the asshole?" Jasper asked, lighting up a cigarette. Jasper hadn't had the pleasure of meeting Felix or Mary since he wasn't in court with us.

I nodded. "The young lady is my sister."

Jasper took a better look at her. "She's cute. Too bad," he sighed, shaking his head.

"That cute girl is married and a hot mess," I replied, dryly, taking a sip of wine. Looking back towards the commotion, I realized that my sister was making eyes at Jasper. She was almost drooling over him. Her chest was jutted out so you could see her emaciated chest. Mary had tilted her head slightly to get the light just right. I imagined she thought she looked attractive, like a model in this light. She looked jaundiced and sick. Like a cast member of the Night of the Living Dead.

Jasper looked at me with sympathy. "You remind me so much of Jake right now," he said, shaking his head.

"How so? I doubt Jake would have disowned me or Mary."

"Your brother used to talk about you and sister all the time. Remember Ed?" Jasper said, with some far off memory lighting his eyes.

"What would he say?" I asked out of genuine curiosity. It had never occurred to me ask Edward.

Both Jasper and Edward looked at me uncomfortably. "That he was worried about her being alone with your parents," Edward said finally, "That you two at least had each other."

Instinctively I shuddered. Jake had pegged our sister. We had left her alone and she drowned. Guilt washed over me wondering if I could have prevented any of this.

"Bella, stop," Edward said, bringing me out of my thoughts, "you had no idea about any of this and you were 3,000 miles away. No one saw any of this coming."

"And you didn't force a joint into her mouth or a needle into her arm," Jasper replied, rubbing his arm and then looked up. A red-faced Felix stomped over with Mary. He had his meaty hand around her tiny bicep.

"You stay the fuck away from us," he demanded, his blue-collar back ground making an appearance.

Taking a page from James, I hired a private investigator to research Felix. It paid off. I had found more about Felix Whitman during this trial or should I say Felix Volturi. He was from a poor family and was the firstin his family to go to college. His family emigrated from Italy around end of the 19th century.

The Volturis were commercial fishermen from Maine. Felix had gotten a scholarship to Columbia and forged his new persona, even changing his last name to give himself a new past. Felix hadn't spoken to his family since leaving for college. All his mother's letters were marked return to sender. Our PI had given her the first news she had in years about her son.

From what we could tell the Volturis were nice people, their son was just a prick. Their bad apple, if you will. It was tragic, but they seemed quite lovely. His brother would have been a nice choice for Mary.

Felix spent his years in Columbia cheating and threatening his way to a 4.0 GPA and eventually the job he had with James. I wish I had known about this before my sister had started dating him. Of course, you deny any addict their preferred drug of choice and they do whatever they can to get it, no matter the my cost.

However, that didn't excuse Felix from manhandling my sister. The wild look in his eyes clearly made him unstable. Mary looked more annoyed than scared which was not smart. You never let your guard down with someone as unhinged as Felix and my bet is he's gotten worse since his world imploded. In hindsight that was why I left James partially unscathed. That look that Mrs. Cathars gave me when she realized who I was married to probably saved me. I was naïve when I married him.

"And you," Felix bellowed at Jasper, the smell of alcohol wafting over the table. It was clearly robbing him of his common sense in confronting two Vietnam veterans. "You keep your eyes to yourself."

Jasper gently put down his napkin on the table. Edward pulled me to him, looking across the table at his friend. The two of them had some sort of silence communication.

"Look buddy, I'm just trying to have a nice evening with my friend and his wife before I head out to Woodstock," Jasper said, turning his head a little to show the scarred skin by his eye socket. "My apologies if I offended you or your lovely wife."

Mary giggled a little when he said that.

"I don't give a goddamn if you're having dinner with the fucking President. Keep you keep your eyes to yourself! Do you hear me!"

"The entire restaurant can hear you," Edward snapped at him, "Keep your voice down unless you want to take this outside."

"You and your friend don't have the guts to take me on separately," Felix yelled, shoving Mary at me, "You want to team up on me and fuck me over like you fucked me over at my job?"

Mary landed in my lap, her butt in the air. She reeked of alcohol and vinegar. When Edward and I talked about her drug use and how she could afford to keep up her habit, he told me the heroin she was using was probably was mixed with vinegar since she could buy a less pure form of it for a cheaper price.

"Get off me," she mumbled, clearly high and struggling to get off me.

Jasper jumped up and got into Felix's face. "You know I might be a sharecropper from Texas, but I know not to be rough to a woman," his voice full of menace. It made my hair on the back of my neck stand up. Trying to ignore the confrontation, I helped my sister get into a sitting position. She slumped over onto the table, nearly landing in my mashed potatoes.

Felix was about to say something when the maître de came over. "Mr. Whitmore, I'm going to have to ask you to leave," he said.

"What do you mean, you little shit?" Felix demanded.

"You need to leave and not come back," the man repeated, handing Felix his card. "Your card is no good here and your behavior is abhorrent. Please take your wife and go."

Felix looked the manager, shocked for a moment before grabbing Mary by her bicep, yanking her to her feet. "This all your fault, you stupid, bitch! You've ruined my life!" he screamed at her, trying to shake her awake.

That got my attention. We might be estranged but I didn't tolerate anyone being treated this way. "Get your goddamn hands off her," I demanded in as menacing a tone as I could muster.

"She's my wife," Felix retorted, "I'll treat anyway I want."

"Felix, baby, I wanna go home," Mary whined, reaching for his crotch, "Make me happy baby."

"Mary don't go with him," I pleaded, frightened for her safety. I wondered if Felix has been hitting her and I knew if he wasn't now, he was going to be soon. Rose's words when I left for San Francisco echoed in my head.

"I want my husband," she whined, obviously immune to the pain of Felix's meaty hand on her tiny arm. It was turning red and I was sure she'd be bruised soon.

Edward got up. "Why don't you leave her with us? You clearly don't want her," he told Felix.

"No," Mary screamed.

"Look, they need to leave," the manager said, "I'm sorry, but this is too much."

"We're leaving," Felix said, yanking Mary, "And we're not coming back."

I watched as they walked down the hallway. My eyes were watering and I wondered why since I cut Mary off. She may hate me, but I couldn't turn my emotions off.

"Bella," Edward said, turning me to face him, "Let her go. She made her choices."

"He's going to hit her!" I jumped up from my seat. Jasper looked me with sympathy.

"She doesn't care," Edward replied, pulling me back in my seat.

"How can you say that?"

"Because she doesn't care about anything, but him and her next fix. Frankly, he's a distant second, but he's keeping her high so she doesn't care," Jasper told me gently.

"Is that why you're leaving?" I asked, "You need to get high?"

"I'm leaving because I don't know how to settle down," Jasper said, "I left home the minute I could because the thought of turning into my father freaked me out. College wasn't an option, so I decided on the Army. It was an easy choice since I would have probably been drafted."

I nodded remembering the draft was one of the reasons that Jake joined the ROTC in college and went to Vietnam.

"I need my head on straight before I do anything else," Jasper said, "Now, let's enjoy this meal. I doubt I'm going to get anything this good for a while."

It had been hard dropping Jasper off at the bus stop. I knew Edward wanted to grab him and keep him here, but Jasper wasn't ready. In truth, he might not ever be ready.

After unpacking all our belongings, eating dinner and reading Chris a bedtime story, Edward and I were camped out on the living room. We had thrown a throw blanket down and grabbed a few pillows to lean on.

The only light was coming from the moon and the TV, as we watched rock festival taking place two hours from us.

"This is so crazy," I was on my stomach, my feet in the air behind me. I was resting my head on my hands, looking at the TV. Edward was tracing circles on my back, occasionally drifting to the swell of my ass.

"I know, do you wish you could have gone?" he asked, lightly kissing my shoulder.

"Me in a mud field with crowds of people everywhere? No thank you. I enjoy being a boring married woman," I replied leaning into him as he continued to work my back. I started to hum as his fingers massaged my spine.

"Bella, you couldn't be boring if you tried," he replied, moving from my shoulder to my neck.

"What about you?" I asked, "Do you wish you could have had more guy time with Jasper?"

Edward chuckled, "Getting high in a mud field? No thank you, I did enough of that in Vietnam. But I wouldn't mind rolling around in the mud with you."

"Ick," I giggled, through there something primal about having sex outside. Of course, until we knew for sure that the PI was out of our lives for good, being an exhibitionist was off the list. Edward moved my hair so he could nibble my neck.

I moaned and rolled over as he climbed on top of me. I could feel the heat between my legs growing when he lowered his weight onto me. Out of instinct, I pressed into Edward and could feel his erection against my center. Edward hummed against my ear. Feeling a little emboldened, I grabbed one of Edward's hands and moved it down to my panties.

"You're so wet," Edward growled moving his fingers against the me, "I can feel how wet you are through your panties. What am I going to do with you Bella?"

"Take me," I pleaded feeling horny. Lately I wanted Edward 24/7. No matter how often we made love, I always wanted more. I was insatiable.

"When I first saw you standing in this room, I wanted to fuck you," Edward told me, running his tongue down my neck. "Would you like that Bella? Me fucking you in this old house? I could do that on the window seat or here of the floor."

"Floor," I panted, as I felt Edward's fingers slipping past the edge of my panties, the palm of his hand against my clit.

Edward removed his hand from my panties, cupping my face and kissing me hard. I wanted him so bad, but he was going too slow. Pushing him back a little I pulled my shirt off and threw it across the room. He quickly caught up and my bra followed.

Edward lowered his mouth and sucked my nipple into his mouth while rolling the other one between his fingers. His tongue circled the tip before gently biting. I could feel it through my body, down to my clit.

"Edward," I moaned, relishing the fact I no longer had to worry about intrusive PI's or neighbors spying on us. Chris had his own room and unlike my parents, we didn't keep a staff. We could be as loud as we wanted. It was freeing and it was us; together and needing each other desperately.

"You like that?" Edward teased. All I could do was hum and move against him to get some much needed friction.

Moving his hand to my panties, "How about this?" Before I could answer he ripped them off. I moaned loudly. There was nothing hotter than the primal look on his face and the sensation of cool air against my heated skin. Before I could say anything or move, Edward worked his way down my body, his hands on my breasts, playing me like only he could.

"Edward more," I begged as his mouth found my clit.

"Perfect, just how I like it, nice and wet," he said, "And all mine," With that he licked me, encircling my clit, leaving me a bundle of nerves, desperate for him.

"More," I demanded, grabbing his beautiful silky hair. "Fuck! Please, more, I want you!"

"More," Edward smirked, looking up, "I'm not done with you yet and I want to hear you scream for me baby." With that he returned back to licking me in earnest, adding his fingers and I thought I was going to lose it. Between having house guests and everything that happened since we were served, we hadn't had a chance to do anything remotely loud or kinky.

"Edward, oh my God!" My legs started to close around his head and my walls contracted around his fingers. I'm sure I was pulling the hell out of his hair, but I couldn't find it in me to care. The scream I let out was so cathartic, not only for the feeling, but for the freedom to be with my husband.

"Hmmm, perfect and delicious," Edward said, licking me, prolonging my orgasm.

I panted for a minute and you would think I would have been exhausted, but I was strangely energized and horny as hell. "You're still dressed. Take your clothes off, I want to fuck you," I demanded, grabbing him by the shirt.

Edward grinned at me and pulled his shirt over his head. He stood up to do the same with his shorts. "You got it baby," he smirked, and pulling me to him, my back against his chest.

I positioned my knees on either side of him and lowered myself on his cock in one swift move. We both groaned at feeling of him inside me. Edward gripped my hips and helped me move faster, while he thrust into me, hard. I rolled my hips as I started to ride him. Edward reached around and fondled my breasts and clit while I leaned forward and played with his balls.

"Bella," he moaned as he kissed my neck. I turned my face to kiss him at the same time he grabbed my chin and tilted my face to meet him halfway. All too soon we were shuddering against each other. I could feel myself grip Edward as I came. He pulled me down on him hard before following me with his own release. The feel of his orgasm and his moan making me to cum again.

"Holy shit," was the only thing I was capable of saying as I collapsed on top of him, my head resting on his chest.

"I love it out here," I remarked, wondering how I could feel so at ease here. I had never lived in the Hamptons, only staying here a few weeks out of the year, but there was a sense of peace and freedom I've never found anywhere in my life.

"Me too. I love it, but then again, I'm happy wherever you and Chris are" Edward said making patterns on my back.

We were enjoying the tranquility of being together when sound of loud, screeching, tires coming from our front yard broke the evening peace.

-AMW-

AN: My apologies for the delay in updating, we had our year end close in June so that has been taking my attention. So Jasper is off to Woodstock and Felix is facing financial ruin. And Mary is a walking zombie. Two of those three are facing jail time. Not the most uplifting future. So anything thoughts on what might happen?

Thanks everyone for taking the time to read/review/favorite/follow this story! Happy belated 4th of July!