Big thanks to Gail and Fran for help with this chapter.

Chapter 23

"All right, Charlotte…you really have to go! I promise you'll be fine! Grandma will get you both after school...come on, your friends are waiting for you." Bella said eagerly. She bent to Charlotte's height, adjusting her backpack straps.

Her family had been quite accepting of everything going on in Bella and Charlotte's lives. While they still kept the fact that Peter had been found in Bella's house to themselves, Bella didn't want to keep their growing happiness and expanding 'family' a secret. Renee was happy for her daughter and even happier for Edward. She didn't ask for details regarding Peter's past but took it upon herself to be as much of a grandma to him as she could. One look at his green eyes and crooked smile made yet another Swan woman putty in his hands.

Rosalie and Emmett weren't much different. Jake was excited to have someone new in his life to hang out with. Bella's sister had demanded every detail, wanting to make sure she could be comfortable with Peter and making sure he was okay to be around her own son.

Charlotte had thrown her family members into quite a tizzy when she announced she announced she was getting a new brother.

"A new brother?" Rosalie asked, her eyebrows rising to the top of her forehead.

"Not what you think, Rose. Charlotte just gets along great with Edward's nephew. She's quite attached to him, really." Bella explained, sighing internally when Rosalie's brows resumed their normal placement.

Today, her daughter was starting second grade at Forks Elementary. Teachers stood, enthusiastically welcoming the students back for another year. Bella kept her eyes peeled for Jessica, who should be somewhere around the building. They never had much contact after her little 'incident' with Charlotte.

As their moms waved and walked back to their cars, Bella looked up to glance at the few second graders standing by the corner of the door. Some of their eyes were glued on Charlotte, probably waiting to catch up with her on all the things they did over the summer. But Bella would be lying if she didn't catch one or two of Charlotte's friends staring with googly eyes at the other member of their farewell party.

"You'll be right across the basketball court, right, Peter?" Charlotte said, frowning as she glanced up at him for confirmation.

As the summer heat faded into an autumn breeze, the leaves changed. And so did Peter. He'd grown a few inches throughout the past few months, looking healthier every day. He stood only a few inches shy of Bella's short stature. He'd let his hair grow during the summer, so it flowed freely down to his ears, shining brightly against his lightly tanned skin acquired from being at the batting cages with his uncle as often as he could. Once he'd found out Forks Middle School had a team, he was determined to earn a spot. Edward, of course, was over the moon to help him achieve this goal.

Forks North Elementary and Forks Junior High were located across the parking lot from each other. Convenient for early morning drop off, and hopefully, for Charlotte if she got anxious with Peter being away.

Charlotte hadn't done well over the summer when Edward and Peter had to travel back and forth between Chicago. Despite it only being for a few days at a time, Bella could sympathize with her daughter.

After the Cullens left Forks the day after their arrival, things seemed to move into motion quickly. The family attorney, Aro Volturi, had been contacted and briefed about everything that had occurred. Bella was sure Carlisle and Edward were paying him well to do everything he could to expedite the situation as much as possible. It was a big responsibility, but the look in Edward's eye when he did anything regarding Peter's case reminded her it was going to be worth it.

Garrett's decision to give up Peter was one to give him a chance at happiness. It was the best thing he could have done. It was the one thing Peter needed to be able to recover from what once was. Edward and Carlisle hoped Garrett's participation and cooperation could get him a spot at Meadowview Recovery Center. They worked hard to utilize their colleagues and friends in the medical field to make it happen.

It was difficult when Peter and Edward were gone. The idea of just the two of them, sitting and watching a movie together like it was before the boys came into their lives, was strange. But she loved it. They had never made any official plans to move in together, it just sort of happened. No matter where they stayed, they were always together. For the most part, they stayed at Edward's house, with many thanks to the game room he had. The kids seemed to be happy to enjoy their time together, playing video games and laughing freely in the remaining days of the summer vacation.

When they were gone, a part of their family felt incomplete.

And at the end of the summer, they were finally complete.

The final case proceeding was long and dragged out for weeks.

Alice had stuck to her word, never bringing up another idea of Jasper and her taking him instead of Edward. In fact, they even stood up to say that they truly believed Peter would be happy with his uncle. On the last day, from the front of the court, she smiled deeply at Peter and flashed a light grin to Charlotte. Alice had been nearly as taken by Charlotte as she was with Peter. It was just another validation that Peter would be better off in Forks.

The next part was difficult for everyone within hearing distance: Peter's testimony.

He was nervous but remained headstrong as he took a seat on the witness stand.

There wasn't a dry eye in the room when the young boy spoke about his journey, about what lead him to make the decision to leave.

"What was your experience like?" Aro asked the boy, sympathy swimming heavily in his eyes. The Cullen family were friends of his, and he'd met Peter in passing more than once. It wasn't easy for him to narrow in on this type of questioning, but he needed to make the family-court judge see justice. He agreed with Carlisle Cullen and Edward Cullen that the latter was in the best place to take custody of Peter, given the urgent but exceptional details of the case, "And your journey…can you tell me about that? How did you know what to do…where to go?"

"I…tried to make it so they wouldn't look for me. My…mom and dad…they used to watch a lot of news on TV, and sometimes I used to…listen to it when I was in the closet. That's where I got the idea…to make it look like a stranger took me. I threw my bike through the window, and I cut myself…it bled some, but it wasn't that bad." Peter said sighing. He was embarrassed to admit the truth in front of everyone, even more so than he had been when they all found out the first time. He was ashamed of his actions but was desperate to get to his uncle.

"I…didn't do much during the day. I made it to Chicago…they have free food shelters; a really nice lady on the sidewalk told me about it. Sometimes I went to the library or the park to get out of the cold. I tried to hide out behind restaurants or in the bathrooms. I saw on TV once that people could find scraps of food there. It was easier at night—nobody could see me."

"There was a bus to Pittsburgh, the closest city to Forks, leaving from the Chicago bus station…the one that sounds like a dog. I…uh…took a ticket out of someone's pocket. It was easy. And it was a bus that boarded late at night…I snuck on, standing really close to someone else. I think the driver thought I was with that person. He never even checked my ticket." Peter said, frowning as he admitted to his thievery, "I didn't want to steal a ticket…but I didn't have enough money. I took some from a coffee can stash my parents had…but it wasn't enough. I used some of that money to buy some snacks for the road."

"I got to Forks with a taxi. I…told them the truth. I was going to see my uncle. I was able to pay them because I saved some of the money. After that…I tried to hide out around Forks…lots of places. It was a long time…sheds, parks, libraries. The libraries were my favorite places…I just hid until it was closed and then I could find some books to read. Nobody ever saw me…until I found a playhouse in the backyard of Bella's house.

"And you mean Isabella Swan, the girlfriend of your uncle, Edward Cullen? Did you know this when you took shelter in her back yard?"

"Yeah, that's her. No…I didn't know who she was, but her house was pretty. I didn't know if my uncle was even coming. He was supposed to be there three months ago…the reason I had to stay hidden for so long was because I couldn't find him. I watched the hospital a lot…he never showed up. He told me that was because he stayed behind in Chicago to help find me, which makes me feel dumb. Of course, Uncle E would stay back to find me." Peter said, sighing and trying to avoid the stare of the uncle in question.

"And did you stay in Ms. Swan's yard long?"

"Not too long. She didn't know I was there until…she caught me one day. Well, her daughter found me. She…Charlotte tried to help me by sneaking me food. Bella found out…she was, well, panicked. I'm surprised she didn't faint, but it's a good thing she didn't because she would have hurt her arm even worse and I wouldn't have wanted that. She's so kind to me…But after she found out, she asked me if I was okay, checked me over because she works with Uncle E at the hospital. She was going to call the police, but we convinced her to wait a few hours. It turns out she knew my Uncle pretty well…he came over that night and found me." Peter explained, as truthfully as he could. He left out some details, not wanting to get Charlotte in any trouble.

"Okay…and why don't you tell us about your injuries…why you ran away?" Aro questioned.

"She…my mother…burned my skin with her cigarette because she said I was being a brat and not listening. Dad never physically hurt me, but he never did anything to stop her. It was like she just controlled everything he did."

The details came out one by one as the court case continued.

Though Edward had heard it several times by that point, it never got easier to listen to Peter talk about his journey to find him. He'd slept in youth homeless shelters, had stolen things from gas stations, and even managed to sneak a Greyhound ticket to Pennsylvania from someone's pocket. Peter was desperate to get across the country to a safe haven. And Edward wanted to run to the stand, grab the young boy in his arms and shield him away from the rest of the world.

They knew they had a strong case after Peter's testimony, Garrett's honesty, and especially after the tearful testimony of his uncle. Given the strange and unusual details, they allowed Edward to testify as a medical doctor when going over the evidence—photographs he and Bella had snapped of Peter's aging wounds. He presented them, answering initial questions for Aro, on how old the wounds were, how he could have gotten them, and how he assessed them in the beginning.

"You're currently employed as a medical doctor at Forks Regional Hospital, correct?"

"I am."

"In the Emergency department?"

"Yes."

"And you received your medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania?" Aro asked calmly.

"Yes."

"With the confirmation of your credentials…can you assess and give me your professional opinion on the injuries in the following photograph? Can you explain to me your observations upon seeing them for the first time?"

Edward bit his lip, squinted, and nodded before looking back at Aro's evidence display screen. He hated reliving this but knew it was for the best. He saw a zoomed-in photo of Peter's body, the bruises and burns more evident due to the lighting of the room and explained the best he could, trying to stop himself from jumping off the stand and giving Garrett another beating in front of the court. It was a lot harder to restrain himself when the evidence was there with Peter sitting right in front of them with Esme.

"There were several layers of small, round marks, somewhere between five millimeters and ten with second-degree scarring that was slightly aged—maybe a few months, by the looks of them and the hyperpigmentation of the skin. From my experience, I first identified them as cigarette burns." Edward said, staring at the screen.

"And in your medical opinion, how would one, in this case, a child, obtain these kinds of burns?"

"Well…they're second degree, so the patient's skin would have to make contact with the lit end of a cigarette or lit object—a joint, a cigar, things of that nature. It would have to be…held there for…maybe five to ten seconds, I'd say depending on the…method." Edward answered truthfully, trying not to think about the child in the photo.

"And your observations matched the story of the child in question?"

"Yes. He told me what had occurred, and I confirmed it by checking the wounds over. I treated them as best I could at the time."

"And he admitted to you and Ms. Isabella Swan that he had obtained these marks during his time staying with Mr. Garrett Cullen and Ms. Kate Denali?"

"That's correct."

A crucial missing piece to the case was the presence of Kate Denali. The woman was an enigma. Ever since Peter's vanishing act, she had all but disappeared from Garrett's life. Apparently, his desire to get clean and maximize the benefits of potential help was an unattractive quality.

Kate wasn't a kind person. The Cullen family was only accepting of her because of the amount of time she spent with their son, and of course, they weren't going to deny Peter's mother a place among the family. She was controlling and manipulative, and undoubtedly the source of Garrett's problems.

They'd been together since high school, and she'd run over him, steamrolling his life ever since. He never went against it due to his addiction and heavy depression. Kate fed on him as if she were a leech. She was unpredictable and crazy if something didn't go her way. Nobody understood why Garrett stayed with her, but the questions faded when Peter was born.

Her disappearing act, Peter's testimony, and Garrett's cooperation deemed Kate to be an unfit parent and an obvious danger. While they didn't know where she was, the state of Illinois was going to do their best to find her and bring her to justice. Once they got comfortable back in Pennsylvania, Edward decided he would pursue a protection and restraining order against her.

He wouldn't put anything past his crazy, ex-sister-in-law.

"And Peter, you feel as if though you would be happy with your uncle? In Pennsylvania?" The judge asked him.

The boy, dressed in an ironed pair of slacks and a button-down shirt, looked up to meet the woman's warm gaze.

He nodded.

"Yes. That is where I would be happy." Peter said, smiling. He looked over his shoulder, tossing his uncle an enthusiastic smile.

It had been an adjustment, everyone fussing over him for the past few months. It wasn't something he was used to, but he told the truth. His uncle's dedication to making him happy, doing what he could to accelerate the process and protect him while doing so, made him feel something he'd been missing. He would be happy with his Uncle Edward; he would be in the presence of a real dad; someone who could look after him, take him to the baseball field when he needed to practice, someone he could talk to.

It pained him sometimes, to relive the past, to expose himself to a roomful of strangers that decided not only his fate but where he would eventually live. Throughout the whole thing, his uncle was by his side. Every appointment with Aro, every appointment with the social workers, every plane ride, every greasy fast-food burger rushing through the streets of Chicago because they were running late. Through the testimony, he looked up to meet the other pair of green eyes that had grown so much more important to him.

When he ran away, he had a plan for the future, a future with his uncle. And he had to fight for it.

Everything was worth it if it meant he got to stay with Uncle E.

A few hours later, with the bang of a gavel, Peter got his wish.

It didn't take them long to come to the decision to grant Edward permanent custody of Peter. The gasp that erupted from Peter's mouth when he heard the judge speak for the final time, the rush he got beneath his feet as he ran to throw himself into his uncle's waiting arms. It was a moment, frozen in time, something the young Cullen had wished for in the darkness—a chance to find the light.

And their family was there, of course, but he clung to Edward's side, his eyes becoming blurred from the tears running down his face. His cheeks hurt from the large grin that formed over his face.

"I think so…if Uncle E made it to the admissions office on time." Peter teased, reaching down to tug one of Charlotte's braids.

"Oh, Lord, don't even joke about that. He said he was leaving the hospital about an hour ago to head over to get you registered. We should probably head over there to make sure he didn't keel over in the parking lot, Pete." Bella laughed lightly.

She wasn't exactly kidding, though. Edward had been pulling overnights shifts for the last week, leaving Bella on kid duty. She'd gotten her cast removed a few weeks ago, but she hadn't gone back to work yet. Since it was an important day for Peter, he couldn't just go home and catch up on sleep like he normally would.

"He's fine…probably," Peter said, smirking at Bella. She scoffed at him before turning back to Charlotte.

"Are you ready? Your friends are staring at Peter like he's the new Justin Bieber." Bella said to her daughter, putting a hand on her hip.

Charlotte sighed, "I guess."

With a kiss on her head and a quick hug from Peter, Charlotte flittered towards her friends, her brown braids catching the wind behind her head.

After a glance at her watch, Bella and Peter hurried back to her car. She was thankful their destination was just across the lot. She sighed to herself when she pulled into a spot next to a sleek, dark gray car. She bit her lip and tried desperately to avoid eye contact with the man leaning against it…his arms crossed, dressed in a light jacket and jeans.

"Skipping school, Swan?" Edward asked, straightening up and removing his sunglasses as they exited the car. He looked tired but outstanding none the less.

"Wow, you made it." Peter said, smiling teasingly at his uncle, "Bella and I had five bucks on which way you would be passed out in the parking lot."

"Yeah, maybe you better save your money for the next time you want a video game." He shot back, moving forward to ruffle Peter's hair. He caught Bella around the waist in a hug before placing a soft kiss on her lips.

"Hi."

"Hi," she said back, staring into his tired eyes.

"Okay, not here." Peter said, pulling his backpack from the truck, "did you get me registered, Uncle E? I can't take Home Ec as my one elective. All the girls take that class."

"Oh, dang it, I thought you said you wanted to take that class!" Edward feigned innocence as he pulled away from Bella and rolled his eyes.

"Yes, you're all registered. Lucky for you, I don't pick your classes, you do." He answered honestly, looking his nephew up and down, "you ready, Pete?"

Peter tightened the strap of his bag and bit his lip, nervously, "I think so."

"You'll do great, kid. And we can go to the cage right after school. Just stop by the front office, and they'll show you to your homeroom." Edward promised.

Peter nodded excitedly. He closed the distance between him and his uncle, wrapping an arm around his torso, "Thanks, Uncle Edward."

"Yeah, yeah, now go before you're late." Edward teased, patting his back.

Peter pulled away and flashed him a smile. He began to move away from them but turned back in an instant. He ran to stand in front of Bella, throwing his arms around her. She was startled by his sudden movement, but a smile grew on her lips as she hugged him back.

"Thank you, Bella."

The dice rolled loudly on the board, falling short in their drop from Edward's hand. He huffed a groan, staring at the snake eyes, ignoring the snickers of everyone around him. He shot a look at Bella, who bit her lip in an attempt to hide her urge to laugh harder.

"You rolled a two! That means you have to get another trivia card!" Charlotte yelled, pulling a card out from the neatly stacked deck and bringing it to her face. The laughter died down as Bella moved closer to Charlotte to help her read the card.

"Uncle E, I thought you were smart." Peter teased, looking up at his uncle, who sat cross-legged next to him on the floor. Edward scoffed and looked at the number of tokens Peter had won from answering his questions correctly.

"Oh please, this is a kid's game. My mind is like a steel trap." Edward said confidently.

"Okay, be quiet you two! Edward, what age did Edward…the sixth…thanks, Mom... become King?" Charlotte read carefully from the card.

"Uh."

They tried to hide their giggles again as Edward struggled with the difficult history trivia.

"Twenty." He finally guessed, throwing his hands up in an exasperated sigh. That was not the correct answer, that much he knew. And they were going to let him have it.

"No, it was nine. Sorry, Edward, you have to stay in the space you're on." Charlotte said, laughing.

"A steel trap? Yeah, the one grandpa left outside in the yard to catch those groundhogs and it rusted shut 'cause of the rain." Peter deadpanned.

Bella chose the wrong moment to take a sip from her drink. She choked on her laugh, spitting water all over the floor. Edward shot her a dirty look before uncrossing his legs.

"All right, since you all want to be so mean, I'm going to take this popcorn and eat it in the kitchen by myself." He said jokingly, standing to grab the bowl of snacks. They were low and desperately in need of a refill, "anyone need anything while I'm there?"

"Maybe a napk—" Bella was cut off by the sharp chime of the doorbell. As soon as the noise ended, the furious knocking began. Strange, as it was late on a Friday night. Who would be there at this hour? It couldn't be the delivery man, as they'd stayed in for dinner. In the past few months, Edward and Bella had made it a habit to spend time at both of their houses. It still felt strange opening Edward's door for him. Was he expecting someone?

Edward came back into the room, setting the now full bowl of popcorn down in front of the children. By the confused grimace on his face, Bella could tell he was just as confused as she was.

He met her eyes, cautioning her to stay behind them as he opened the door.

Bella pressed her hand gently into Edward's back as he stuck his head out to look around the walkway. He didn't think there were any kids in the neighborhood that took part in the old-time classic of ding-dong ditching.

"I'm not sure…I didn't think there were many kids around here…" Edward said, continuing to look around before stopping dead in his tracks.

Tucked neatly under the corner of the welcome mat was a torn piece of notebook paper. Confused, Edward bent down to grab it. Bella's eyebrows furrowed together.

"What is that?" she asked, eyes wide. "Did someone put that there?"

"Uh…I'm not sure," Edward said. He gripped the note in his hand, throwing one more curious look into the front yard and driveway before stepping back to shut and lock the door.

"What does it say?" Bella asked, tossing a look back over her shoulder in the direction of Peter and Charlotte. She could hear their laughs as they no doubt were looking at some of the next trivia cards.

Edward sighed, meeting her eyes before glancing down at the note. He unraveled it, opening it up.

The words were scrawled messily onto the paper in an uneven line.

He's mine.

AN: *hides* guess those woods were bigger than we thought...Don't worry, we've got a few more chaps and an epi.

Also, to address some guest reviews -if you're going to nitpick the grammar in this, I appreciate it, truly. However, I'd ask that you do it in a PM so I can fix it. No need to hide behind a GR for any reason. I am always up to discuss things, whether you think something was placed to "cause drama" or if there's a comma where it doesn't need to be. Not pointing fingers, just addressing it as a whole. I'm not going to threaten to turn of anon reviews or anything.

Feel free to join my Facebook group "Mariescullen Fanfiction" for teasers, etc.

Also, I was so excited to see this story just passed the 1K mark for follows. Thank you! That's NUTS!

Happy Reading,

Sarah