Glad you're all still with me. Huge shout out to Mizzdee, Lamomo, and DICATAKADD for their work on this story. See you all next week.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Chapter 3

I woke with a start and looked over at the clock. It was seven forty-five. I'd have to head over to the bakery to pick up Vanessa soon—

As soon as I thought her name, it all came flooding back. The call about the accident, the hospital, the pain.

I got out of bed and showered. I was meeting Bella at the funeral home, so I didn't want to be late. I'd be driving past her place on the way, so maybe I could pick her up.

When I was dressed, I got into my car to drive to Bella's. It felt weird to be in jeans and driving my Volvo. I spent so much time in uniform and driving the cruiser that I felt off like this.

I turned onto Bella's street and before I was even at her place, I could hear the yelling. The car was in park and I was just getting out when I saw Bella come flying out the front door with Jake hot on her heels. When he got up in her face, towering over her, I snapped.

"Jake, you need to get out of here, it's over!"

"You're not thinking clearly, Bella. Edward's got you turning against me."

"Jacob," I stepped between them. "Bella told you to get out of here."

Jacob got right in my face this time. "Only reason she's throwing me to the curb is because of you. I heard you went to Sam to have me arrested. You can't handle that Bella's moved on, so you have to shit on our relationship."

"Edward didn't say anything to get me to dump you, Jake," Bella said from behind my back. "I did it myself. You were supposed to be watching Vanessa, but you were too busy running around on the beach with your friends. You think I could take you back after that?" Bella stuttered out a breath. "We're done, Jake. Stay away or I'll let Edward throw you in jail for trespassing or something. I'll pack up your things and drop them at Sam and Emily's, you can get them from there."

I took a step closer to him. "You heard her, Jacob. You're not wanted here."

"I'm not having you make a big scene by dropping my stuff off at my chief's place. I can pack on my own."

Bella hollered from behind me, "Then you have two hours. When we get back from making the arrangements, I want you out of my house. And don't bother leaving the key, because I'll be changing the locks when I get home."

Jacob finally threw his hands up in surrender and Bella stalked back to the house, coming out a minute later with her purse and a shopping bag. I met her at the side of her car.

"Bella, you're shaking, why don't we drive over together and on the way home we can go pick up the new doorknobs so we can change out the locks."

She sniffled and swatted at the tears that were now falling before she nodded. I walked her to my Volvo and waited for her to get inside before I walked around to the driver's side and climbed in.

"If you want to press charges against him for anything he does off the Rez, Maggie can take care of it for you."

"You won't help me, chief?" she asked with a sad smile.

"I'm on leave for a while, and if I'm involved a lawyer could argue that I'm being biased against him because of his involvement in the accident. This way, it is by the book."

I started the car and drove down the street in the direction of the funeral home. Nothing in Forks was a long drive, so we were there in a matter of minutes.

"I'm glad you're taking time off. I was worried you would bury yourself in work," Bella said as we sat in the parking lot.

"I'm not sure I would have had a choice. I walked in to do the paperwork and Samantha and Maggie had it all ready. It is the right thing to do. I need to focus on Vanessa right now. Doing the right thing by her and then trying to move on without her."

Bella reached across the console to grip my forearm. "You aren't doing this alone, E. We both lost her, and we'll both have good days and bad."

"How can you be so level-headed right now?" I asked, in awe of her.

"Fighting with Jake cleared my head. Ask me again in an hour."

"We'd better get in there. I don't see my mom's car."

"She's not coming," Bella told me. "She sent me some of the information she found, but she didn't want to intrude on what would already be a hard time. I think she feels guilty for how yesterday ended. Alice felt horrible. She called me and apologized over and over for making it about her. Rosalie told me she had a counselor we could talk to when we're ready. Someone she worked with when her and Emmett first started fostering."

"I never understood how they could do it. They'd love those kids and then someone would come along and they'd just let them go."

"It isn't the same. They'd be adopted by parents who wanted them, and they still hear from a few of them, which makes the transition easier."

"I can't think about that right now. I can barely manage to think about five minutes from now."

"Then we'll focus on the next five minutes, which will include going inside," Bella told me.

"Okay," I replied.

We stayed in the car for another minute before I reached for the door handle. Bella and I got out and walked side by side into the funeral home. We were met by Alistair, the funeral director, just inside the door.

"Edward, Bella, I'm so sorry from your loss."

"Thank you, Alistair," Bella replied.

"Yeah, thanks."

"Why don't we step into my office and we can go over everything in there."

Alistair led us into the office and began going over the documents. I didn't realize it would be so involved, but apparently Bella knew what would be involved from burying her parents.

"Now, do you need to speak to the cemetery about buying a plot, or were you looking to have her cremated?"

"I don't want her to be cremated, Bella," I murmured.

"Neither do I. My mother was cremated out of necessity down in Phoenix and her ashes are in the columbarium. But my father left me the plot next to his. We could bury her next to him?"

"I'm fine with that. I think they'd both like that."

From that decision, we filled out paperwork and chose her casket and everything that went with it. Bella had brought along the dress I'd bought for her Spring concert at school and gave that to Alistair along with one of her dolls.

"Okay, if there's anything else you need, or if you have any more questions, don't hesitate to call me."

"We will, thank you Alistair," I said.

Bella and I left the funeral home and drove to the church to speak with Pastor Weber.

That was another hard discussion to sit through. Bella and I gave Pastor Weber some ideas and we both reserved the right to speak at the service, but no one beyond us. It would be a hard enough day without a long list of people getting up to speak about our little girl.

By the time we were done with the church, it was almost noon.

"Want to get something from the diner on our way back to my place?" Bella asked.

"Yeah, I didn't have breakfast, so that sounds good."

"Why didn't you have breakfast this morning?" Bella questioned, her eyebrow raised.

I swallowed hard. "Vanessa made breakfast yesterday. I still haven't even washed the dishes."

"She made muffins with me a few days ago. I should be throwing them out soon, but they're the last thing she ever cooked in my kitchen. I get it, Edward. Cleaning up feels like getting rid of pieces of her."

"We'll take it five minutes at a time, Bella. Starting with lunch and your locks."

Bella called in our lunch order and then we went into the Thriftway and over to the hardware side to pick out new locks for her front and back door. Once they were purchased we picked up our food and drove back to Bella's house.

We ate first and then I sat down beside Bella on the back steps as she removed the backdoor knob.

"You were always better at the handy stuff," I told her.

"You're good at it, you just didn't have the time to do it. Now that you've got time to yourself, maybe you can take on some of those projects at your house. Nessa," Bella paused. "Nessa said you were painting and doing some other improvements when you had time."

"She was tired of bubblegum pink walls. But she couldn't decide between purple and blue, so I'd only primed her room," I admitted.

"She was working us, you know that? She had the same problem at my house. She was trying to decide if she wanted the purple in your house or mine. She was getting a room in each color."

"Sounds like our girl. She was smart, so smart," I replied.

Bella finished with that lock and then we moved to the front porch. It took a little longer with that set because it included a deadbolt, but in about twenty minutes we were throwing out the old locks and Bella put a pair of keys in my hand.

"What's this for?"

"You've always had a set of keys to my place, no reason for it to be any different."

"That was for Vanessa's sake."

"I still want you to have them. We're always going to be connected, Edward. Losing her doesn't erase that." She started to cry and I slipped the keys in my pocket and pulled her to me.

"Nothing will erase that, Bella, ever."

I held her close, inhaling her floral scent. It was calming, comforting. How even with our world turned on its head, some things never changed. Having Bella to go through this with would be my saving grace.