Stolen Dreams

Disclaimer: I still don't own Twilight. But you didn't really think I did, did you?

A/N: Thank you so much to all who are reading this little tale and to everyone that takes the time to review and visit the forum each week. I love hearing from you and I do read each and every comment—even those that are less than kind. Thanks for expressing your opinions. My sincerest love and thanks goes out to Jenny Cullen who took the time to beta this baby of mine. She's the shiznit.

Chapter 6

My eyes hurt the next morning when I woke. The river of tears I'd cried had swelled them almost shut. After splashing water on my face and attempting to clear the haze in my brain, I trudged to the kitchen, where I found my father sipping on a cup of coffee.

"There's more in the pot," he said by way of greeting.

Greedily, I poured my coffee in the biggest mug I could find and sank into the kitchen chair that had been mine since I was a child.

"Did you have fun last night?" Charlie asked from behind his paper.

"It was good seeing everyone again," I practically croaked, my throat sore from the crying jag I'd allowed myself.

"When are you heading back today?" he asked.

I rolled my eyes, though he couldn't see me. This was always his way. He asked question after question to draw out the information he wanted, instead of just getting to the point. "I'm not sure. I'll have to check with Edward and Alice."

Dad's paper lowered so that he could peer over the top. "Speaking of Edward, I was kind of surprised to find you here this morning. Want to tell me what happened?"

I shook my head. "It was just a misunderstanding of sorts, and I needed some distance. How was your night?"

He pursed his lips and folded the paper neatly. "Uneventful. Bob and Cynthia Gerandy are visiting their kids in Spokane until Tuesday. I thought perhaps that we could pay Susan Mallory a visit before you leave."

My nerves returned full force. Unable to speak, I nodded.

"Then you should go get cleaned up. It's already after ten," Charlie said, depositing his own cup in the dishwasher.

I ran upstairs and grabbed my toiletries, intent on letting the water soothe me. It wasn't as helpful as I'd hoped, though. The physical manifestation of the previous night's pain was easy to wash away, but the ache of knowing that Edward hadn't called yet this morning and that it was likely I'd have to face Susan Mallory on my own couldn't be solved with a loofa.

Hurriedly, I slipped on my jeans and a knit shirt, and then grabbed my purse. The message light was blinking, and I saw that I'd missed a call from Edward.

He didn't sound much better than I felt when I listened to his message. "Bella, it's . . . it's me. Listen, I'm really sorry about last night. Please call me back so we can talk. I love you."

Before I could second guess myself, I dialed his number and heard a phone ring in the living room. I hung up and went downstairs. Edward and Charlie were sitting on the couch, waiting for me. They looked up at the same time, and I could see how tired Edward was.

"I'm going to grab a few things from my office," Charlie said gruffly. "I'll give you two a minute."

Edward was on his feet and on the way over to me before I could even really process that he was here. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to intrude, but I had to see you," he said.

"It's fine." I gave him my best attempt at a smile, but with all of the emotions flooding me, it probably looked more like a grimace. "I just got your message."

"Bella, I'm . . ."

"Why don't we . . ."

We started at the same time. Edward motioned for me to go first.

"Dad wants to go see Susan Mallory this morning, since Dr. Gerandy's out of town until Tuesday," I said. "Do we have time to go?"

"Sure. We can leave whenever you want. Alice called me this morning to tell me that she is riding back with Angela. Do you . . . I mean, can I come with you?" he asked.

"Of course!" I exclaimed, shocked that he would think otherwise.

Dad chose that minute to return from his cave, holding a file and a notebook. He told us to get in the cruiser and ride with him over to the Mallorys' house.

"I'm letting you come with me because I know this concerns you and it's not official police business yet," he said as we parked in the driveway. "You will, however, let me ask the questions and do the talking. Understand?"

"Yes, sir," we answered together. When we climbed out of the car, Edward grasped my hand, and we silently followed Dad to the door.

A young boy answered the door, followed closely by Susan. She looked older than I remembered, but I supposed that ten years would do that. She peered out the door, and when she saw my father, she gasped and grasped onto the door for support.

"Chief?" she managed to eke out.

"Good morning, Susan. I'm sorry to barge in so early, but I wondered if we could have a few minutes of your time?" he said pleasantly.

She stared at him for a couple of seconds. "Lauren's okay?" she asked, as if seeking confirmation.

"As far as I know. I haven't heard any different," Charlie said, a little bewildered. I wondered who Lauren had gone home with and snickered at the possibilities.

Susan's shoulders sagged in relief. "Come on in. I'll make some tea. Caleb, go on upstairs and play for a little bit. We'll watch a movie when I've finished talking to Chief Swan."

She held the door open and placed her hand over her heart when she saw Edward and me with my dad. If I didn't know any better, I would have said she looked resigned.

"Please, have a seat," she said, pointing the kitchen table. Breakfast hadn't been cleared long before; toast crumbs still dotted the surface. Susan busied herself with the kettle, and while the water was boiling, she set out four mugs. Before too many minutes passed, she poured the hot water over the bags in our mugs and set out a sugar bowl and a small pitcher of milk.

When she finally took her seat, she looked at my dad and said sadly, "I've been expecting to see you at some point."

"Why so?" he asked.

She frowned. "I knew you'd have questions for me when Bob retired and the Cullens moved to town. Of all the places in the Pacific Northwest, he had to pick here."

"Why don't you tell me what you know?" Dad led. He still hadn't told her why we were here, but it didn't seem like she needed the prodding.

She turned away from my dad and looked at me and Edward. "I know that raising a baby when you're still a baby yourself is hard, so I wasn't surprised when Bob told me you all had decided on adoption, but I was surprised when he said that it would be closed and that you didn't want any details. You weren't detached like I thought you'd be. And when you kept talking to Ryan, I knew that whatever you did, you did out of love for your son. That's why I told them to call him Ryan. Even if you never knew him, that was his name." Her eyes welled up a bit, and she took a sip of tea.

"Just to be clear, Susan. Bob Gerandy told you that Edward and Bella had decided to put the baby up for adoption, and after the birth, you delivered their son to the Cullens," Dad asked, confirming what she'd seemed to imply.

Susan blinked. "Well, essentially yes. Ed Masen had asked Bob to talk to them, to try to sway them from their decision to keep the baby. A few weeks later, Bob told me that the kids had changed their minds. I left as soon as the pediatrician cleared the baby for travel."

I couldn't hold it in anymore. "He told me my son was dead," I spat at her, and she gasped. "I've lived for ten years thinking that my child died, when really, you stole him?"

Edward tugged me back into my seat—I hadn't realized I was standing—but he looked as angry as I was.

"Bella," my dad warned.

Susan was shaking her head. "No, that's not what happened. You chose to put your child up for adoption."

"No, Mrs. Mallory, we didn't," Edward said in a calm, but deadly voice.

She was shaking, the tea sloshing out over her hand. Charlie reached over and took it out of her hand. "I'm going to need you to come down to the station this afternoon and make a statement, Susan."

Her eyes were glossed over as she looked at Charlie. I wasn't sure she was really seeing him, but she nodded. "As soon as Lauren gets home. I can't leave Caleb here by himself."

"Thank you for your hospitality," he said, and it was clear he meant to leave.

Edward went rigid beside me. "You aren't going to do anything?" he snarled at Charlie.

Charlie glared at Edward. "I'm going to get in my car and go to the police station. You are going to get in my car and go to the police station." His tone left no room for argument.

Edward pushed away from the table and stormed out the door. I followed Charlie in a daze. Ryan Cullen was my son. My son was alive and well and living in Forks, my hometown. My son had no idea who I was.

"Why didn't you arrest her?" Edward demanded as soon as Charlie shut his door.

"Because I need her statement, Edward. Besides that, no one has filed a complaint," Charlie answered.

"Well, this is me filing a complaint," he snarled. "That woman stole my son."

Charlie's knuckles were white against the steering wheel. "That's why we're going to the police station, Major Masen. Now cut the attitude!"

Edward flopped back against the seat, breathing heavily, while I stared out the window. Several moments passed before I felt his hand on my shoulder. "Bella, are you okay?"

"I don't know," I said, mystified. I had no idea what to think. My whole world had up-ended itself in one weekend.

Dad parked in his designated spot and let Edward out of the back seat. Before I could get the door open, Edward was there, helping me out. Charlie ushered us into the station, and pulled Mark, his deputy, off the front desk.

"Mark, I need you to take a statement for me," Charlie told him and brought us all into his office. "Bella, Edward, tell your statement just as you would have before this morning." He was warning us not to let on that we'd heard Susan Mallory's confession. We both nodded in understanding, and Charlie left the room.

It took over an hour and lots of tears to get our story down on the official police record. Edward held me while I relived the devastation, and he wiped my tears away. Somehow, telling it all with Edward there was cathartic. I felt lighter when Mark finally left the room to file the complaint.

"I'm sorry," Edward whispered, anguished. "For not being there then and for being such an asshole last night. I'm so sorry, baby."

"I know you didn't want to leave," I sniffled.

Edward shook his head and held me close. "I should have fought more. I knew you were hurting, but I couldn't see past my own pain. I've still been wearing those blinders, doing what I thought was best—what was best for me—and I've hurt you all over again."

I started to argue with him, but he was right. He had hurt me. Time and time again, he'd told me that I was the most important person in the world to him and that he loved me, but he couldn't even tell his parents about me. That stung a lot.

As if he knew where my thoughts were, he said, "I called my mom this morning."

"And?" I asked, wary.

"After she bawled me out for waking her up at eight o'clock on a Sunday morning, she asked if everything was okay. I asked her why she'd told Mrs. Crowley that Tanya and I were still together." He shook his head. "She said that she thought we'd come to our senses and realize that life is too short to waste without the ones you love. I told her she was right."

I stiffened, but kept my mouth shut.

He shifted me to loosen my locked shoulders. "I told her that I'd spent too many years without the only woman I'd ever love and now that I'd found her again, I wasn't going to let her go. That any feelings I'd ever had for Tanya paled in comparison to what I felt for you—feel for you."

"I bet she didn't like that," I laughed through my tears.

"She didn't say much, no," he admitted. "Contrary to what you might believe, Bella, my parents didn't hate you. They just wanted a different life for me."

I hummed, not sure whether to believe that or not. I knew that he wasn't lying, he believed it, but when confronted with the reality of us as a couple, I wondered if they would be supportive of his happiness. We sat in silence for a few more minutes, taking strength from each other. My dad shattered that peaceful illusion when he opened the door and the painful reality of why we were here rushed back.

Dad looked weary when he sat down behind his desk and faced us. "Your complaint has been filed. Susan Mallory will give her statement this afternoon, and I've called the Cullens to come down to the station, as well, to make their story official. I'm not sure what you want to do here, but you need to consider all the implications before you decide. If this goes to court, there will be a fight."

"What do you mean, 'if this goes to court?'" Edward asked.

"Ryan will be ten next month, Edward. There will be custody hearings to determine where he should live and what is in his best interest," Charlie answered delicately. "Before you go down that road, the two of you need to talk, decide what you want from this situation, and be prepared to see it through."

I shuddered. Charlie was right; I hadn't thought about what we would do and what the implications of this were. Edward stilled beside me.

"It's probably best at this point if you go back to Seattle tonight as planned," Charlie suggested. "Talk this over with each other and with an attorney that specializes in family law."

I knew he was right, but the very idea of leaving my son without ever speaking to him made me want to cry.

"He's not going anywhere, Bells," Dad reminded me gently. "Seattle's only a few hours away, and if anything happens or changes, I'll call you. Until you make some decisions, we don't need to upset Ryan needlessly."

Edward and Charlie agreed that it would be best if we weren't here when the Cullens came in to give their statement to the police. Part of me was hurt that they would even consider that I would cause a scene, but upon reflection, my behavior over the last two days hadn't been entirely rational. I hugged my dad, and then got into the passenger's seat of Edward's car. He stopped by The Lodge to gather his things first, since it was closer. After he handed over the room keys, he turned the car toward Charlie's so I could gather my stuff.

It had been a long time since Edward had been in my room in Forks. The smirk on his face told me that he remembered exactly what we'd been up to the last time we were here alone. I'd been too pregnant and uncomfortable to have sex, but Edward had kept me thoroughly sated with his mouth and fingers.

"Do you need some stress relief?" he asked, trying and failing to keep the smile from his face.

I quirked my eyebrow at him. "Are you offering?" We might not have been in the best place in our relationship at the moment, but physical relief sounded heavenly.

His hands snaked around my waist, and he pushed his hips into mine. "I'm always offering." His voice was low and seductive.

My eyes fell closed as our lips met languidly. I could feel his desire growing against my stomach, and that only made mine increase along with it. Edward's lips trailed down my neck as his hands wandered underneath my shirt, bunching it up in his hands as he went.

It wasn't long before my shirt was lying in a pile on the rug. Edward pushed me backward onto the small bed, and my fingers unhooked the belt that was in front of my face. I tugged his t-shirt out of the way and watched with hooded eyes as he yanked it over his head.

Years in the Army had left Edward's body lean and cut. The ridges of his muscles twitched underneath my fingertips as I glided them along his abs, and then followed them with my lips. It didn't take more than a few seconds before Edward hooked his fingers into the waistband of his jeans and boxers and shoved those down his legs.

Edward at seventeen had been well-endowed, but he hadn't stopped growing . . . anywhere. I went to take him into my mouth, but he didn't give me opportunity.

"You can do that later," he grunted as he pulled me up the bed and yanked off my jeans and underwear. "Right now, I can't wait to be inside you." With one swift thrust, he sank into my body.

It was all I could do to meet him thrust for thrust, moan for moan.

Always eager to please me first, Edward snaked his hand between us and rubbed my clit. He pounded into three more times, before I shattered with a scream. He followed me into oblivion and collapsed on top of me. The bed creaked under our combined weight, making me giggle.

"What is wrong with you?" he asked, pretending to be affronted. "There was nothing funny about that. Do I need to show you how unfunny that was?" He flexed his hips again, but his point was lost as he was softening inside me. We weren't horny teenagers anymore.

"I don't think this bed can withstand much more action," I told him.

He laughed and raised up. "I don't think I want to have to explain to Charlie how it ended up in pieces. Hiding the crack in the headboard was bad enough."

I giggled again, remembering how Edward had scoured furniture stores for some sort of varnish to mask the damage. Carefully, he slid down next to me and pulled me into his chest so that we could both squeeze on the twin bed.

"I love you, Bella. I hope you know that. I fell in love with you at fifteen, and I never stopped, even when it seemed like I would never see you again," he murmured into my ear.

"Why didn't you ever try to find me?" I asked. After all, he knew where I was, but I'd had no clue where he'd ended up.

Edward sighed. "At first, it was the embargo by Mom and Dad, and then school got in the way. By the time my life settled down enough for me to consider it, almost three years had passed. You were away at school, and I didn't want to upset whatever life you'd rebuilt for yourself. And part of me was afraid that I would find that I didn't have a place in it anymore. I figured maybe it was better for me to believe you'd moved on and still hang on to the hope, than to have it confirmed."

"I tried, you know," I said in the spirit of honesty. "During my sophomore year of college, I went to a party with Alice and met this guy, Garrett Coates. There was never any pressure with him." I snorted. "He was high most of the time, but a very mellow guy. He balanced out a lot of my sadness and just let me be."

"Why didn't it work?" Edward asked. His tone was open; there was no judgment, and if there was jealousy, he hid it well.

I laughed. "Because he couldn't take anything seriously, and eventually, his free and easy ways just didn't do it for me. I was barely strong enough to carry my own burdens; I couldn't shoulder his, as well. Most of all, though, he wasn't you. You were the man I measured everyone else against, and no one came close."

"How do I measure up now?" he asked seriously.

He wasn't just asking how he measured up to his seventeen year old self, and we both knew it. I'd created an ideal in my mind that no man could live up to. Enough time, and therapy appointments, had passed for me to see the pedestal I'd put him on and bring it down to a more manageable level. "You're up there," I said with a wink.

"As much as like lying here naked with you," he said. "We should get dressed and head on home. We have some decisions to make, and I just don't feel right talking about our ten year son while staring at your tits."

We both laughed at his crude statement, but sat up and found our clothes. As rushed as our coupling had been, it was just what we needed to diffuse the stress the weekend had provided. In a lot of ways, I thought, our argument from the night before had been good for us. While I never liked fighting with Edward or feeling second best, I'd gotten some insight into his life while we were apart. He hadn't fared better than I did, as I'd erroneously believed all this time.

"Where did you go?" Edward asked as I finished loading my bag. "You were a million miles away."

"Just thinking." I shrugged. "Do you ever wonder where we would have ended up had everything not exploded the way it did?"

"All the time," he said, hoisting my bag onto his shoulder. "We wouldn't be where we are now, that's for sure. I'd like to think we'd still be together, but who knows?"

We settled into the car and drove out of town. I tried not to think too much about the fact that I was knowingly leaving my son behind.

"Do you think there's a chance they'd give us custody of Ryan?" Edward asked as we passed by the hospital.

"Do you want full custody of Ryan?" I asked, surprised.

Edward hesitated. "He is our son," he hedged.

"But there's a lot more to it than that," I added. "We can't provide as stable of a home for him as the Cullens do. We aren't married, and we don't live together. With us, he would either be ferried back and forth, or we'd have to make some pretty drastic changes in our lives. For that matter, he might not want to live with us."

Edward's head whipped to the side, and he stared at me.

I clarified, "Ryan's ten, babe. They'll ask his opinion and consider what he wants, too. If some strangers knocked on your door at ten years old and said they were your parents and you had to go live with them, how would you have reacted?"

"At ten? I would have thrown a fit. At seventeen, I would have grabbed my already packed bags and left," he said with a laugh to let me know that he wasn't completely serious. "I hadn't thought of it that way. But what does that mean for us?"

"I don't know, but I think that's what my dad meant when he said that we had a lot of talking to do. The adoption wasn't legal, because neither of us ever signed anything terminating our parental rights. Legally, I think they'd have to return him to us, as we are his parents, if we insisted upon it. I just don't know if that's the right thing to do." I rubbed my temples with my fingers. "The Cullens are the only family he's ever known."

"We shouldn't even have to have this conversation," Edward snarled in frustration. "He should have stayed with us from the moment he was born."

Susan Mallory's words whispered in my ear, and I blurted out my thoughts before I could sensor myself. "Edward, you don't think your dad had anything to do with this, do you?"

Now, before I run and hide, since I know ALL of you have already been thinking this, I want to hear from you again. Thank you for reading!