Stolen Dreams

Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight. I own this. No stealing please.

A/N: Wow! I got a lot of new readers today. That thrills me to no end. Welcome! Thank you for reading. Thanks to my loyal readers too. For those that think that the pace is slow, please keep in mind that legal processes, even in family court cases, don't run like we think they should. It takes time. That said, it'll pick up. Thanks to Jenny Cullen for betaing this mess. She rocks.

A/N 2: I'm replacing this chapter because of the issues with the italics. It's an issue and I've been working with them to get it fixed. The temporary fix isn't working now, so there's that. Sorry, guys!

Chapter 13

I hadn't realized that I was so tired until I fell asleep waiting for Edward. Sometime after ten, he crept into my room and got in bed without waking me; I only knew this because I woke the next morning, spooned against him, only minutes before the alarm on his phone went off.

"Mmm," he mumbled against my hair after he snoozed it and cuddled back up to me. "Sorry I took so long last night. Ben had about a million questions about Angela."

I giggled sleepily. "There's a match I would never have figured. He's so short and nerdy . . ."

"And she's tall and nerdy?" Edward supplied.

I kicked his shin.

"Ow, shit, baby! That hurt."

"Sorry," I said. "Should I kiss it and make it better?" I turned to face him.

His eyebrows shot up, and a sly smile crept onto his face. "I have something else you can kiss to make it better."

I just rolled my eyes. "You're such a perv. Besides, I don't have time to do that. You have to get out of bed and go running."

"Come with me?" he asked. His pout was irresistible.

We ran mostly in silence through the neighborhood surrounding our house. My pulse thudded in my ears, and I almost missed it when Edward spoke.

"I'd like to go to Forks again this weekend."

"Again?" I asked. Without having heard anything from Aron, it seemed foolhardy to place ourselves in another situation like last weekend.

He nodded. "I want to get in touch with the Cullens and see Ryan."

"Should we call Aron first?" I asked. I wanted to see my son more than anything, but I didn't want to jeopardize our chances of taking custody of him.

"Probably," he conceded. "But I just don't care. We can talk to Gerandy, too, while we're there."

Images of Bob Gerandy flashed through my mind, but instead of the kindly man I'd known since I'd moved to Forks just before my freshman year, he looked mean and sinister. I wanted to punch his eyeballs out with a hot poker. Or cut his heart out with a spoon, just so he would know how I'd felt all those years.

"Okay," I heard myself agree. It might be foolish, but I needed to know my son—needed him to know that we loved him and had never wanted to give him up.

He kissed me briefly, as both of us were breathing hard, when we arrived back in front of my building. "I'm on the late shift tonight, but I'm taking you out tomorrow," he declared.

"I'll look forward to it," I promised.

His boyish grin in response reminded me so much of who he used to be, the boy I fell in love with so long ago. He waved, got in his car and took off down the street.

I could remember a time when Edward would come up to me at my locker and say, "You and me are going out tonight, Swan. I'll pick you up at seven." Back then, we both thought he was so smooth. Of course, I never said no. What self-respecting bookworm would say no to a date with the star of the baseball team?

My studiousness never bothered him. He would bring his books over to my house in the afternoon and do homework with me. When our English assignments dictated that we read this or that novel, we'd sit in his room or under the tree in my back yard and read it out loud to each other. Life was so simple then.

As I got ready for work, I thought about how much our relationship had changed. We were adults now, so things like bills and responsibilities always factored in, but it was still easy. We loved each other with our whole hearts—maybe more than we had as teenagers now that we knew what it meant.

I stayed late to chart the day's patients' progress. Some of them, like Seth, wouldn't need to see me much longer. His school counselor had referred him after his grades slipped from As and Bs to Cs and Ds. He'd been having trouble at home. His father was an alcoholic and had left his mother, and they were barely making ends meet. Now, his grades had returned to normal, and since he felt he had to help out at home, he had a part time job that brought in a little money and kept him off the streets. We'd worked through his feelings of inadequacy—that he wasn't enough to make his father stay and that he couldn't help his mother. All in all, I felt like he was ready to transition to a needs-based session schedule.

Mary, however, was here for the long haul. She claimed that she could see the future, albeit in shadowy and cryptic visions that even she couldn't always decipher. I had to admit that when she could figure them out, she was uncannily accurate, but the knowledge of tragedies to come that she usually couldn't prevent made her withdrawn and angry.

Alice called while I was going through the files and told me that she and her two new interns were going to be doing inventory and not to hold dinner for her sake. With a solitary night ahead of me, I gathered my things and went home.

My well-worn copy of PrideandPrejudice sat on my shelf, calling to me from across the room. After we'd read the novel together the first time during our sophomore year, Edward had bought me a copy for my own. I'd had the library's copy on continuous loan for months.

Despite the fact that the binding had peeled off long ago and two of the pages were missing, I couldn't bear to throw it away. It had been one of my few remaining links with Edward. A small box at the back of my closet held all of the keepsakes from our dates and the gifts he'd given me over the years. I hadn't been able to bear looking at them, but PrideandPrejudice had remained on my shelf.

Taking a page out of Edward's normal play book, I grabbed my book, a change of clothes, and went to his apartment to wait for him.

"This old thing again," he whispered in my ear, amused.

I must have fallen asleep reading on his couch, and he'd woken me when he got home hours later. "Sorry, I couldn't help myself."

"Is this the same book I bought for you, like, eleven years ago?" he asked.

"It is. I think it's seen better days," I admitted.

He chuckled and shook his head. He looked tired. "Let's get you into bed."

"I'm too tired," I whined. It wasn't often that I refused sex with Edward, but having been in such a sound sleep, my body wasn't going to wake up without a lot of work.

"Fuck, angel, I am, too. I meant to go to sleep in a more comfortable spot."

We both laughed, and he helped me off the couch. I stripped off my yoga pants and crawled between the sheets in my tank top and underwear. Minutes later, Edward lifted the covers, sending a blast of cold air around my body. He snuggled up against me, and I drifted back off to sleep, warm, safe, and loved.

Edward's alarm went off as usual the next morning, but he shut it off almost immediately. "I'm not going running this morning," he announced in a scruffy voice.

"Oh really?" I asked through a yawn. "What are you going to do this morning?"

He turned to look at me with an almost feral expression. "You." Edward claimed my mouth, ignoring my morning breath and my feeble protests.

"Shower," I finally managed to eke out while he was kissing my neck.

Edward pulled back, gave me a wolfish grin, and tugged me out of bed. Our clothes littered the floor on the way to the bathroom. While Edward got the water started and ran out of the room to start the coffee pot, I quickly brushed my teeth and used the bathroom. The water was already cascading over my hair when he returned.

"God, that's sexy," he murmured, running his hands up my sides and cupping my breasts.

I leaned forward and opened my eyes, only to see him staring at my body hungrily.

Maybe it was because the marks were caused by his child growing inside of me, or maybe it was just Edward, but he never made me feel self-conscious about my stretch marks or my widened hips. He worshipped them like he worshipped the rest of me.

I reached out and stroked his cock, already stiff and proud, ready for me. He jumped a little at the contact, but then sighed in satisfaction at my motions. His right hand flowed over my hip and darted inward. I moaned with abandon.

"You're so wet," he groaned as he felt how ready I was for him.

"Only for you," I told him.

He groaned again and pushed me into the shower wall, covering my mouth with his. I could feel his dick pushing against my hip, and I shifted slightly to bring it to where I wanted him most.

"Shit, beautiful, this isn't going to last long," he grunted as he hoisted me into his arms and slid into me.

Since we were alone, I didn't bother to muffle the sounds of my pleasure as Edward drove into me over and over and over again. "Right there," I gasped, as the head of his cock rubbed me in just the right way. Two more thrusts hitting that spot had me calling his name as my orgasm exploded through my body.

"Oh . . . fuck . . . Goddamn . . . argh!" Edward shouted as he released inside of me. "Fuck me, I love you."

I laughed at him and kissed his nose. "I love you, too. Now let me down before the water gets cold."

For the rest of our quick shower—the hot water ran out about five minutes later—we managed to keep our hands to ourselves, but as soon as we were both wrapped in Edward's fluffy towels, he kissed me gently.

"I meant that, you know. I do love you . . . so much," he said seriously.

"I know," I told him with a smile. "And I love you more than you can imagine. I'm so glad I have you in my life again. It finally feels like it's worth living."

"I know what you mean. I guess you'd better get dressed so you can go to work, though. I want you ready to go on our date at seventeen thirty precisely," he ordered.

I shook my head as his military training leaked through. "I'll be waiting at home."

Donning my yoga pants and a t-shirt, I made my way home, only to change my clothes, blow dry my hair, and leave again for work.

The patient that Kate had asked me to sit in on was on the schedule for the afternoon. Chelsea had made sure she was the last one I'd see, but that meant that my morning was more hectic than usual. By the time two o'clock rolled around, I was jumpy and my stomach was threatening to reject the deli sandwich I'd scarfed down two hours before. As it was, it was still sitting in my stomach like a lead weight.

Michelle, Kate's patient, sat in the corner of Kate's couch with her knees drawn up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them. Her long hair was somewhat greasy, as if it hadn't been washed in a couple of days, and hung limply around her head. Everything about her screamed "leave me alone."

Instead of taking the chair that Kate had brought out behind her desk, I took a seat in the leather wingback chair she had next to the couch. Kate eyed me curiously, but brought her desk chair around next to me.

"Michelle, this is Dr. Swan," she began. "In our last session, we talked about meeting with her, as well; do you remember?"

"I'm not a moron," Michelle snapped.

"I know you aren't," Kate said, placating her. "I just wanted to clarify who was joining us today."

Michelle finally lifted her head and stared at me. Dark circles hung under her eyes, and her skin was sallow. The pain I'd sensed earlier was only a fraction of what stared back at me.

"Hello, Michelle," I greeted her. There was no response, not even a flicker in her deep blue eyes. "Why don't you tell me what's going on in your own words?"

She huffed, but didn't drop my stare, which pleased me. "I got knocked up by my boyfriend, and when he found out, he skipped town. I can't take care of a baby, so I gave her up for adoption. Now I wish I hadn't. I miss my baby, and I'm sad all the time. I can't keep paying for these sessions, but it's not getting any better."

"Were you involved in choosing the adoptive parents?" I asked.

She shrugged. "Yeah. They came to all the appointments with me and shit . . . stuff."

I asked about other treatments she'd tried for the post-partum depression, but without insurance, there wasn't much she could afford. For the rest of the hour, we talked about the causes of post-partum depression in general and the specific causes of her own. I also suggested that she contact the adoptive parents and ask to remain involved in some way. For now, it could be something as simple as getting a copy of pictures. In the future, they would have her information if her daughter wanted to know her. That seemed to give her some hope. We also directed her to one of the doctors we knew at one of the free clinics nearby. If they could find a short term medical treatment for her, she could alternate that with therapy without too much of an additional hit on her finances.

Kate was thrilled with my suggestions and solutions and didn't hesitate to tell me about it as soon as Michelle was out the door.

"I was really nervous about bringing you in on this, with your past, but your solutions were excellent. They might work, they might not, but it gave her something to focus on other than her misery," she praised. I wondered if this hadn't been her whole point when she involved me in the first place.

I had to agree that my outlook had changed somewhat since finding out that my son was alive and well and living only four hours away. In fact, being able to help a fellow teenage mother with her own qualms about the solution she'd chosen lifted my spirits even more.

Edward noticed my happy smile as soon as I opened the door. "What's got you so happy this evening, baby?" he asked.

"Can't I just be happy to see you?" I teased.

He snorted. "Well, you could be, but you usually aren't quite this happy to see me."

"Yeah, yeah. I had a really good day at work, if you must know." Throughout the rest of our drive to a little Italian restaurant he knew and through the salad course, I told him, without names or specifics, about the appointment this afternoon and how whole it had made me feel. I didn't have to avoid certain cases anymore to avoid my own breakdown.

While the knowledge that I still suffered through the repercussions of Ryan's death clearly pained Edward, he was genuinely excited with me for the changes I could see in myself.

"Why is it that your day sounds so much more fulfilling than mine? I tracked down one of the leaders of a terrorist cell that's been behind two embassy bombings and several other guerrilla attacks on our troops, and he should be in custody by this time tomorrow. You spent the day talking to people and got so much more satisfaction out of it," he mused, shaking his head. By his tone, though, it was clear he was proud of what he had accomplished.

"And here I thought you boys just played video games all day," I joked.

"One time! You stop by one time while Jasper and I were taking a break, and I never hear the end of it," he said with fake exasperation.

"Uh-huh," I chided.

We both knew it wasn't the only time he and Jasper had indulged in their mutual love of CallofDuty during working hours. He'd been playing one night when I was over at his apartment, and when we went to bed, he was mad because Jasper had outdone him and was on a higher level. The next night, he was proudly three levels higher than Jasper. He had the downtime, though. They'd set up algorithms to run and cull the data they needed, and while they did, the boys played games.

Over entrees, we ironed out our plans for the weekend. Edward had already spoken to Charlie and made arrangements to see Bob Gerandy Saturday morning. I still hadn't heard from Aron in regards to our intentions to see Ryan, and since I didn't know how to contact the Cullens, other than calling Dr. Cullen at the hospital, we decided to wait until we got there to finalize those.

Since it wasn't raining for once, though the cloud cover was thick, Edward took me on a walk down by the waterfront after we ate. Hand in hand, we walked along, pointing out the sights as went. For a few short hours, we weren't a couple that had lost their child ten years before, or the couple that had been forced apart. We were two people in love, sharing time and ourselves with each other.

"Are you ready to go home?" Edward asked when I shivered from the chilly breeze coming off the water.

"Yeah, kinda." I shrugged. "I'm not ready to let go of you yet."

Edward pressed his lips to the side of my head. "I'm sure glad to hear that, because I don't intend to ever let you go."

"Jasper's rubbing off on you," I murmured, trying not to laugh at the hint of an accent he brought out.

"Damn it!" he cried. "There I was, trying to be all sweet and stuff."

"It was sweet," I assured him. "You just channeled West Texas for a minute."

He sighed. "Let's just go home. Your place, whatever. Has that real estate agent Alice knows come back with anything yet?"

"I'll ask Alice tomorrow. I haven't seen her in a couple of days." I slid into Edward's car, and he shut the door behind me like always.

We didn't speak much on the way back to my apartment, nor while we were getting in bed. But as we held each other, snuggled under the covers, I felt every bit of love I had for the man swell in my heart.

"I love you," I told him. "Thank you for tonight."

"Anything for you, Bella. You are the light of my world," he whispered.

His sweet words lulled me to sleep, and I dreamed of a world where we were together with our families and all of our children by our sides.

The next two days were a blur. Alice's real estate agent friend had just gotten back from vacation and was trying to play catch up, in addition to searching for properties that met Alice's standards. On Thursday night, I ended up meeting Alice at her store, because when she'd done inventory, she discovered some glaring shortages and was trying to match up the sizes of the missing garments to the sizes that she had on file for Angel. I agreed to help and was treated to an hour long rant on the ingratitude of the younger generation.

Friday started promising. Edward picked me up—coffee in hand—and took me to work so we could leave for Forks straight away. I had an after school appointment that couldn't be rescheduled, so we wouldn't be getting out of town until after five. He kissed me sweetly and waved as he drove away.

The day went downhill from there. My first patient of the day went ballistic in my office, and it took Zafrina, Kate, the girl's mother, and me more than ten minutes to restrain her and another twenty for me to get her calmed down. With the appointment a total waste as far as helping the poor girl deal with her rage and insecurity, we rescheduled for Monday and put the girl on in home watch for the rest of the weekend.

Chelsea patched Aron Michaels through minutes after they left.

"Hey, Aron!" I greeted, trying to restore my earlier hope and good humor.

"Bella. I heard from the Cullens' attorney today. They're challenging your right to custody," he told me.

"What? How can they do that?" I cried.

"They can do whatever they want, and until the courts settle the action, a prohibition will stand. They won't win this, because they don't have grounds to deny you."

"We can't see him this weekend, then," I said softly, realizing what this meant.

"Ah, well, that is the bit of good news that I have. While the attorney is trying to prevent the state from granting you custody, Dr. and Mrs. Cullen have agreed, in a gesture of goodwill, no doubt, to allow supervised visitation. They have suggested that you and Major Masen come to their home on Saturday afternoon at two o'clock."

He didn't sound thrilled about this, and aloud, I wondered why.

"This gives them complete control over the situation, Bella. While a supervised visit with Ryan in an environment he's comfortable with is ideal for the initial meeting, I would prefer the supervision to be someone other than the Cullens. They'll be watching him closely for signs of distress and can shut things down on a whim. That said, I checked into it, and the closest case workers or state certified psychologists are in Port Angeles. Since it hasn't been referred to DSHS yet, they can't officially get involved. And yes, before you mention it, I know that you are licensed to work with the state on cases like this, but you can't do double duty here," he added.

"If that's the best we can do, I'll take it, Aron. I want to see my son."

"Okay. I'll make the call. I'm also going to document this to show your willingness to comply with their requests. Keep your cell handy, though, in case something else comes through."

"I will. Thank you, Aron." As soon as we hung up, I emailed Edward to let him know about the visitation arrangements and welcomed my next patient into my office.

The downside of having taken Aron's call at ten in the morning was that my mind wasn't wholly on my patients, as it should have been, for the rest of the day. Fortunately, only one of them noticed my distraction, but he put it off as hunger. Leave it to an autistic teenage boy to simplify life into basic needs only.

By the time Edward showed up at five, my nerves were at an all time high. My skin was practically crawling. Thankfully, he knew me well enough not to push.

"Does Wendy's sound okay for dinner?" he asked, when he pulled out of the parking lot.

"Yeah, that's fine. I like their chicken."

Edward chuckled, but didn't comment. I always got the same thing when I went to Wendy's, and he knew it. Heck, he could probably order for me by now.

The lady at the drive-thru window handed out our drinks and the bag of food just as Edward's phone rang. He fumbled and handed the bag to me while he tried to pull his phone out of his pocket.

"Mom?" he answered, surprise clear in his voice. "It's really loud. Where are you?"

I watched as his forehead furrowed, and then he threw the phone on speaker.

"Where are you?" he asked again.

"We're on our way to baggage claim at Sea-Tac."

If we had been moving, I was positive that Edward would have wrecked the car. "What are you doing in Seattle, Mom?"

She sighed one of those all-knowing "Mom" sighs. "Edward, darling, I could tell that you've been under a lot of stress and upset about something the last few weeks. We came to help."

"We?" Edward practically bit the word off with his teeth.

I could see where this was going, and I grabbed his hand to calm him down.

"Of course, we. Your dad's been as worried as I have. Maybe we can go out to dinner. Call Bella, and we'll meet you wherever." Clearly, she wasn't picking up on Edward's tension now.

"Bella's with me now, Mom. We've already gotten dinner, and we're on our way to Forks for the weekend," Edward said. He was breathing in through his nose and out through his mouth.

"Oh, well, can you go next weekend? We'd love to spend some time with you, and it's not like there's anything important in Forks that can't wait," she reasoned.

Edward gritted his teeth and swallowed. If the ornamental tree in Wendy's parking lot could have died from his expression, it would have been ashes at this point. "Actually, Mom, it can't wait. We're going to see Ryan this weekend."

The line was quiet for several seconds. "I didn't realize that there was a monument to visit. I thought he'd been cremated. If I'd known, we would have come sooner for you." Her voice was stilted and terse.

"There is no monument, Mother. We're going to visit our son—our living, breathing, ten-year-old son."

They're here! I know you all were waiting for this moment. Lots of confrontations upcoming. Leave me some love!

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