And this is because I love you all!

I arrive at my parents' just after seven. Where I can feel the tension with what went down last night, I am holding off talking about it as Jennifer is here, having spent last night here.

"Hi, sweetheart," I say greeting Jennifer as I sit down next to her. "How was your night?" Last night was not her first time sleeping in my old bedroom, but I know she is still unsure of my parents' home.

"It was okay," she signs giving me a weak smile, as her eyes dash around the table.

Breakfast stays very tense and I am grateful to leave. I take Jennifer to school, but as soon as I drop her off, head back to my parents. Where I am tired and need to sleep, but I need to deal with Alice more.

I walk into the house to raised voices. "Will you stop yelling, and let me go back to bed!" Alice yells, but sounds like she's holding back a sob.

"Bed? No way, young lady, you are going to school!" My dad says harshly as I walk into the living room.

"But I feel sick," Alice says with her bottom lip wobbling.

"That's because you and that trollop you seem so desperate to not only hang around with, but act like, drank your weight in Vodka," my mom says as she crosses her arm over her chest.

"She's not a trollop!" Alice sobs out.

"Yes she is, Alice. Why can't you see that Bella..." My mom spits Bella's name out as if it left a bad taste in her mouth. "Is not the right kind of friend," my mom says using her softer voice.

"You're wrong! She is the right type of friend, she's my best friend, and you have no idea, none, about who she really is," Alice cries and her eyes plead with each of us.

I shake my head at her. "I really don't get this, Alice. You're smarter than this!" I say waving my hand around. "Do you know what I did last night, huh?" Alice shakes her head at me. "I should have turned you in, reported you! You were clearly drunk off your ass, but no, I kept my mouth shut to save your ass!" I bark out at her. "I could have jeopardized my job." Alice's eyes start to fill up with tears.

"You and Emmett went to parties!" Alice accuses.

"Yes they did, but they went with our approval, and on the weekend, not on a school night," my dad tells her.

"No, I have asked to go to parties on the weekends and you still say no, that's not fair!" Alice shakes her head as she talks.

"They gained our respect by showing us they were reasonable," my mom informs Alice, but Alice just snorts.

"There's no point in this. You'll never see my point. For what it's worth, Bella wasn't there, I went on my own and called her. She came right away to take me home!" Alice tells us. She just shakes her head and drops it as she walks away.

"Where are you going?!" my mom yells

"To get fucking dressed for school!" Alice yells back making my eyes go wild.

"You're grounded!" my father calls after her.

We hear her door slam and my mom lets out a sob. "Mom, it's going to be okay," I say hushing her.

"We need to get Bella away from her, please tell me she's been charged." I pull a little at my hair.

"Mom, I can't discuss my work."

"See you later," Alice bitches out as she walks past us.

"Hold it!" my mom says sniffing back her tears. "You need to change your attitude, that girl will drag you down and drop you."

"It was me, stop blaming Bella for everything!" Alice yells again.

"You have no idea the kind of girl she is, because you can't see passed your own nose, none of you can. But I'll tell you she wasn't even there. I went alone. I didn't just lie to you, but I lied to her too. She came to get me, and helped me when I was sick. She even kept his," she says pointing her finger at me, "attention so I could get in Jasper's car. It wasn't him that saved me, it was her! But it doesn't matter what I say about her, you just hear and see what you want anyway." Alice walks away as my mom grits her teeth together.

My mom runs her hand through her hair and closes her eyes. "What did Jasper say about this?" This has been on my mind since Bella told me who he was.

"Jasper's a lovely boy," my dad says with a smile. "He was driving home from work and Bella was trying to get a car to stop. He stopped worried, of course. When he pulled up to the party he saw Alice and went to her just as you showed up. He told Bella who he was and said he would take Alice home. He got her into the car just as you arrived, but Bella refused to go, and well, you know how that went. He called Rose to help get Alice into the house because he felt uneasy about waking us up. I guess they got her cleaned up and pain reliever in her and they left." I hum a little knowing that was a different version from what Bella said.

I look to my watch seeing it was almost ten. "I'm going home, I'll talk to you later."

When I get home, I head right for bed. I need to be up at four to have dinner with Jennifer, and spend time with her before starting work at seven again.

~HLAG~

I walk into my parents' living room yawning. "Hi Princess," I say as I sit down next to her. She tilts her head as she looks at me.

"What?" I say not sure as to why she's looking at me oddly.

"You called me Princess," she signs quickly.

I swallow and let out a breath. "Is that not okay?" she shakes her head and smiles at me.

"I like it," she signs as I bob my head and lean over kissing her forehead.

"Glad to hear that," I whisper.

I sit with her watching cartoons as I slowly wake up. Feeling her pull on my arm and look down at her. "Mrs. Denali gave me this, can I go?"

I look over the form, seeing it is a youth group that is opened on Tuesday and Thursday from four till five, then on Saturdays, ten till one.

"Is this something you would like to do?" I ask keeping my eyes on hers. Jennifer's eyes are so easy to read that I can pick up when she lies or says something because something else is troubling her.

"Yes, my friend Paula goes and she says it really is fun," she signs back to me. I frown a little trying to read her. Where I know she seems excited to go, I get the feeling there's something else at the bottom of this.

"Okay then, I'll sign you up to start next week." Jennifer hugs me and I kiss the top of her head. "Come on, lets get dinner."

Jennifer and I sit down at the table and I see Alice is sitting there with her arms folded under her chest.

"This is something new!" my mom says as she puts the large pot on the table. My eyes flicker to Jennifer as we both look inside.

I cover my mouth because the smell is making me feel sick. "Come on, dig in," Esme carries on as she sits down. "Jenny, you want me to get you some?"

"Not hungry, sorry," Jennifer signs as she drops her eyes and bites her lip.

"Oh, you didn't eat much of your lunch, though." You can see the worry on my mom face. "Do you think she's coming down with something?" she asks as she looks at me.

"No, she just doesn't want to eat that shit," Alice says pointing at the pot or whatever it is my mother has killed.

"Mary Alice, get upstairs now!" my mom yells.

"Gladly," Alice says in a childish manner and walks away.

I shake my head and sigh. I feel a soft tap on my arm and look down at Jennifer.

"I want to go home." Her hands only move a little, but I know she's meaning it because her bottom lip wobbles.

I pull at my hair unsure of what to do. This is the first time she's ever asked this of me.

"How about I ask my mom to take you there?" Jennifer shakes her head no.

"Not her, please." I frown tilting my head.

"Hey, Edward, Jenny. What in God's name is that?" my dad asks pointing at the pot of food.

I shrug not taking my eyes off of Jennifer. "What's wrong?" he asks when I fail to answer him.

"Carlisle, can you please take me home? I don't want to stay here," Jennifer signs out as a small tear runs down her face. My dad looks at me, then to her.

"Yes?" he says and I stand up moving to him.

"Mom and Alice are fighting again. I think it's making her feel a little on edge?" I shake my head because I am really at a loss. "I'm going to speak to Tia tomorrow about it, but I asked her if it would be okay if mom took her home, and she said no."

"It could just be the arguing. With her being so young, she may not know the difference. All fighting means bad things to her."

"Maybe?" I say, but I get a feeling this may be a little deeper.

"I'll get my overnight bag and I'll order us a meal when we get there."

"Thank you," I say as he walks away.

I pull away from my parents' home seeing my mom standing at the door looking somewhat rejected again.

"Sorry," Jenny signs and I shake my head at her.

"Nothing to be sorry about, Princess. In fact I am sorry that you almost had to eat my mom's food."

I order a large pizza which arrives just as my father arrives. By the look on his face, things at home were much worse after I left.

~HLAG~

"Edward." I look up from my coffee to Bart who has a worried looks on his face.

"Your mom is here," he says. I jump up walking out and heading to the front desk.

"Mom?" I say as I open the door. She turns looking at me and her blood shot eyes hit me right away.

"Alice ran away," she sobs and I close my eyes.

"Come on in," I say pushing the door open.

"This is her doing," my mom mutters as she wipes her nose on a tissue.

"When is the last time you saw Alice?" I ask.

"Just after you and Jenny left. I was mad over the fact that her little stunt made Jenny want to leave so I gave her a piece of my mind. I told her that she either buckled up or found somewhere else to live." My mom stops and starts to cry harder.

"She said fine she'll be gone by tomorrow and well..." My mom throws her hands up as I pull at my hair.

"Mom, there's really nothing I can do." The words come out of my mouth as my mom's head snaps round to mine.

"What do you mean there's nothing you can do! Bring her home!" she yells out. I cover her hands with my own rubbing her knuckles.

"She's eighteen, Mom. I can't force her to come home."

"Yes you can!" she grits out sounding like she's demand me to do something.

"I'll look for her, make sure she is okay, but that is all I can really do. Go home and wait, she may come home."

"No, you go to that little brat's home and drag my baby out! She could have men in that house!"

"I can't do that."

"You are the police, are you not?" she answers sarcastically.

I give her a look to say I am not amused by that and she is making such a scene. "I'll go and get her if you're so unwilling," my mom bites out at me.

"Mom, no, let me handle it. The last thing I need is to be arresting my own mother," I tell her, but she glares at me clearly not happy. "Mom, I will not be sending Jenny to you if I can't trust you to let me do my job the right way. I am not giving this family any more leeway. I'll keep my eyes on her." After a few minutes, she drops the glare and nods as she sobs.

I give her a coffee making sure she's calm before sending her home. I am just about to go out again when my cell rings with an unknown number.

"Hello?" I answer.

"Eddie," Alice cries.

"Are you okay?" I ask worried about her.

"No, can I stay with you?" she asks still sobbing.

"What, did Bella not take you in?" The words come out so harshly that Mike snaps his head toward me.

Alice says something, but it comes out in a sob that I can't make out.

"Yes, you can stay. I'll call Dad to open the door for you, but tomorrow you're saying sorry to Mom," I tell her still sounding angry.

"Why? It's her that should say..." I cut Alice off.

"You are the child and she is the adult."

"That doesn't mean she's right!" Bella's voice comes through loud and pissed off.

"Oh, there you are!" I say. Bella must have taken the phone back. "Hope you're happy to start so many fights."

"Yes, I am fucking peachy! Call your dad, I'm walking her over!" Bella bitched out and hangs up.

"Fucking hell!" I yell slamming the car door as I get in.

"Told you she was trouble," Mike says. "But what has she done now that's got you so worked up?"

I shake my head not really sure why this girl is getting to me so badly. One word from her and she has my blood pressure up!