Twilight and its characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.

"I cannot believe you, Edward Anthony Masen Cullen," Esme seethed in the car. We were on our way home from our meeting in the principal's office. The second I punched James happened to be the exact same second a group of teachers decided to leave their breakroom in the building opposite to where we were. I had been caught red-handed. Quite literally. The blood gushing from James' now-broken nose was on my hand. James was sent to the hospital; Bella and I were sent to the principal's office. The principal entertained Bella's inability to speak for approximately five seconds before he simply assigned her an essay and sent her back to class. I, however, remained with him for the rest of the school day. First, getting grilled about the incident. Second, sitting in on a meeting between him and Esme.

Esme abruptly turned the car into an unfamiliar strip mall.

"Where are we going?"

She huffed, like answering my question might be the last straw. "Because of an unexpected meeting, I was unable to make dinner tonight. So, we're forced to use Plan B." She grumbled to herself for a bit, clearly upset with Plan B, then snapped, "All those marinated mushrooms are going to go to waste because of you, young man."

"I'm sorry," I repeated for the thousandth time. She still hadn't actually answered my question, but at this point, I was too afraid of her and her wrath to repeat it.

She slowed to a rolling stop in front of a pizzeria. "Go."

With no other choice, I did as she asked. I had no idea if I was supposed to order the pizzas myself or if Esme had somehow placed an order. Thankfully, when I said Esme's name to the man at the counter, he wordlessly handed me a stack of pizzas and moved on to the next customer.

I slipped back into the car. The rest of the drive was spent enduring the heat of the pizza on my lap and listening to Esme's thoughts on appropriate punishments. She listed what all was to be taken away from me as well as the chores she expected me to complete. "And you will not derive any enjoyment from this pizza, do you understand? You're going to…" she drummed her fingers on the steering wheel, "…take off the cheese."

"Take off the cheese?" I repeated, skeptically.

"Edward…" she warned.

I backpedaled immediately. "Yes, ma'am. I will take off the cheese and suffer through this meal."

When we arrived home, the family was already sitting around the table.

"You'll stand for dinner," Esme demanded, nodding towards the bar height portion of the kitchen island. This was clearly Esme's first time disciplining one of her children and was at a loss of what to do. Nevertheless, I did as she asked.

When she dramatically slammed the pizza boxes onto the table and brushed her hair behind her shoulder, I suddenly understood why she insisted on carrying them inside.

"Honey, what happened to your mushrooms?" Carlisle asked innocently.

"Ruined!" she cried out and threw herself in her chair without further explanation.

The family waited a few moments for her to elaborate. When she didn't, Jasper tentatively opened the boxes of pizza and retrieved his slices. Esme didn't say anything when he sat back down and took a bite, so the rest of the family followed suit. I snuck over, trying not to get too close to Esme, like she would snap at me like a beast, and quickly retreated to where I was forced to stand for the meal. For Esme's amusement, I made a little show of pulling the cheese off my slices of pizza and putting it in the garbage. She wasn't amused. If anything, she was more annoyed.

Carlisle was the first to bite, "How were your mushrooms ruined, love?"

"I spent my entire afternoon in a meeting and was left no time to cook a proper meal," she made strong eye contact with me as she stated, "Your son has been suspended from school."

Every head in the room turned to me. I felt my ears get hot.

"Suspended?" Carlisle repeated in shock, "For a first offense?"

"Third offense." Esme counted off her fingers, "Jumping in the pool without a lifeguard present. Ditching school. And, now, for fighting on school property."

None of my siblings knew what to make of that. Except for Emmett, who had to put in a Herculean effort to not burst out laughing.

Carlisle put down his slice of pizza and folded his hands on the table. "Do you care to explain yourself, Edward?"

It didn't seem right to have this particular conversation in front of my siblings, but they would have all heard about it eventually when one of them inevitably stuck their ear to a door or poured Esme a strong cocktail to get her to talk. Might as well give them the information first-hand.

I stuck my finger in the air, "If you recall, I was pushed into the pool."

"While saving Bella," Alice added, coming to my aid.

"Exactly," I nodded towards her in gratitude. "And I ditched school because Bella had gotten sick and needed a ride home."

My defender chimed in once more, "Again, another noble act."

"And this time it was..?" Esme left the sentence open-ended, waiting for me to complete it.

"I punched someone in the face..." Everyone around the table waited for the other shoe to drop. "…for harassing Bella."

Emmett snorted. "For someone who can't utter a word, the girl sure causes a lot of drama."

"It's not her fault! This fucking asshole—,"

"Language, Edward," Esme scolded.

I suppressed an eye roll. When I spoke again, my voice was drenched in sarcasm. "So sorry, mother. What I meant to say was, a young gentleman assaulted my mute girlfriend because she physically could not ask him not to."

Everyone around the table balked. My siblings threw a bunch of questions at me at once. I answered the one I caught: "Why would someone do that to her?"

"The creep said he was trying to get a proper 'thank you' from her."

"What would she have to thank him for?" Esme asked.

"I don't know." I looked at my triangle of crust. Even if it had the cheese and toppings, I still wouldn't want to eat it. "It was the weirdest thing—when I found her, not only was she being assaulted, but she also had a bunch of crap—stuff—on her back and on her arms," I rubbed my triceps with opposite hands, indicating where I saw the marks on her. "Like marshmallow fluff and maybe peanut butter. I'm not sure, she wouldn't let me see."

"What?" Esme gasped in disbelief. "Why would that happen?"

"I have no idea!" I exclaimed, frustrated. "She doesn't even eat that stuff."

"I think I know what happened," Roselie offered, tentatively raising her hand.

"What?" several of us chimed at once.

"Someone in school was saying that Bella was pretending to be afraid of water to get attention. She got some guy in our class to put something gross on her, to see if Bella would wash it off."

I stared at Rosalie in absolute disbelief that anyone would be so cruel. My eyes flickered to Alice—who also stared at Rose in horror—for she knew the source as well as I did.

Rosalie swallowed hard and continued, "I guess some other guys thought it was funny, or just wanted an excuse to touch her, and they started doing it, too. Soon, it became a little game to see who could put the grossest thing on her."

"And you didn't do anything to help her?" I demanded.

"No," Rosalie responded flatly, "I put jelly on her to go along with the peanut butter."

"Rosie…" Esme disapproved.

Rose threw her hands up in the air. "Of course, I tried to help her!" she exclaimed. "I offered to take her to the bathroom to help her wash it off. Hell, I even offered to find Edward for her! But she ignored me. She just sat there and stared out into space in front of her, pretending not to hear me."

I could picture it, too. Strong, stoic Bella silently baring the weight alone, feeling like she had no other choice but to. I wanted to groan. Or cry. Or find anyone at school who dared to lay a hand on my mermaid and break their nose as well. I settled for holding my face in my hands. "Why? Why can't these people just leave her alone?" I sounded and felt like a pathetic, helpless child.

"They don't like her," Rosalie sounded as defeated as I did.

"How can they have anything against her when she can't even speak?"

"It makes her an easy target," Emmett added, in the quietest I had ever him speak.

I clenched my jaw, furious at the truth of Rosalie and Emmett's statements. With no idea of what to do or say, the members of my family took turns muttering apologies and other useless words that did nothing to make me feel better.

oOo

The next few days were stressful and solitary. I was suspended from school, and Esme added a grounding sentence on top of that. My books and records were taken away from me, and my laptop was locked in a drawer in Esme's desk. On top of all that, she created a list of chores for me to complete while everyone else was at work or school. Completing the chores without music was an added layer of torture she had not accounted for.

If I wasn't doing chores or sleeping, I spent my time in the far storage garage, where Bella and I slipped into during Alice's disaster party. Not only was it a great hiding place from Esme and the sympathetic expressions of my siblings, but I could also sit behind the piano and mindlessly pluck at the keys until the disjointed sounds transformed into music. The time I was able to hide before the piano made the long stretches of silences slightly more tolerable.

But only slightly.

Because more than I loathed the tedium of chores or the solitude of a world without music, I missed Bella. I hadn't really seen her since our failed picnic on Sunday—our encounter with James on Monday definitely didn't qualify as spending time together.

A small, quiet part of me—that grew louder with every hour I spent alone with my thoughts—worried that our picnic would be the last time I saw her at all. There was no reason for her to ever come back out of the water. With only a handful of weeks left, she essentially made it through high school successfully, with no concrete plans of staying on land. Besides, why would she want to go back there? So the other students could continue to ignore her? Or better yet, come up with other lies to ostracize her further? And it wasn't like I was much of incentive to return, either.

She didn't love me.

Honestly, if I could, I would dive into the safe, dark depth of the ocean and never return, as well.

One afternoon halfway through my sentence, I was weeding in the backyard when I heard someone open and close the sliding glass door. The only one with a schedule sporadic enough to be at the house at this time was Carlisle, so I figured it must have been him.

He dangled a green-colored smoothie in front of my face. "Why don't you take a break?"

I snatched the smoothie out of his hand and followed him to the lounge set by the pool. Sitting in the lounge chair opposite of him, I watched him take a sip of his own smoothie and cringe.

"Esme asked me to use up the rest of the kale today," he explained, placing his glass on the table in front of him. I took an experimental sip and did the same. I didn't think a person was supposed to chew their green smoothie.

Carlisle tapped his fingers on his knees twice before he cut to the chase. "When's your sentence over?"

"I go back to school on Monday."

He took in the mud on the knees of my jeans, the sweat on my brow, and the dirt underneath my fingernails. "Looks like Esme was able to keep you busy."

Eyes widened, I nodded, "Oh yeah." The number of chores she gave me could easily be someone's day job. With overtime.

"It's her first time dealing out a punishment, you know."

"I figured," I leaned over, resting my elbows onto my knees, and rubbed my eyes with the heels of my hands. "Let her know detailing the patio furniture with a toothbrush was overkill."

Carlisle laughed, "Will do." Then, he sighed, and the formal paternal tone came out, "I know it feels harsh to be punished when you were only standing up for your girlfriend, but Esme will not allow violence to go unpunished in this household."

"I get it," I grumbled, still hunched over.

"Has something like this happened before?"

They had access to all of my records during the adoption process. They should have seen in the past I had always been the victim, never the perpetrator.

"No."

"Want to talk about it?"

I clenched my jaw. I didn't want to talk about it. Not at all. But, despite never having parents, I was well enough aware that 'want to talk about it?' actually meant 'we're going to talk about this now'.

"I thought I was handling the situation well. I was ignoring him, trying to focus only on Bella. But she was being difficult. And I was getting annoyed. And then he said something about her… and I snapped."

"What did he say?"

It was one of those moments when it was a gift to have absurdly young parents. It somehow felt less awkward to talk to Carlisle about this stuff. Or, it might have just been Carlisle himself who was so easy to talk to. "He was talking about touching her and how she's the perfect woman because 'she keeps her body tight, and her mouth shut tight'."

I flinched at Carlisle's sudden rigidity. "If it was your mother in Bella's place, I would have decked him, too." He took a deep breath. "How much damage did you do?"

"I broke his nose."

Carlisle surprised me by chuckling. "Those morning sessions in the gym with Emmett really came through for you, huh?"

Despite myself, I grinned.

"Do not tell your mother how glad I am to hear that."

I nodded in solidarity.

"If something like this happens again—god forbid—remove yourself and Bella from the situation as quickly as you can before it can escalate to that level again. I can buy a boxing dummy for the gym you can beat up afterward, if you think it would help. I'm sure Emmett and Jasper would get into boxing with you."

"I appreciate it, but I don't think it's necessary. Like I've said, I've never done anything like that before. I don't think it'll happen again." At least I hoped it never would.

"Well, you're in a new situation now. Someone you care for deeply is being treated poorly for something out of their control. I understand how difficult that can be."

"It just sucks, Carlisle. Deciding I didn't care she couldn't speak was so easy. I didn't realize how hard it was going to be to deal with the people that do."

Carlisle hummed in agreement.

"I just wish they would leave her alone and let us be."

"Did Esme tell you why you don't have any grandparents? Or any extended family for that matter?"

The abrupt change in conversation made me sit up straight again, so I could look at Carlisle's face for some clue as to what this was about. "Yeah." Early in my adoption process, Esme told me the story of how she, Emmett, Alice became orphaned and eventually brought her to adopt her niece and nephew. But I didn't see what any of that had to do with me breaking someone's nose.

"About my family?"

"Oh." That was never mentioned. "No."

Staring into the trees that currently blocked our ocean view, Carlisle absentmindedly took a sip from his drink and visibly regretted it. "My father is a Protestant priest over in Rochester."

That was news. I choked on the sip of smoothie I had halfway down my throat before his words surprised it back out. "I have a grandfather?"

His head wobbled as he decided how to answer. "Technically yes. But actually, no. I am no longer a member of that family."

"Why?"

"Because I had the audacity to fall in love with and marry a Jewish woman."

My heart clenched. I didn't even realize those kinds of prejudices still existed to that extent. Carlisle still stared straight ahead, his expression devoid of any emotion. "I thought my family wouldn't care because I didn't, but I was wrong. The first and only time I took her home, my father tried to convert her, and when he saw she was uninterested in his religion, he was outright cruel to her. Made sure she was ostracized, would sprinkle terrible, anti-Semitic things into the conversation," he paused briefly and shuddered, "We were supposed to stay a whole week, but I took her out of there after a day-and-a-half. And, believe me, I wish I could have broken a few noses on my way out, as well."

I hated when people said this whenever I brought up the loss of my parents, but the words still slipped out. "I'm sorry, Carlisle."

"Their loss, really." He ran his fingers through his usually pristine blonde hair, mussing it up. "Not only did they lose a son, but they never got the chance to know a wonderful woman who would have only brought joy and love to their lives."

Seeing him talk about Esme like this tugged at the corners of my lips.

"People are always going to care, Edward, even when they have no business caring, or even any ground to stand on.

"You found something special with Bella, son. Even in these few months you've been here and with her, I can tell that you will do right by her, whatever it is. Sometimes I'll think about what you've done and say to myself, 'he gets that from me,' before realizing that's impossible," he laughed, and I joined in. "All of that to say, keep doing what you're doing, without the broken noses, kid."

"Done," I agreed easily. I wasn't planning on it, anyway.

After dumping the remains of the green smoothies into the bushes, Carlisle helped me finish up the weeding. When we were done, we went back into the house and scavenged around Esme's kitchen for something to snack on before dinner. It was clear that the baby carrots were in the fridge for this specific purpose, but Carlisle and I frowned at the vegetable and continued searching until we found a bag of tortilla chips hiding in the back of the pantry. I followed him into the living room, where we chatted and munched on chips, lounging back on the sofa with our feet on the coffee table.

A tentative knock sounded at the door. Carlisle heaved himself off the couch with an old man grunt and stalked out of the living room. His greeting was enthusiastic towards whoever was at the door. He returned to the living room with a bright smile, and Bella rounded the corner as well.

"Bella!" I stood immediately, causing the bag of tortilla chips to topple over and spill onto the floor. She was here. Hair up in her ponytail, wearing her perfect, white sundress and lips pulled up into the shy smile that made my heart flip inside my chest. I couldn't believe it. She came out of the ocean. To me.

I was so awestruck by the sight of my Bella, I hadn't realized Carlisle was talking until he began giving instructions. "I'm going to get ready before dinner. Esme should be home in thirty minutes." I got the message hidden in the slight inclination of his head: have her out in twenty.

"Okay, Dad."

He patted Bella's shoulder on his way out, "Good to see you, Bella. You need to come for dinner more often."

Her hands were full of books, so all she could respond with was a nod.

Suddenly flustered by Bella's presence, I hurried to her to take the books from her hands, practically shoved her onto the couch to make sure she was comfortable, and awkwardly brushed the spilled chips back into the bag. She was still smiling fondly when I finally sat down beside her, blew a sharp exhale, and said, "Hey. You look pretty today."

She laughed silently and leaned into my side. "Hi."

"What brings you here?"

Bella tapped on the books I had placed in front of her on the coffee table. "I brought you your homework."

I had honestly forgotten that I would be expected to be fully caught up on schoolwork upon returning from suspension. Frowning, I shifted off the couch onto the floor and began paging through the workbooks and documents. It looked like three days of work. "Were you supposed to bring this to me every day?"

She flushed and swung her feet. "I was nervous."

I chuckled at how absolutely adorable she was, then sighed at the idea of her being too nervous to see me at all. I laid my cheek against her knee. "I am so sorry about Monday, Bella."

She brushed her hand through my hair before signing, "It's okay."

"No, it wasn't," I disagreed. Nothing about that day was okay. I closed my eyes as she ran her fingers through my hair again. "Did you get in trouble at all?"

"I had to spend all of Tuesday alone in the library writing an essay."

"That sounds like your ideal way to spend a school day."

She grinned in agreement but didn't say anything.

"Did you finish the entire essay in an hour and spend the rest of the day searching for new books?"

A darker blush blossomed on her cheeks along with her cheeky smile—a solid confirmation if I'd ever seen one. I laughed.

"How's suspension?" It was clear that she didn't feel comfortable asking the question, but felt that she had to.

I closed my eyes again, and Bella accurately recognized that as the signal that I needed her fingers in my hair. "Esme was upset that I sent someone to the hospital, obviously. She's never grounded one of her kids before and she's pulling out all the stops. No records or books. I've been cleaning every inch of the house. I've cleaned things I didn't even know we owned. I've cleaned things we had absolutely no reason to own. And I guess I have this, now," I grumbled, eyeing the stack of homework with disdain.

I opened my eyes after I felt Bella press her lips to my eyelid.

"Not all of it." Bella slid off the couch and landed on my lap. "I felt bad keeping it from you, so I did some." She picked through the pile and handed me a few packets of paper. They were my assignments, neatly typed up and completed.

"You didn't have to do that."

"I wanted to. Besides, you don't have to do half of the things you do for me."

"But the other half I do have to do?" I teased.

She laughed, but once she had herself composed, she gave a single, stern nod.

"Which ones do I have to do?"

Her smile was so sweet, my heart sputtered and almost came to a complete stop. "The flowers."

If flowers were the way to get her to smile at me like that, I would spend the rest of my life growing gardens in her name. She angled her face up towards mine, not-so-subtly asking for a kiss. With her perfect lips so close to mine, how could I resist? I gratefully closed the gap. Sitting here on the living room floor, we more than made up for the three days spent apart.

Somewhere in the house, a phone alarm sounded. It must have been Carlisle's subtle reminder. More worried about Carlisle getting in trouble with his wife than myself getting in trouble with my mother, I broke our kiss.

"You should get going." Those might have been my least favorite words to say. Bella didn't look any more thrilled to hear the words as I was to say them.

"Will I see you tomorrow?" I asked, leading her towards the front door.

"You'll be here alone?"

I thought through what I knew about my family's Thursday routine. "For the most part, yeah."

"Then I'll ditch school and come here."

My eyebrows rose. "Careful, now. We don't need both of us being suspended."

"It'll be okay. Besides, I think I feel a sore throat coming on." She theatrically tapped her throat and pouted.

"Only if it's what you want. I don't want you getting in any more trouble because of me."

"Because you haven't gotten into any trouble because of me?" she smiled wryly. I had to admit, she had a point. "I'll wait for you in the water. Come get me when you're alone," she instructed once I opened the front door for her.

"Goodbye." After I broke apart our light goodbye kiss, the words that were always on the forefront of my mind when I was around her slipped out before I could stop them, "I love you."

I tensed for her response. But this time, her warm eyes smoldered, and she splayed the fingers of both hands over my chest territorially before she signed, "You're my whole world."

It wasn't exactly love, but her confession still crumpled the doubts that had been building in my heart all week long. I kissed her goodbye again, longer and deeper than the first, and reluctantly sent her out the door.

Next chapter they're going to talk all about what happened. I wanted to give them a soft, simple reunion first.

Also, writing fatherly advice is hard when you're a young female in her twenties without any kids.