A/N: Monday, Monday. Can't trust that day.

The bell rang, interrupting the tail end of Edward's lesson. Instantly, the room was a cacophony of chairs sliding across linoleum, books being shoved in bags, and students picking up the conversations that had been rudely interrupted by the beginning of his class.

"Okay, everyone," he called over the din. "It's the final stretch. Leave your term paper on my desk on your way out. Next week is the final. You can do this."

Edward sat at his desk, watching as his students filed out the door, most of them dropping a three-page paper on his desk. He sighed inwardly, seeing one of his problem students hovering toward the back of the crowd.

Sure enough, Riley approached, running a restless hand through the trainwreck that was his hair, when the rest of the students had trickled out. "So, uh… Mr. Cullen…uh…"

Edward took a deep breath and put on his most open face. "You didn't complete the assignment," he guessed.

Riley's shoulders slumped. "I know. You got a policy. Forget it."

"No," Edward said quickly. "No." He breathed in through his nose and out, studying Riley's hound-dog expression. He waved a hand. "Okay. Hit me with your best shot."

Riley's eyebrows shot up. "Really?"

"That's what you're doing here, right? You've known about the paper for three weeks. I've reminded the class every day since then that I'm available if you have questions. So, there must be a reason why your paper isn't on my desk as we speak, correct?"

Riley grimaced.

Edward sat back in his chair. "I'm listening."

The boy studied his teacher a few seconds more, his expression still wary, before he spoke. "I know I should get my homework started before, but I'm just one of those people, you know? I work better when I work at the last minute. That's just the way I am."

"Mmhmm." Edward nodded. He did understand that type of person. He'd known many of them in college. It wasn't for him—the insane stress of getting a paper done in one night—but the people he'd known who were like that produced good work. Who was he to judge that trait?

"So, I was going to do the paper, Mr. Cullen. I told the boys I couldn't hang last night. I had things to do, you know? Thing is, my dad showed up."

"And he doesn't usually," Edward guessed, his heart giving a soft pang.

Riley ducked his head. "Yeah. He's been kind of MIA since I was a kid. He comes around whenever he's in town. He doesn't call. He never warns us. He's just there, you know?" He shrugged. "I know he's kind of a deadbeat, right? But…"

"But he's your father," Edward finished.

His own parents had paid him such little attention; Edward had vivid memories of the few times they did engage. He would have done anything for just a little more time spent with them.

Edward had time and plenty of therapy to process just how toxic his biological parents had been. Riley, for being on the cusp of adulthood, was still a child. Any child would choose time with their father over a term paper they couldn't care less about.

"All right," Edward said with a nod. "You said you were planning on getting it done in one night?"

Riley's eyes popped wide. "Yeah?"

"Okay. Twenty-three hours from now, I expect an email from you with your paper attached."

"Really?" The boy squeaked like he'd just hit puberty. "But your policy—" He clamped his mouth shut as if realizing he shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.

Edward's lip twitched and he glanced at the clock on his classroom wall. "Time's a-ticking. Better get going before I change my mind."

~0~

There was a small zoo in one of the neighboring cities. Edward held a membership that let him get in with Emmett any time. He also got a few family and friends passes each year, and so, that Saturday, he was able to get Bella in for free. She was off her crutches, though she still walked with a bit of a limp.

"Are you sure?" she asked when she got in the car in front of the shelter where she stayed. "You wouldn't rather take your own family?"

"I don't want to go with Esme and Carl," Emmett said from the backseat, giving his sister the stink-eye. "I want to go with you, Sissy."

Edward had to smile. It really wasn't a big deal. The zoo was legitimately tiny—mostly monkeys, a single bobcat, a single eagle, a couple of camels, and some farm animals. It was easily affordable to most people even without a membership. But Edward could guess Emmett's appetite the previous week had stretched Bella's budget to the max.

"Esme and Carl—" Edward had to chuckle at that one "—are busy right now, anyway. I promised the zoo, and that's where we're going." He glanced at Bella, making sure she was buckled in before he pulled into traffic. "Besides, I owe you one."

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, I had a long, hard think about my rules and where some people think I should shove them." He looked at her, flashing a small smile so she would know he was teasing. "Yesterday, a student threw himself on the mercy of the court. I gave him a break, and this morning, what was sitting in my inbox... but a surprisingly well-written paper."

"No, shit. Really?" Bella asked.

Edward could hear the smile in her voice.

"Sissy," Emmett said, sounding exasperated. "We do not use words that can get us in trouble at school."

"My bad, bud. I'm trying."

"Me too," Emmett said gravely, and Edward had to press his lips together hard to keep from laughing.

It was true; the boy enjoyed cursing even more than his sister did. Though, so far, his insistence that he didn't curse in school was proving true.

"It occurred to me that I haven't even started to look through the term papers," Edward said to Bella as they drove. "It seems petty in retrospect to begrudge a kid those hours, especially when he did have an understandable reason."

Bella was quiet then. She seemed to avoid his eyes when they parked and she got Emmett out of the car.

They headed to the tiny reptile house first, and when Emmett's attention was on the zoo employee and the interactive exhibits, Edward stepped beside Bella. "Did I do something wrong?" he asked in a voice soft enough only she could hear. "Earlier? You're pretty quiet."

"No," she said quickly. "Sorry. You just surprised me. You really gave a kid a break because of me?"

"I really did. I told you, I'm not above thinking I still have a thing or two to learn."

Bella laughed. Then, she clapped a hand over her mouth. "Sorry. I, uh…" She shook her head and laughed again. "I just don't think anyone has ever listened to me before. Not like that. Not to actually do something or even take me seriously. My mom always told me that when I got older and more experienced, then I could have an opinion about how she lived her life."

Edward snorted. "I think, as her child, you had every right to an opinion about how she lived her life." He paused a moment, but not long enough to talk himself out of what he said next. "So, Mike never listened to you either?"

She gave him a look and he frowned. "Sorry. I know it's none of my business."

"You're the one taking care of my traumatized little brother because of my choice to be with Mike," she said, staring forward. "I already told you, I can't blame you for judging me."

"And I already told you, it's not about that. I'll admit I'm curious." He glanced at her, studying her. "You're more self-aware than most people, Bella, and you've got a good head on your shoulders, all things considered. What did…" Edward rubbed the back of his head, self-conscious and wondering what the hell had possessed him to open his mouth about this. "Nothing. Sorry. This is…so beyond anything we should be discussing."

Bella burst out laughing, the sound genuine and delightful. "You're blushing." She tilted her head, her eyes full of glee. "You're not supposed to be talking about this, are you? You're breaking a rule."

"I'm not blushing," he said, even as his face heated more. "But, no, that was an overstep on my part. My job as a foster parent is to facilitate the relationship between you and your brother to the best of my ability."

"My, my, my." Bella clucked her tongue. "You're quite the little rulebreaker, aren't you?"

There was something sultry about her tone that hit his body in a visceral way—a little thrill that went down his spine, as though the words vibrated in his blood.

Before he could process that, though, her tone had turned more introspective. "I don't know, man. It's like… I do and I don't know what the hell I was thinking. It's not like I was ever head over heels for him.

"I was seventeen when we met, working in his father's hardware store." She cut a glance at him. "And Mike was twenty-one."

Edward sucked in a breath, anger churning in his gut at the thought.

"Yeah, I know," she said quietly. "Trust me, being in that shelter, with a bunch of women who were really abused, my relationship has been dissected quite fucking thoroughly."

Bella crossed her arms over her chest, her eyes on Emmett as he bounced from one reptile tank to the other with the zoo's attendant, marking things off on a worksheet. "I know what Mike did—the way he flirted with me, brought me little things, cornered me in a deserted part of the shop—was all grooming behavior. I knew what he wanted even then, and I knew it didn't have anything to do with some deep love." She scoffed, then continued.

"I think what Mike wanted was a trophy wife—or girlfriend, in this case. Not in an 'eye candy on your arm kind of way." She gestured at herself. "Obviously. But I think, for him, it was a box he just wanted to check. He wanted an easy relationship he didn't have to work hard for so he could get on with the rest of his life. Nothing about us was deep or meaningful, but…" She shrugged. "It was nice, you know? When I was younger. It was nice to have someone pay attention to me."

"I get that," Edward said, again recalling his own childhood.

"I knew what it was and wasn't. I didn't mean for it to get so complicated. But then…"

"Then?" Edward prompted.

She tilted her head up, rolling her eyes. "I got a scholarship. It was a private scholarship that would have given me what I needed to go to school. But because it was a private scholarship, they had very strict rules. One of the rules was the B grade or better I had to maintain in my core classes."

A beat went by, then Edward sucked in a breath. "Oh, Bella," he said under his breath.

He had a vague memory of telling her she'd still pass the class, even with a 0 on that paper that was worth a significant portion of the grade. She would pass, but not with a B.

"I'm not trying to blame you," Bella said. "I was working too many hours and taking care of my baby brother. I got the due dates wrong between your class and my history class. But when I lost that scholarship, Mike started pushing me to move in with him. Then, I don't know, it was just a domino effect. Mike wanted to pay for everything. He made it sound like I was insulting him. Like he wasn't a good boyfriend. After a while, it was easier not to fight him, because what the hell else was I going to do? Get a minimum wage job where I could maybe scrape together enough money to rent a room in someone's house? Work so many hours just to have the bare minimum, and who the hell knew when I was going to get to school?" Bella sighed a heavy breath as though the mere thought of what she'd been through the last few years was exhausting.

"And, I don't know. In retrospect, it's what I should have done. I never wanted anyone to pay for my anything. Mike was adamant, and fuck, it was nice that someone wanted something good for me." She waved a hand in frustration. "I guess, eventually, I convinced myself it was a means to an end. I had every intention of getting through school in three years or less. I had every intention of not being anyone's burden. Three years didn't seem like so long, and then I could pay him back. But then, he would whine about wanting me around when he wasn't at work, and wanting me to have free time. He was paying, and he was my boyfriend, so I cut back my school hours."

"And then your mother died," Edward said softly.

Bella scoffed. "Mike 'let' me work after that. He'd never wanted me to work before; he wanted to be able to say he supported his girlfriend. Another box to be checked. But when I wanted to keep Emmett and he didn't, that was part of the compromise. Mike would pay for me, and I would pay for whatever Emmett needed."

"Look, look!" Emmett interrupted her story as he rocketed toward them, waving a paper marked with various shades of green and orange. "I know about lots of frogs. Did you know you could have a frog as a pet? Did you know that? Sissy, when we have our own place, can we have a frog? Please? Please? I know how to take care of him. You have to feed them crickets and worms. So can we have one?"

Bella blanched. "Uh. I mean, we're going to have to see what rules there are wherever we end up living. But, maybe? I guess it's easier than a dog."

Emmett's eyes went comically wide. "We can get a dog?"

"That is not what I said." Bella smacked her palm against her forehead.

Emmett grabbed her hand, already on to other things in his head. "Come on, Sissy! There's a maze over here that has stuff from the Amazon. That's a big forest and not the place with all the boxes on the stoop. But don't worry. There's no animals in the maze. Maybe a big spider, but nothing that can eat us."

The little boy started to drag Bella away. She laughed, shaking her head, and reached backward. Edward was shocked when she threaded her fingers through his, yanking him in the same direction she was being pulled in. He followed, too stunned to react otherwise.

She seemed to realize belatedly what she had done and looked over her shoulder even as Emmett led their awkward little train forward.

But before either of them could react, they'd reached the little maze. Emmett let go of Bella to dart to the first colorful board introducing the Amazon rainforest.

That left Edward and Bella standing too close together. Edward blinked, his brain not quite processing what had just happened or how he had ended up with his face so near hers. He felt dazed for reasons he couldn't pinpoint.

"Sissy, did you hear what I said?" Emmett said with a hint of impatience in his tone.

Bella looked down. Edward followed her gaze to their hands, still joined between them. He let go. She stepped backward. She bit her lip.

"Sissy."

"Right." Bella blinked, and whatever spell had come over them broke. She turned to Emmett and the beginning of the maze. "Right. Let's do this."

A/N: You know…there are spider monkeys at this zoo.

I totally missed an opportunity, didn't I?