Didn't they tell us don't rush into things? Didn't you flash your green eyes at me? Haven't you heard what becomes of curious minds? Oh, didn't it all seem new and exciting? I felt your eyes twisting around me, I should've slept with one eye open at night. We found wonderland, you and I got lost in it. And we pretended it could last forever. We found wonderland, you and I got lost in it. And life was never worse, but never better. ~ Taylor Swift, Wonderland

BPOV

Leaving Edward asleep in the bedroom, I wandered around the house silently for a while. It was a beautiful place, situated a short walk away from the beach. The home we were in was open and airy, perfect for our Hawaiian getaway. My original idea had been to go to the island, but that was a whole day's travel to get back to Chicago if needed. Hawaii to Chicago was still a long flight, but quicker than most other tropical spots. We were situated in a little alcove, up on a hill overlooking the water.

We had been here a few days, all bright and sunny. Today, however, the sky had opened up and the soothing sound of rain surrounded me. It was still pretty humid outside, so I still changed into a bikini top and some shorts before heading out to the covered deck. There were lounge chairs situated on the little deck that overlooked the beach below us.

This trip was really just the beginning of my present to Edward. I had been avoiding my real one though, too nervous to give it to him. Grabbing my computer and Edward's phone from my bag beside me, I set them up in my lap and got to work. Once everything was set, I let the computer do what it needed and watched the steady rain fall around me.

Sometimes, even after everything Edward and I had been through, it still amazed me that he was mine and this was my life. There were moments when it felt like who I was in Forks wasn't really me. When I started acting I thought I had found who I was supposed to be, but I hadn't really. It was only a part.

There was no doubt in my mind that had I not found Edward, I never would have been this happy with my life. I would have survived, probably not knowing what I was missing out on. After releasing Welcome to the Badlands I would have gone back to my life in Los Angeles, getting lost in the web of Hollywood lies and deceit. Back then, I liked to think I was fine and in charge of my life, but I wasn't. I was young and naive and too focused on what my next project would be.

I still loved my job, but it wasn't what defined me anymore. There was nothing more important to me than being Aiden's mother and Edward's wife. It was amazing, getting to see Aiden go from that tiny little guy that I would rock to sleep to the kid he was now. He was so smart, too smart really. He was only in fourth grade but he came home talking about things that were already starting to go over my head.

Since he started school teachers constantly said he could skip a grade, but I didn't want him growing up so much, so suddenly. I didn't want to push him too hard, even though he was dying to do it. Edward was starting to push for it now, too, so it was only a matter of time before I gave in.

Aiden was so much like Edward, it was absurd. They were nearly identical; Aiden's hair was a bit darker and he had my eyes, but he had that glimmer in them that matched Edward's perfectly. The one that told me he was going to be just as much of a devious genius as his father. I knew as he got older, more and more similarities would come through.

He was, unfortunately, inheriting a few of my more annoying qualities. He tended to ramble when he got nervous or in trouble. He would just start talking as fast as he could, explaining his side of things. Something I did all too often.

"That's too much thinking for the first morning of vacation," Edward said from behind me. I jumped, slamming the computer shut and quickly disconnecting his phone. Of course, that earned me a questioning look.

"I have a present for you." I sat forward in my chair, leaving just enough room for Edward to sit behind me. Sitting back, feeling his solid chest against me calmed my nerves as I plugged the headphones into his phone and handed them to him. There was no backing out now.

I got another confused look, but he did it anyway. Pressing play, I watched the confusion change to a smirk and relaxed against him as he listened. He never said anything, but his hands would randomly squeeze me; my hands, my arm, whatever they were on at random intervals. Maybe in response to whatever he had just heard.

Edward was listening to something that I had been working on for years. It was never my intention to make another album, but this one sort of just happened. As I wrote over the years I realized I had this group of songs that went well together, so I worked on getting them recorded and produced whenever I had time.

Edward let little reactions slip, and I imagined what caused them as he listened. When he wrapped his arms tightly around me, squeezing me as close as possible, I thought of 'Cause he knows I'm wasted, facing time again at Riker's Island and I won't get out. When he let out a laugh, the line Love you more than those bitches before went through my mind. When he pressed a kiss to my cheek I imagined him listening to Now my life is sweet like cinnamon, like the fucking dream I'm living in.

"Fuck," he muttered. I heard the headphones get tossed aside, and Edward's hands pulled at my hips until I turned around, situating myself in his lap. "Bella, it's…" Instead of finishing, he pressed his lips to mine, smiling through the kiss.

"You like it?" I asked, smiling at him and tugging nervously at the hairs on the back of his neck.

"It's incredible. Are you doing another movie?"

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no." The thought of turning these songs into a film never even crossed my mind. I wasn't going to be doing anything like that again. "These are just for you."

"That whole album, just for me?"

"Well, yeah," I shrugged.

"You can do another movie, Bella. If you think I'll get upset, or…"

"No, that's not it. I don't want to do another one like I used to. That whole thing started because of the lawsuit and the fact that I couldn't get paid to act for a year… it was kind of my 'fuck you' to the whole situation. Then, with Hopeless Kingdom I thought people would want to see what came next, how happy I was with you. That kind of backfired a little bit, but I'm still proud of it.

"I had to do reputation because I needed people to know my side of things, to see me as someone other than the insane murderer I had been made out to be. But, I don't need any of that anymore. The public has all of the information about me they need. I never made this with the idea of turning it into a project like that. I made it just for you."

Edward was quiet for a minute, making me second guess everything for a second, before gentle hands were in my hair and soft lips on mine. "Do you know how it feels?" he mumbled against my lips. "To know you write those songs about me?"

I didn't answer, to distracted with his warm hands on my back, inching closer to the ties of my top. With no warning I had frantic lips against mine and was being carried back in the house, toward the bedroom. I wrapped myself around Edward as he walked, partly for support and partly because I wanted him as close as possible. All of the air left my lungs when my back hit the fluffy mattress a second before Edward's body crashed over mine.

Edward ripped at the strings of my bikini top, taking his time and kissing a trail along my collarbone, down my sternum and stopping at the top of my shorts. His hands kept a hold of my hips, keeping me still as I tried to squirm while his teeth nipped lightly at my abdomen.

"You, making all of those songs just for me…" He pulled my shorts down just low enough for the tattoo of his name on my hip to be visible, only to cover it with his tongue. "You are the most exceptional woman I have ever known."

When Edward slid my shorts down my legs and pressed a soft kiss to my center, I knew I had to make my move before I got too distracted. I pulled him back up to me and he begrudgingly followed and smirked when I pushed him to his back, settling myself on top of him.

"You – ah – really liked it?" I asked when my lips were free. Pressing my hands into his chest, I reveled in how solid he was. How his physical and mental strength always outweighed my own.

"Loved it. Love you."

Dark…

Ever since Aiden started school, Edward insisted we had him in the most prestigious places in the city. The ones that cost the same as college tuition and looked like museums and not schools. I thought it was a bit much, but most were the same places Edward went. They were the same places Alec had gone to as well.

Most families at the school had the same structure; a father with a high paying job and a mother who prided herself on her socialite status and ability to plan a function. Our structure was a bit different, especially after I stepped back from the production company and got back into acting.

It took me a while to find a script worth leaving home for, but I eventually found one. I loved the irony that the woman I was playing was getting released from prison in the beginning of the movie, only to move on to plan on robbing one of Hollywood's biggest events.

Aiden was twelve when I officially had the part. A lot of the filming was done in New York over the summer, and Aiden and Edward stayed with me for a few months. We had an apartment overlooking Central Park and they both visited me on set nearly every day.

In typical Aiden fashion, he took in everything around him when he was on set. The crew was amazing with him, always patiently answering his questions and letting him do little things around set. Part of me loved that he was interested in movies and the process, and part of me wanted to keep him as far away from everything as possible.

We had a few run ins with some photographers while we were in New York, but I usually distracted them and let Edward get Aiden out of the way and away from the cameras.

We were only in New York for a few months. Eventually school started again and filming moved to Los Angeles. Aiden went back home with Edward to start the new school year and I went to the mouth of the beast; Hollywood.

Not only did I have to deal with paparazzi following me to and from set on a daily basis, stories dropping every day about me 'reconnecting with old flames' and cheating on my husband and all of the bullshit that came with being in that city, I also had emails from bored housewives telling me I wasn't meeting the required volunteer hours parents were expected to keep at the school.

There were less than a hundred kids in my entire middle school, and Renee never volunteered for anything. We didn't have bake sales or big school dances or fieldtrips. None of this was familiar territory for me.

So, here I was, an hour after finishing six months of filming, on a plane back home at midnight because tomorrow was career day. Edward offered to cover it, though I was definitely not going to send my career criminal husband to our son's career day. He had legitimate businesses, of course, but I didn't want to risk anything. So, while our options were career criminal or actress with a criminal past, I thought I was the lesser of two evils.

I wasn't quite sure what exactly I was going to have to do, but I expected it to be a quick few minutes of talking about my job. I had lived through grueling press tours where that was all I did, so I didn't feel the need to prepare much.

The plane landed and I heaved my tote bag over my shoulder, which felt like it weighed a ton though it really only held a laptop and my phone, and stumbled out of the plane. I was exhausted and wanted to sleep for the next day or so, but I only had a few hours before I had to brace myself for the day I had ahead of me.

Maybe it was because I was so tired, or maybe I was too used to Edward hiring men to do practically everything for me, but I barely realized it was Edward holding the car door open for me as I ambled toward the car. Dropping my bag, I lunged at him with the last of the energy I had left.

"I missed you," I sighed into him, taking a deep breath of his scent. It had been close to a month since I had seen him.

Edward pulled back, his thumbs gently tracing my cheeks. "You're exhausted, let's get you home."

The next thing I knew, soft fingers were tickling down my spine. "You've got to get up, baby."

With a sigh I stumbled out of bed, frowning at the alarm clock that was flashing six. My entire body was sore, my head was fuzzy, and I could barely keep my eyes open as I took a shower. It wasn't that the film was physically draining, at least not compared to some things I had done in the past, but six months of living life on a movie set with odd hours fucked you up for a while.

"I can go in your place," Edward offered again, as I stood wrapped in a towel in our closet, trying to decide what to wear.

"It's okay, I can handle it," I told him, pulling on a simple, soft black dress that fell to my knees. It was November and already too cold outside so I pulled on black tights, a pair of booties, and grabbed a cream sweater as well. "Is this okay?"

If I had my way, I would be in jeans and a nice blouse, but I had been to this school too many times to know that wouldn't fit here. Everything had to be formal, but this was as formal as I could get with as tired as I was.

I wasn't someone who thought that just because I was a mom, or just because I was getting older meant that I needed to dress in conservative, baggy jeans and t-shirts now. I kept my body healthy and could wear most of anything I felt comfortable in, but I did drop the crop tops and more edgy parts of my wardrobe when I started attending more school functions than anything else.

I turned around toward Edward, waiting for his answer, but he just leaned in the doorway and smirked at me.

"What?"

He walked over and pressed a soft kiss to my forehead. "It's good to have you home."

It was probably the exhaustion, but the sweet statement made me want to cry. I didn't get a chance to, because incessant knocking interrupted us.

"Dad? Mom?" Aiden shouted from the other side of our bedroom door. "It's almost time to go!"

"That's your fault, you know," Edward said with a chuckle as we both grabbed our things and headed for the door.

"What is?"

"His absolute need to be everywhere at least ten minutes early."

"Oh, you'd rather we always be late everywhere we go?" I could admit I was usually early to things, but I liked being punctual. Aiden was the same way, always making sure he got to school on time. I thought it was adorable, but apparently Edward didn't.

"There's a difference between punctual and paranoid," Edward said jokingly as we walked downstairs. Aiden was waiting, backpack and coat on, ready to go.

"Finally," he muttered under his breath as he walked over. He gave me what he intended to be a quick hug, but I kept him even after he started to pull away.

He was getting too big. He was only twelve, but it was obvious he was on track to be just as tall as Edward, who was a good head taller than me. It was only a matter of time before we hit the phase where he hated everything and everyone, so I was going to enjoy the voluntary hug while I could.

Edward drove himself to work while Ben took Aiden and I to his school. In the car Aiden asked about the film, how things went on without him and such. He also told me about his classes and friends, and how he was pretty sure he wanted to skip eighth grade and go straight to high school next year. That gave me a momentarily sense of panic that I would have a child in high school, but I would have to deal with that later.

Aiden ran off to class while I followed all of the signs laid out for the parents participating. I groaned as Ben opened the door for me and I saw that nearly every parent here was a man. Of course, considering most of the mothers here didn't work, I should have realized this was how the day was going to turn out.

The more I had worked in the business side of things with the production company, the more I realized how much I hated men in business. Yes, that made me a hypocrite because of who Edward was, but he wasn't a sexist pig like most of the high ranking men I had to deal with. Hollywood had its sexism issues, but I was lucky enough to not have had to deal with it in years. People also respected me more in that industry, here people just thought I was a pretty face.

I went to the table that, thankfully, had coffee on it and poured myself a cup. It didn't take long for everyone to notice me.

"The women are setting the stage up across the hall," one of the men said as he came up and grabbed a donut from beside me.

"I'm not here as a volunteer," I sighed, taking a sip of my coffee. I was too exhausted to be offended.

"Parents, if you'll follow me…" A woman came in, ushering us out of the room. Ben waited until everyone was out for us to follow, keeping close as we walked.

It was only a matter of minutes before our small group of parents, maybe ten or so people, were ushered onto a stage in an auditorium. An extravagant place that I would never picture a middle school needing. I had to repress the urge to roll my eyes.

There were chairs lined up in the middle of the stage and I sat on the end because Ben told me to. Something about it being an easier exit strategy. I may have been miserably exhausted, but I looked around and quickly saw Aiden waving at me and smiled through it.

There had been instances that he told us about, of kids talking about Edward and I more often as he got older. He never let it get to him as much as the first time. Maybe because he already knew about it, or maybe he just got better at ignoring it. He had a good group of friends, kids from families Edward had thoroughly checked out, and he was happy here. That was all that I cared about.

I tuned out most of what the men beside me said, because I didn't care about them. The school seemed to just let the men talk about work and money and education. It seemed like heavy topics to be giving to kids in this age range, but everything about this school seemed to be too much to me.

"Trust me, kids, it takes more than a pretty face and the ability to sing to make a good living."

That caught my attention. "Excuse me?"

"These kids need to know they need real jobs to make real money," the man said with a cocky smirk.

"Are you insinuating that I don't make 'real money'?"

"All due respect, Mrs. Cullen, the kind of money people like us make, and the kind of money you make, it's not the same. We work hard for our livelihood."

I had to roll my eyes at that. "Let me guess… you come from a rich family, grew up with everything you ever wanted, right?" He reluctantly nodded. "I grew up in a town whose population was smaller than the kids enrolled in this school. I started working when I was sixteen and haven't stopped since. You may think I make an easy living, but I know several businessmen who would attest to the fact that I work longer hours, harder hours, than you do sitting behind your desk looking at a computer.

"These kids don't need to be CEO, or make millions a year to be happy and considered successful. I pay just as much tuition as you do, and I don't want my son being told he needs to go a certain direction with his life by someone as egotistical and misogynic as you, you insufferable prick."

The kids in the auditorium let out an audible gasp and then a few started cheering. A hand grasped my shoulder, and I looked up at Ben. He led me off of the stage and as soon as we were out of sight of the children the principal, Andrew Cavanaugh, met us.

"I'd like to talk to you, if you have time, Mrs. Cullen. Nadine will escort you to my office while I handle this… situation. I'll be with you shortly."

With a deep sigh, I followed the woman next to him through the school. It wasn't the best idea, coming here tired and already irritated, but the asshole had it coming. Kids didn't need to think they had to follow their parents' footsteps or work a high paying job to be respected.

Ben waited outside the office for me, while I waited inside for Cavanaugh. I huffed in my seat as I waited, knowing I would be sitting here for a while waiting. I had never liked Cavanaugh, the phrase insufferable prick could also be used to describe him as well.

There was no regret for what I said. The guy was an asshole and deserved to be taken down a peg, but I supposed it wasn't the best idea to do it in front of not only Aiden but all of his classmates as well.

Maybe twenty minutes later the door opened and I glared over at it, but it wasn't Cavanaugh that walked in, it was Edward.

"They called you? Like I'm some child that got in trouble? This is fucking ridiculous."

Edward frowned at me. "You're the one in trouble?"

Huh. "What did they tell you?"

"That I needed to come in for a meeting with Cavanaugh. I assumed Aiden got into some kind of trouble." His frown turned into a smirk. "What'd you do?"

I sighed as he sat next to me. "Called one of the other parents an insufferable prick in front of all of the students."

"Was he?"

"He said I didn't make 'real money' and didn't work hard for my livelihood. And insinuated that kids had to be multi-millionaires in order to be happy," I grunted out just as Cavanaugh came in.

It shouldn't have been as amusing as it was to watch him and Edward get into a fight, but I had to say I enjoyed it. It wouldn't have mattered if the man had deserved it or not, Edward would have just as vehemently defended me if I had been in the wrong. It was those little things that made me fall in love with him all over again.

As we left the office, no longer with the necessity to meet parent volunteer hours, Edward was grumpy but I was smiling up at him. Aiden still had hours left of school, and we knew better than to sign him out early. When he was in fifth grade I signed him out as a surprise, planning on taking him out for lunch and then doing whatever he wanted for the day, but I got a stern talking to about how he needed to be in school and didn't like missing out on his classes.

Once Edward and I were in the confines of his car, I leaned over the console and pressed my lips to his, quickly erasing the grumpy pout he had.

"What was that for?" he asked, his frown now a smirk.

"For always defending me, no matter what I do," I told him, momentarily flashing back to one of the worst times in my life. Sitting behind a desk, next to Jenks, as Edward came forward from the crowd in the courtroom to try his best to ease the doubt Zafrina's testimony put in the jury's minds.

Edward dropped me off at home, giving me strict instructions to get in bed and take a nap, before he went back to work. It was Friday, and we had a family dinner with everyone at Rose and Emmett's place tonight.

Thankfully, as we were all heading over there, Aiden let us know that the kids loved my little outburst at the school. It was just the parents that were upset about it. When we got to dinner Aiden immediately went off with Alec. They both acted more like brother's than cousins. It was nice that they had each other, because neither had the option of having a biological sibling.

"I hear you got sent to the principal's office today, Bella," Emmett smirked at me from across the living room. We were all relaxing for a few minutes before dinner.

"Oh, shut up, Emmett," I groaned, hearing the sound of the kids coming down for dinner.

"Yeah, don't be an insufferable prick Uncle Emmett," Delilah said with a childish smirk.

All eyes in the room went to her and everyone was silent for a moment. I was the first one to break and snort out a laugh.

Dark…

"Please, Mom?" Aiden asked me, following me every step I took around the kitchen as I cooked us dinner.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because you're only fourteen," I repeated. He wanted to have a party, parent-free. Edward was out of town, doing something that he told me I didn't want to know anything about. That alone had me on edge, then this party thing happened. He wanted no supervision, and unlimited food budget, and girls.

Girls.

As far as Edward and I knew, Aiden hasn't really entered a girl phase yet. Not that I hadn't seen girls try. I saw the looks he got when he walked around his school or even if we were in a restaurant. He was only fourteen, and I didn't have the energy to deal with girlfriends.

"Yeah, I'm fourteen. I can handle it. The house will be fine, it's only about twenty people. Just the baseball team and a few other friends."

It had to be Edward's genes that made him like this; popular and athletic. Both things I had always seriously lacked as a teenager. Aiden was on the baseball team, something he and Edward bonded over constantly. Once Aiden could actually understand the game, he and Edward took advantage of my media room to watch games, sometimes joined by Emmett, Jasper, and Alec.

Jared joined on occasion as well. It took Jared a long time, but after years of trying, he eventually proved himself to Edward. I wasn't quite sure how involved he was in the family dealings, but it wasn't hard to figure out his main job. After finally graduating high school he went to college, at the family alma mater of Northwestern, and found his odd love for the justice system.

He never became a practicing lawyer, but he loved the history and study of the law. Once he started at Northwestern, he never really left. He had worked his way up from a teaching assistant as a student there and was a professor at the law school now. A bit ironic considering his family, but the legal knowledge had to be useful.

Maggie was still in the city, too. She had been in school nearly as long as Jared, becoming a licensed psychiatrist. She had her own practice with her fiancée, Connor. It seemed obvious when Maggie told us she was going into psychology. She was always easy to talk to, never judgmental.

"Ma?"

"What?" I asked, distracted from my own thoughts.

"So, the party?"

I sighed, leaning over the island and looking at him. He was a good kid, a great kid. We never had to tell him to get his schoolwork done or clean his room, though we only had two deal-breaking rules in the house; no drugs, and no getting arrested. But, I knew he put a lot of pressure on himself with school and the baseball team. Maybe he just needed a night to relax and unwind.

"Twenty people, no more. Absolutely no alcohol, and no one wandering the house. Keep all bedroom and office doors locked. Everyone gone by midnight. I'll be gone, but Eric will be around, just in case."

"But –"

"No buts. Eric stays or no deal." Aiden still wasn't very aware of what the family did, but I was sure he had his guesses. Edward hadn't told him point blank, not yet, and we had always told him to never trust anything someone said about the family.

"Deal," he said with a smile, holding his hand out to me from across the island.

With a laugh I grabbed it, keeping hold of it when he tried to let go. "If things get out of hand, you call me, okay?"

"I will. Thanks, mom!"

A few days later I was at Alice's place with her and Rose, glass of wine in hand. I was grumpy and frustrated already, knowing the odds of Aiden abiding by all of the party rules was slim. He was a good kid, but I could tell he was starting to get to that age where he cared more about being cool than anything else. This party was just the beginning. But, I didn't mind that much. He could rebel, I just wanted to keep it somewhat contained.

To make matters worse, Edward was supposed to get home this afternoon but something happened and now he wasn't getting home until tomorrow morning.

Alice and Rose were talking about… something while I sat on the couch, wine in one hand and television remote in the other. I was blindly flipping through the channels, looking for something to distract myself from my bad mood when my own face caught my attention.

"After the announcement of the Tony Award nominations, we could see a new EGOT in Isabella Cullen, who is nominated for her part in co-writing…" I quickly changed the channel.

"What was that?" Alice asked, frowning over at me.

"Nothing."

"It didn't sound like nothing. You're nominated for a Tony?" Rosalie questioned.

"Kinda."

"How can you kinda be nominated?"

"Well, I am nominated. When I was in New York a few years ago I helped a friend write a few songs… they ended up being in a musical. And now they're nominated for some Tony's," I shrugged. I didn't want to make a big deal out of it. It wasn't going to happen anyway, me becoming an EGOT.

"I think it's a pretty big deal, Bella."

Again, I shrugged. "I mean, if I win it's a big deal. Becoming an EGOT is… everyone's dream. But, I'm not a live musical kind of person. I never thought I'd ever go for a Tony." This entire thing was kind of a fluke, really. I was just passing some time with an old friend. I didn't want to focus too much on the award, because I didn't want to admit to myself how much I wanted it.

The rest of the night passed quickly, mostly because we now had a new, exciting topic to discuss. Alice and Rose were always quick to look up dresses for me for events, especially because I rarely went to anything too big these days. I'd done a few movies since my first one back, even snagged a few high-profile award noms, but I didn't bother going because I knew I wasn't going to win. It wasn't that I was bitter about it, I would just rather spend my night with my family than pretending to be sad about losing an award.

By the time Ben was driving me home, thirty minutes after Aiden's party was supposed to have ended, I was only a tad tipsy. I did manage to catch Edward during a free minute of his with a few texts. They were just dirty enough to convince him to get on the plane a few hours earlier and get home sooner.

I was all smiles when Ben first drove up to the house, but then I saw the mass of cars parked along the street and my mood, which had slowly been improving, quickly crashed back down.

"Do you want me to …?" Ben asked, motioning toward the house as he parked.

"No, I can handle it," I sighed, heading inside.

The main level of the house was trashed. Solo cups littered the floor and the stench of beer assaulted my nostrils. The music was loud enough that most people could barely hear the person standing right next to them. I pushed my way through what was definitely more than twenty kids who didn't seem to recognize me at all in their drunken haze.

I had to take a few deep breaths when I finally found Aiden; sitting on the couch with a girl in his lap. The breathing didn't help and my frustration started to boil over. Kneeling against the back of the couch, the girl in his lap froze as she saw me but Aiden was still oblivious.

"Having fun?" I asked.

Aiden froze, his head snapping in my direction. "Oh, uh…"

Standing up, I walked over to the stereo and shut it off. "Anyone still left here in three minutes who I didn't give birth to is getting arrested," I shouted.

Everyone froze for a moment, then I heard a few kids whispering to my right. "Nah, she wouldn't call the cops."

"Try me," I grunted. "Two and a half minutes!" Leaning against the wall, I watched everyone scramble out of the house. It would have been more satisfying if in the wake of their absence I didn't see how much of a fucking mess the house was.

By the thirty second mark everyone was gone, leaving Aiden sitting on the couch in front of me.

"Twenty people, huh?"

"Ma, people just showed up and I couldn't –"

"Yes, you could have. This place is a mess, and you can be damn sure that's the last party you'll be having here for a long time."

I could see that he wanted to fight back, defend himself. He was quickly inheriting Edward's temper, but he held himself back. "I'm sorry. You won't… you're not going to tell dad, are you?"

That I had to scoff at. Edward was never too hard on Aiden, but he was his father and he would be furious at this. "I'm not going to tell him." The relief on Aiden's face was instantaneous, and I almost hated to burst his bubble. "You're going to tell him. It'll probably blow over better if his house wasn't destroyed when he got home. Which…" I looked at my watch. "Should be in about four hours."

It should have been comical, seeing him jump up and grab at whatever he could, but I wasn't so upset that I would actually make him clean up all alone. He was a kid, kids made mistakes.

"You're not mad?" Aiden asked eventually as I tied up a trash bag full of plastic cups.

"Oh, I'm mad. And exhausted. And I can't trust you with something like this for a while. You're smart enough to know you can't get away with shit like this."

It was hours later when the house finally looked normal. I left Aiden downstairs and went to get a few hours of sleep. He was staying downstairs to wait for Edward. He may have fucked up, but he wasn't making a million excuses or trying to get out of anything.

The next morning, after waking up from a quick few hours of sleep, I heard Edward down the hall. I pulled an old, comfortable robe around my shoulders and headed down the hall to his office. I watched him from the doorway for a moment as he finished his phone call, walking over as soon as he hung up and sitting myself in his lap.

"Now, this is what I thought I was coming home to," he told me with a smile, his hands on my hips.

"Did you, ah, talk to Aiden?" I asked him, though it was the last thing I wanted to talk about right now.

Edward sighed, resting his head against the back of his chair. "Yes. And now, I need to talk to you." He stood with me in his lap, setting me down in his chair and leaning against his desk next to me.

A pit formed in my gut as he looked at me. He was standing in what I liked to think of as his 'serious talk' stance; legs crossed in front of him, arms crossed as well. "Oh, no," I grumbled, crossing my legs beneath me.

"I need to tell him. The truth."

I sighed. "I know."

"You're okay with it?"

"I kind of have to be, don't I?" I didn't like it, never wanted him to be under the same pressure I knew Edward was under since he was twelve. But, even I could tell it was in him. The way he was so fiercely protective of everyone in the family. He was so passionate about so many things, though. He loved baseball and he was actually really good at it. He played the guitar, only when he was alone in his room, but I heard him in there constantly. I had also seen a flyer for a school play in his bag more than once.

He had other interests. His entire life he thought he would get to choose what his path was. Aiden had no idea his life was practically planned out for him already.

Edward cupped my cheek, forcing me to look up at him. "It'll be okay. He'll understand. You should know, though, he might get a little… temperamental for a while after."

"Oh, you mean telling a teenager he's next in line to run the most powerful crime family in the city doesn't typically go smoothly?" I snapped.

"I just want you to understand that he's going to need some time to adjust to the idea. Do you remember how you felt, after you found out?"

I did remember. I remembered feeling hurt and betrayed and like the man I had fallen in love with was a complete stranger. Fuck. "We should have told him sooner."

"No. He's had a great childhood, Bella. That wouldn't have happened if he had this hanging over him. Trust me."

"How are you going to…"

"School gets out in a few weeks. He's about to turn fifteen. Emmett, Jasper, and I'll take him on a trip and fill him in."

"You don't think I should be there?"

"I don't want him to lash out at you. I'll handle it."

Running my hands along his arms, I realized there was something else Edward needed to talk to Aiden about.

"You need to talk to him about sex, too."

"W-what?" he asked, looking completely taken aback.

"Last night at the party he had a girl on his lap. He knows not to treat girls like objects, but you need to talk to him about the… specifics." This wasn't really a topic I wanted to talk about or think about. By Edward's sneer I could tell he didn't want to deal with it either.

"You two share the same… equipment, so it's your job. If we'd had a girl I would have dealt with it. Just make sure he doesn't…"

Edward raised his brows, smirking at me. "Doesn't what?"

"Doesn't turn into the manwhore you were when we met."

"Ah," Edward said, pulling me into his arms and switching our places. He lifted me onto the desk, my legs wrapping around his waist. "Those were dark times before you, Mrs. Cullen."

Wrapping my arms around him, I slumped into Edward's chest. "You'll take care of him… right?"

"I will. I promise."

A/N: I'm so sorry this took so long. My anxiety took me down for almost a solid week, and sometimes even my little writing escape doesn't help me when it gets that bad. I hope this long chapter made up for it a little bit. Next chapter (hopefully) next Friday, as usual.

Song lyrics used in the beginning of the chapter are from Off To The Races, Blue Jeans, and Radio by Lana Del Rey.