Twilight and its characters belong to Stephenie Meyer. I'm just playing around with them.

Lots of thanks to MelissaMargaret for making this pretty, and to anhanninen and xxluvCarlisleEsmexx for prereading.


BPOV

Lucy pressed her face against the glass door, whimpering softly. I went over and picked her up, and she buried her face against my neck.

"I'm sorry, baby," I said softly, running my hand over her hair. "Maybe you can play in the snow another day."

She shook her head and coughed, reminding me why she couldn't be outside.

Dr. Carlisle had examined Lucy as soon as we came downstairs this morning. He and Esme had been the only ones in the living room, and that had made me relax a little. Everyone in the Cullen family was nice and welcoming, but they were loud when they were all in one place. Lucy and I didn't like loud.

But Esme and Dr. Carlisle seemed to understand. When he'd examined Lucy, I could tell he was being very gentle, and he'd hummed softly as he'd worked. But what had really made me feel better was when he had said that Lucy sounded much better and the medicine had done its job. She wasn't completely better yet, but he wasn't worried.

"I don't think we'll need to do another IV treatment, but we'll give her some oral medicine now," he'd explained. "It's just a liquid so it should be easy for her to swallow. We'll do that and tylenol every few hours to keep her comfortable."

And she was comfortable. That much I knew.

Lucy had never been much of a crier. I'd read baby books while I was pregnant, and I expected her to cry. That's what babies did. But my Lucy was a quiet baby and only cried when something was really wrong. She preferred other ways to get what she wanted. When she first started getting sick, I knew something was wrong because she was crying and wouldn't tell me if she was hungry or thirsty or needed to go to the bathroom.

Now, she was back to telling me what she wanted. And since she was this vocal about something, she was obviously feeling much better.

I carried Lucy over to the couch and sat down. Esme smiled at us and offered to get Lucy a drink. I nodded to accept her offer and turned my attention to my sad girl.

"Hey." I gently moved her head away from my neck so I could see her face. Her sad eyes hurt my heart. "I'm sorry you're sad, Luce. I bet you can get one of the little boys to play with you when they come inside. They seem nice."

I'd only seen them at meals and for a few minutes after breakfast. They were always moving and wanted new things to do. Rosalie assured me that they'd love having a new person to play with, though.

"Mm mmm." Lucy shook her head again. "Eddard."

I chuckled as I kissed her forehead. Edward was her new favorite person, not that I could blame her. Sometimes he was really weird, but he was also sweet at the same time. I'd never met anyone like him before, and he might have been my new favorite person too.

"I miss him, too. He'll come back inside soon."

No sooner than I said that, everyone outside seemed to disappear, hopefully to come inside. I was glad they wouldn't be tempting Lucy anymore. And that Edward might come back and sit with us.

Esme did come back to sit with us, and offered her arms and a cup to Lucy. Lucy accepted both, and Esme managed to distract her long enough for her to forget about what was upsetting her.

"There's the giggle," Esme said as she tickled Lucy's belly. "I knew you had a precious little giggle in you. Wait til Alice hears you. She had a giggle just like that."

Pulling my legs up, I rested my head on my knees and smiled at the sight of them. Esme was a perfect Mom and Nona, as the little boys called her. It made me a little sad. I didn't have a mother, and I wasn't sure if I'd ever had one except for when I was born. Being around Esme made me wish she was mine, too.

I was afraid to want it, but part of me wanted the Cullens to keep us after the storm was over. We didn't fit here, I knew that, but it was nice to think about it. Lucy and I would always be warm and have plenty of food and company. A nice bed to sleep in, hot water, clean clothes. And love. It was so easy to imagine being loved.

"Shhh. Don't cry, sweetheart." Esme scooted over and wrapped her arm around my shoulders, pulling me closer to her. I swiped my hand over my cheek, surprised to find tears. I hadn't even known I was crying which made me want to cry more.

"I'm sorry," I murmured, resting my head on Esme's shoulder.

"No, you have nothing to be sorry for." I felt her kiss the top of my head, and I had to close my eyes. She wasn't helping me stop dreaming. "Bella," she said softly, "I just want you to know that you can talk to me about anything. Or any of us. You and Lucy are important to us, and we want to help you however we can."

"I don't think you can help with this," I whispered before I could stop myself.

She hummed, not seeming bothered by what I said, and kissed my head again. "You never know until you ask. We might just surprise you."

...

Lucy and I spent most of the afternoon with Esme. We waited on Edward to come back, but he never did. But Esme's company was still more than nice, and I'd never complain.

When she went into the kitchen to start cooking dinner, Rosalie took her place on the couch. I liked Rosalie. She had a soft voice, the opposite of her husband, but she managed to boss him around. They'd made me laugh every time I was around them. The love between them was obvious, even to me, but they could joke around with each other. I liked that.

Lucy, on the other hand, hid from Rose. She hadn't forgiven her for putting the needle in her hand. I didn't blame her. For a little while, I was afraid, too. Sure, the Cullens had been nice to us so far, but I had no way to know if that would stop. And having someone I barely knew hurt my baby was hard. How could I be sure that all of them wouldn't start hurting us?

But I had an advantage that Lucy didn't. Rose talked to me last night when she unhooked most of the tubes while Lucy was sleeping and then this morning she sat by me at breakfast. She was almost as sweet as Esme, and I could see how much she loved her little boys. That was something we had in common. We were mommies, and she told me that she knew exactly how I felt because she'd been through it the first few times her babies had to get shots at the doctor. It didn't matter that you knew the pain was helping them, it still hurt you inside.

She could make my inside feelings into words, and I wanted to trust her completely. It was just hard.

"How's it going?" she asked, smiling even as Lucy hid her face against a pillow.

"Okay, I guess. Um . . . Lucy saw you guys in the snow and wanted to go out. Was it fun?"

She laughed, shaking her head slightly. "It was cold, that's for sure. The boys had fun with Edward, but I had more fun coming inside."

"Where did everyone else go?" I wanted to ask about Edward without asking about Edward. My feelings for him were fuzzy. I was pretty sure I wanted him to be my friend, but I wasn't sure how to do that.

"My boys are downstairs playing games with Jasper," she said. "Alice is up in her room, and I'm not sure what happened to Dad and Edward."

"Oh. Okay." I tried to hide my disappointment, but it probably didn't work.

Rosalie just smiled. "You know, I was just about to go hang with Alice for a while if you and Lucy want to come. We can watch TV or something like that. I'm sure you're probably bored after sitting here all day."

Sitting on this couch with a blanket wrapped around me was actually one of the most comfortable places I'd been in a while, but she was right about it being a bit boring. Lucy was still upset about not going outside, so the distraction would be good for her, too. So I accepted Rosalie's offer and followed her upstairs.

We passed the room Lucy and I were staying in and Edward's room, but his door was closed. Alice's door, however, was open, and she was stretched out in the middle of her bed with a computer in front of her.

"Can we crash your party?" Rosalie asked, not waiting for Alice's answer before sitting in a large chair that was beside the bed.

"Of course," Alice said, looking up from her computer to smile at me and Lucy. "You can sit on the bed with me, Bella, if you want."

"Um . . . okay," I said softly. I walked over and sat on the edge of the bed, pulling my legs up so I could hold Lucy in my lap. She held my hands tightly and looked around the room with wide eyes.

Alice's room was just as beautiful as the rest of the Cullen house, but I wasn't surprised anymore. I guessed this was just how they lived, and Lucy and I were lucky enough to experience it for a little while.

"What are you looking for?" Rosalie asked Alice, startling me from my thoughts.

"Just window shopping for Bella and Lucy," Alice explained. "Who knows when we'll be able to get out of the house, so I wanted to have a back-up plan."

Alice had my attention as soon as she said our names, and my mouth fell open as I looked at the computer screen. She was looking at little girl clothes. There were so many pretty dresses and shirts and even pretty pajamas. And she wanted to buy these things for us?

"You don't have to do that," I said quickly. "We have enough. And I won't ever be able to pay you back. I promise we have enough."

Alice sat up, watching me for a few seconds before smiling. "Bella." She reached over, grabbing my hand lightly. "Whatever we do for you while you're staying with us, honey, we don't expect you to pay us back, nor do we want you to."

"But . . ."

She shook her head. "No buts on this. Please. I promise it won't be anything too extreme – just the essentials like underwear and warm clothes for winter. And I'd love if you'd want to help me choose everything. Then we could spend some time together before we go back to the real world."

"I just . . . " I shook my head slightly and placed my chin on Lucy's head. These Cullens were so confusing. They let us stay in their house and fed us without even knowing anything about us, and now they were going to buy us new clothes? It didn't make any sense.

"You know, this is as much for us as for you," Rosalie added. "We're not entirely selfless or altruistic by any means."

"She's right," Alice said, nodding in agreement. "We get the best of this deal."

Now I was really confused. "But what do you get out of buying stuff for us?" I asked. Unless . . .

No. No. I couldn't do that again. And I wouldn't let it happen to Lucy. She deserved so much more. I couldn't let it happen. I just couldn't.

"Bella? Bella?"

Feeling something touch me, I jumped. Startled, I looked down and found Alice's hand on my arm. She slowly moved it down until she was holding my hand.

"Bella? What's wrong?" she asked, squeezing my hand. "Did we say something wrong?"

"Wha-what?" I murmured, looking up to her face. Her eyes were very big as she watched me carefully.

"We lost you there for a minute, sweetie. Is everything okay? I'm sorry if we said something to upset you."

I shook my head. "No, I'm . . . I'm fine." I wasn't fine, but I couldn't tell them what was wrong. They would kick me out. For Lucy, we needed to stay for at least a little while longer. She needed to get better and hopefully they wouldn't ask me to do anything before that happened.

"Are you sure?" Rosalie asked, coming over to sit at the bottom of the bed. "If we said something, please tell us. We want you and Lucy to be happy here, not afraid. I'm sorry if we're coming on too strong. We can wait on clothes and things for a little while. I just feel bad we don't have any girl clothes for Lucy yet."

I looked down at Lucy and smiled when I saw her unsure look. I didn't want to scare her, even if that was what I was feeling inside. My smile made her smile and relax against me, so I wrapped my arms around her and squeezed. I'd always keep her safe.

And having any clothes that were clean and dry was what mattered to me, but Lucy did deserve better. Maybe I could find a way to pay them.

"It's okay." I took a deep breath and looked at Rosalie and Alice. "Um, I know how to cook and clean, and I can do laundry, too. I'm better at cleaning, but I'll do whatever I have to so I can pay you back. Just . . . please. Give me a chance before you make us leave. Lucy has to get better."

I stopped and lowered my head, trying to stop breathing as fast because Lucy could feel it. No one said anything at first, and I wondered if they were mad at me. Or worse, if they were planning something bad. Running wasn't something I wanted to do again, but I would if I had to.

But when someone did finally make a sound, it was one I did not expect to hear. Sniffling.

"Mama," Lucy whispered, patting my hand. "Crying, Mama. Sad."

Startled, I glanced up. Lucy was right. Both Rosalie and Alice were watching us with tears dripping down their faces.

"I'm sorr –"

"No," Rosalie said fiercely, wiping her hand over her cheek. "No," she repeated, softer this time. "You don't have anything to apologize for. We should be apologizing." Alice nodded. "If we're overwhelming you or threatening you, just tell us and we'll back off. We never want you to feel that way."

"You're safe here," Alice said with a small smile. "We're not going to make you cook or clean or anything like that. And, we don't have to buy anything until we've talked about this more, okay? We'll just look and save for later. Or not. We can just sit here and be lazy until dinner. I'm just excited to spend time with you."

"Why?" I asked bravely. "Why do you want to spend time with me?"

Alice shrugged. "Why not? I know we don't know you well yet, but you seem nice to me."

"We're surrounded by boys, Bella," Rosalie said, rolling her eyes but smiling. "Alice, Mom, and I are so outnumbered, so we're excited to add two girls to the mix. We have to stick together."

"Oh." This family was so . . . strange. I wasn't convinced they were real. Even when I thought I'd messed up completely, they were still nice to us and didn't want us to be afraid. I'd trusted them so far, so maybe I could keep trusting them for a while longer.

"We could just watch some TV," Rosalie suggested. "I bet we can find some Dora for Lucy to watch."

That caught Lucy's attention, so I quickly agreed. It didn't take Rosalie long to find the right show, and Lucy was immediately calm as she watched with wide eyes.

After a few minutes, Alice convinced her to sit in her lap and the computer was placed in mine. I wasn't sure how to use it, but Rosalie and Alice helped. Surprisingly, all of the cute little girl clothes Alice had been looking at cost less than most I'd seen in stores. We found everything Lucy could possibly need for the next few days and some things for me, all for less than two hundred dollars. That was still more than I had to spend on clothes, but less than I expected. And it was nice to know that we could save the list for later, after talking with Esme and Dr. Carlisle about how I could work this out.

Spending a few hours with Rosalie and Alice was fun, too. Even Lucy started talking and giggling with Rosalie instead of hiding her face. By the time Esme came upstairs to get us for dinner, I was smiling – a real smile that didn't disappear, even when I sat at the very full table.

Dinner was as loud as ever, but Lucy and I sat by Edward again. Well, I sat by Edward. Lucy decided to sit with him, and he didn't stop her. We'd missed him today, but he didn't say where he had been after playing in the snow. I didn't ask either.

Edward was like me — he didn't say much. But he seemed happy just ignoring everyone else. I couldn't do that. I watched everyone, making sure I knew what was happening around me. So I didn't miss when Rosalie and Alice were talking to Esme while refilling drinks. I knew it was probably about me, and I wasn't surprised when Esme wanted to talk to me after we finished eating.

"You come too, Edward," she told him. "We'll meet you in Carlisle's office in a few minutes."

Edward sighed and passed Lucy to me before standing. "I'll show you where it is," he said.

I followed him to a room I hadn't seen before. It had dark wood floors, a desk, and a large leather couch. Edward motioned for me to sit, and we took spots on the opposite ends.

Esme and Dr. Carlisle didn't make us wait long. When they came in, he went to sit behind the desk, and Esme took her usual spot beside me with her arm around my shoulders. I leaned back against her, loving how it felt to have someone touch me like this. It was nice.

"First things first," Dr. Carlisle said, smiling as he pulled something out of a drawer of the desk. "I'd like to listen to Miss Lucy's breathing and then hopefully we can get that mean ole' IV out of her hand. How does that sound?"

I smiled and nodded. Lucy hated having the needle in the hand, and I just wanted her to get better. If getting it out meant she was close to being better, I was happy about it.

Lucy didn't cry this time as Dr. Carlisle listened to her breathe. He gave her a thumbs up after listening to the front and back and then grabbed a white square and a band aid.

"Normally, Rose would be doing this, but I figured I can do it just as quick."

"Will it hurt?" I asked, sighing as he shook his head.

"It shouldn't hurt at all. The tape might be a little uncomfortable coming off, but I'll try my best to be gentle."

Lucy whined as he pulled the seven pieces of tape off, but as he said, taking the actual needle out didn't seem to bother her at all.

"There," he said as he put the band aid in place. "We didn't have any Dora ones, but I hope this one is okay."

Lucy looked at her hand and then up at me. "Diego, Mama," she said with a smile.

"Did Dr. Carlisle give you a Diego bandaid? Tell him thank you."

She thanked him and leaned over to show Edward. He looked confused but that didn't stop Lucy from trying to tell him about Diego.

Dr. Carlisle then explained what medicine Lucy would be taking. It was liquid, just like the cough medicine I'd gotten for her, so it would be easy for her to take. And as long as she was still better after ten days, she wouldn't have to take anything else. i felt so much better knowing that she wouldn't be sick for much longer.

"Now, my daughters have brought something else to my attention," he began, and I braced myself for what he would say. "None of us want you to be uncomfortable, but may I ask why you don't want us to get you any clothing?"

"We just want to help, sweetheart," Esme said, holding me close. "You and Lucy deserve so much, and we want to help as much as we can."

"But I can't pay for it," I protested. "We can make do with what we have, I promise."

Esme shook her head. "We don't expect you to pay us back for any of it."

"But . . . what do you get out of it?" It was the question I'd been wanting to ask but was too afraid to. What did they get out of having me and Lucy here, buying us clothes, feeding us? They couldn't be doing it for no reason.

"We get so much," Esme assured me. "We get to know that you both are safe, warm, and happy. The little boys have a new playmate now. Alice and Rose have someone to spend time with, and Edward gets some company out of it, too. Our family likes to help people, and with you it's even more special. I so hope you choose to stay here after the weather is back to normal."

Her face was so hopeful, so . . . honest. At least as far as I could tell.

"So . . . you just want to help us? I don't have to clean or cook or anything? Because I can," I quickly assured her. "I'm really good at it. I promise I can pay you back for our stay here, just not with money."

Dr. Carlisle cleared his throat and rolled his chair over in front of the couch. "That kind of leads in to what else we'd like to talk about, dear. We won't pressure you to tell us your past or whatever led to you being out in the cold, but I do feel the need to ask. Did you stay somewhere else where they forced you to do housework?"

My eyes widened as I started breathing faster. I hadn't thought about them asking how I got here or about things that happened to me before. What did I say? Would they get mad if I told the truth?

Esme shushed me and pulled me as close as I could get to her side. "Bella. It's okay, darling. You can tell us the truth. We won't do anything to hurt you or Lucy."

"We just want to keep you safe," Dr. Carlisle said. "We can protect you if you're running from something."

I nodded, hoping they would understand that it was my answer to all of it.

"Okay, sweetheart," he said calmly, understanding. "One more question. Were you ever sexually abused anywhere you stayed before here?"

Quickly, I shook my head and looked down, embarrassed by his question.

"So no one has ever touched you inappropriately or forced you to do anything sexual you didn't want to do?"

"No," I answered out loud this time, feeling my cheeks burn. "That hasn't ever happened." I didn't know much about . . . sex . . . or men, but I knew I had never been forced to do anything like that. Almost, but I was good at running.

"Okay. That's good, sweetheart," Dr. Carlisle said. "Was Lucy involved in any of the forced housework?"

I shook my head again, finally looking up at him. "No, that was before. Before I was pregnant. No one has ever hurt my baby."

He smiled as Esme kissed the side of my head. "That's what I was hoping to hear. And as far as the housework goes, we won't be forcing you to do anything while you're here with us. Now, if you want to help someone prepare a meal or something like that, that's fine."

"We want you to be comfortable," Esme added. "You're free here, or at least you will be when the snow melts. We're all kind of stuck for the time being."

I nodded and tried to let everything sink in. The Cullens were happy we were here and didn't want anything in return for our stay. But I still didn't feel right about taking clothes and things from them. It was my job to provide for me and my Lucy.

"Is there nothing I can do?" I asked softly. "For the clothes and stuff? I just don't feel right taking from you, even if you're giving."

"Give her a job," Edward said.

I'd almost forgotten that he was even here. Lucy hadn't, though. She was almost in his lap, and either she'd been distracting him or he'd been distracting her from the conversation we were having.

Esme hummed, thinking before nodding. "That's a good idea, son. How would you feel about working for me, Bella? You could help me around the office part-time and earn a paycheck."

"Oh," I gasped. "Well . . . I've never worked in an office before. I don't know what to do. And what about Lucy?" There was no way I'd be leaving her.

"I'd show you everything you'd need to know." Esme's smile grew — she was obviously happy about this idea. "And you can bring Lucy with you. I certainly don't mind having her at the office, and I know she'll love seeing Edward."

"See Eddard?" Lucy asked. "Eddard here, Nona." She patted his arm. "Eddard."

"That's right, precious," Esme agreed as tears filled her eyes. "Edward is right there."

I had no idea why she was starting to cry, so I looked at Dr. Carlisle. He chuckled as if he was used to it.

"Does that sound like a good plan for now?" he asked me. "We can always talk about it later if you change your mind. It's completely up to you."

Office work sounded complicated, but I liked the idea of earning my own money. And working with Esme sounded like a fun job. They had good food there. And Edward was there.

So I agreed. The Cullens might not have been real, but I was going to enjoy staying with them as much as I could.


A/N: So some questions are starting to be answered, but I guess others are being raised too. ;-)

Thank you all so much for the amazing support! I just finished a ridiculously hard semester, and your sweet words definitely helped get me through. The next update might take a little longer than 2 weeks, though. I finally have a few days of free time before classes start back for the summer and I have to catch up with real life. Thank you for being patient with me.

Also, anhanninen and I entered the Twilight Happily Ever After contest and our entry, Superheros and Second Chances is now posted on my profile. Check it out if you get a chance.

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And, my thoughts and prayers go out to everyone affected in the tragic events this week. I debated updating tonight but finally decided we could all use a little distration after this sad week. xo