Author's Note: Thank you to everyone reading and supporting!

Special thanks to Mel Cee for betaing and Erin, Paige, and Sherry for making this "Story of the Week". Also thank to the Lemonade Stand for being on the "What We're Reading List". Much love to all!

Age 9

Bella followed Edward into the house calling his name over and over again. "Edward. Edward. EDWARD!"

But there was no use. Edward was giving her the silent treatment. They were both too stubborn for their own good.

Edward was mad at Bella. Furious was more like it. This was the first time Edward was actually this mad at her. Sure, he hated when she stole his sunglasses and when she doodled on every important paper of his, but this was different. She let herself get kissed by Riley, and he was pretty pissed about it.

He wanted to kiss her but he didn't even know the first thing about kissing or the feelings he had toward Bella. Not to mention, he was not her first kiss and now everything was ruined. Edward being the pigheaded little boy he was had slept in his actual room for the past few days. Punishing not only Bella but himself. He suffered quite a few nightmares. In the middle of the night, Bella would come into his room and give him a bottle of water, and she'd ask if he wanted her to stay, but he held his ground, pushing her away.

After three days, Bella couldn't take this silent treatment anymore. She waited until the house was adult-free. Thankfully it was Saturday and Jessica had her standing hair and nail appointment, and Jane and James locked themselves in the downstairs bathroom, making rather interesting noises. Michael walked out on Jessica after meeting Candy, a twenty-something-year-old blonde, down at the Jersey Shore. She was a former exotic dancer and was thrilled when Michael suggested she leave the lifestyle and dance only for him. Jessica and Mike divorced a year ago, and Jessica had been treading on thin ice to keep her foster kids, i.e. her paychecks.

After doing her chores, Bella made lunch for two—cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches with no crust, just how Edward liked it. She wanted things to go back to normal between them. It was not like she'd asked Riley to kiss her; in fact, it was disgusting. Bella wished Edward would kiss her, but she knew she'd have to take matters into her own hands.

She got a basket and added potato chips and two juice boxes. Setting the basket by the front door, she made her way to Edward, who was mopping the upstairs bathroom. Silently, she took the mop from his hands, wringing it out, and he looked at her with wild eyes but she didn't budge.

Bella proceeded to grab his hand, and before heading out the door, she picked up the basket she'd made along with a blanket. Edward attempted to walk back to the house a few times, protesting and trying to pull away, but she kept following him, fighting for him. They walked and walked until they reached a grassy empty patch that was going to be condos anyway, but she wanted to enjoy it while they could. The park these days got too crowded, and Mrs. Mallory was often there, waiting to report Edward and Bella's indiscretions to Jessica.

Bella unfolded the blanket that she had tucked under her arm and gestured for him to sit. He hesitated, biting the inside of his cheek. Getting annoyed, Bella pulled him by the wrist until he fell over.

Bella laughed. "Oh, Edward.."

"Bella, I don't—"

"No, you listen to me, Edward." She waited for an interruption on his part, but he kept his mouth shut for once.

"I didn't want Riley to kiss me. He just ran up to me and kissed me on the lips. I didn't kiss him back, I swear."

"I know, it's just—"

"I'm not done, Edward." She crossed her arms defiantly. This was important to Bella. He was important.

He huffed and threw his arm over his eyes, lying back on the blanket.

"Edward, please open your eyes."

He shook his head back and forth. Not budging.

"Edward." Now she was being the stubborn one.

He slowly opened his eyes to find Bella leaning over him with the sun shining behind her as though she was an angel. In many ways, she was an angel to Edward. That was why he was so angry he couldn't kiss her now. Would she even want that? She didn't seem thrilled with Riley kissing her.

"What?" he asked the angel.

"I don't want kisses from Riley."

"Okay," Edward said simply.

"I want you to kiss me." She smiled shyly.

"Bella—"

"Show me. Show me how you would kiss me."

"I don't know how," Edward admitted, embarrassed.

"Me either. So we can't mess it up."

"Riley kissed you. He was your first kiss," Edward pointed out, trying to hide his disgust.

"No, he wasn't. I didn't want him to do it, so it doesn't count. I want you to. Can we just pretend it never happened? Please." She gave him the look. The look he never said no to.

Edward nodded, sitting up from the cozy blanket.

They positioned themselves so that they sat crisscrossed opposite from one another. They stared at each other for a moment. Never one for a serious moment, Bella burst out into laughter. Edward couldn't help but join in.

After a moment, the pair remembered their mission. Operation first kiss. They looked at one another tenderly again, noiselessly, having a conversation with their eyes.

"Are you ready?" Bella was trembling.

"Is this okay?" Edward asked, repositioning himself to hold her hands.

Once Bella and Edward saw what they were looking for in the other, they leaned forward, and Bella looked at Edward, smiling. Edward, well Edward looked like he was going to shit himself, but seemed excited to do so.

She shut her eyes as she reached close enough to his face. Edward kept his eyes open, not wanting to miss a thing. Their lips met and he loosened the grip on her hands, now wrapping his arms around her to hug her. Bella was first to break away, and she looked down, not ready to see Edward's response to their encounter. Edward was smiling, looking at her like she was the only person on Earth. She never saw him smile this brightly.

"Edward." Her tone was serious. Bella wasn't the serious type.

His eyebrows furrowed, worried that she had thought this was a mistake. Was Riley a better kisser?

"I love you." She whispered the words so softly, Edward would have missed them if she didn't have his full attention.

He loved her. This he knew. He never loved anyone and no one ever loved him before.

"I love you." Edward felt giddy and he wasn't a giddy type of kid. He was bolder; only Bella could bring him out from his shell.

Having made up with a kiss and declarations of their feelings for one another, the pair sat eating cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches and crinkle-cut potato chips. Being happy and carefree was an unexpected change of pace. It was welcomed and they were elated to bask in that feeling.

In love.

PfM ~

Bella and Edward enjoyed their bubble of being in love for a few weeks. But as the old proverb says, what goes up must come down…

It was Edward's scheduled meeting with Mrs. Cope to "check in." Michelle picked him up from the Newton household, and they would drive to somewhere where they could speak one-on-one. This would be the time to voice any concerns Edward had about his foster parents, siblings, or school. Edward would often nod at her words, knowing the meeting went faster this way. He knew better than to complain. She would give him what she thought was helpful advice on how to be likable for adoption. But Edward was well aware being adopted with his history and the scars that marked his body would be next to impossible.

"Edward, please, it seems I've been talking to myself for the last twenty minutes." Michelle looked at her watch and then to Edward sitting across the sticky McDonald's table.

Edward ate his fries, grabbing another one, but Mrs. Cope caught onto his strategy. She took the fries and moved them to her side of the table, gesturing for him to talk.

"Everything's fine," he said, trying to chew discreetly.

"That's not what I asked you and you know it." Mrs. Cope was playing hardball. She usually let Edward off the hook, given his rough history, but every dog has its day.

"Mrs. C, come on. Things are fine. I don't want to talk to someone about the nightmares." He whined. He'd spent enough of his childhood in and out of doctors' offices.

"Bella says they are getting worse." Mrs. Cope treaded lightly.

Edward thought about it for a minute. "Bella doesn't know anything."

"Edward, I'm not going to tell Jessica about you and Bella." Michelle was happy that Edward found a little piece of happiness with Bella, and as long as they kept things as is, there was no reason for her to break up their friendship.

Michelle Cope felt sorry for Edward; he never had a family or anyone to care for him. Jessica was the first real mother figure he had, and Michael was the first father figure but he walked out on them.

"Edward, do you want to talk about the scars with someone?" She took his chin in her hand and looked at him sympathetically. While Edward didn't remember what actually transpired, he heard Jessica talking about it enough times that he had a general idea, plus he had the scars to prove it.

"NO," he said too loudly, and now the entire restaurant was staring.

"Keeping it all inside isn't healthy. How can you be adopted if you won't acknowledge what happened?" Mrs. Cope was exasperated. She was at her wit's end with Edward and his stubbornness.

He shook his head. Edward never really let himself think about being adopted because hope was too scary. He couldn't hope for things that would never come to fruition.

"They are fading every day," Edward said dismally. At least Bella convinced him that they were fading.

Mrs. Cope nodded, knowing she wouldn't get much further with the damaged little boy. "Edward, I'm not trying to be cruel. It's just every year that passes, it's harder to be adopted. People want babies." She cringed, choosing the wrong words for Edward's situation.

People might have in fact wanted babies to adopt, but they didn't want scarred babies, both inside and outside, like Edward. He had been orphaned upon birth; his mother was a prostitute, who died giving birth to him. Edward's father was unknown so he was tossed into the system from the start. His first foster family was kind, but they were poor and had taken more fosters than they could handle. Many things slipped through the cracks including Baby Edward. One day, when he was lying on his playmat, one of the other foster kids knocked over a candle by accident and it burned Edward's arms and part of his chest. After surgeries and skin grafts, he had a better chance at being able to live a normal life, but the remaining scars were off-putting to prospective parents and didn't aid his appeal of being adopted.

Due to the negligence, his foster family lost their ability to continue to provide care, and Edward was sent to Jessica and Michael's house. He didn't remember a time before that, only in his nightmares.

Maybe I don't want to be adopted, Edward thought to himself. Yeah right. Now he was kidding himself.

PfM~

Back at the house of horrors, Bella found herself sketching on a sheet of lined paper. Jessica said she'd buy her a sketch book for Christmas but it never happened, so Bella continued using loose pieces of paper.

She attended an art class at the public library; it was her one hour of heaven every week. Edward wasn't interested in art and Bella didn't want to hurt his feelings on how his stick figures were terrible. Looking up at the clock, Bella bit her nails.

Ever since Mrs. Cope took Alec to his new home, Bella became a nervous wreck anytime she or Edward were separated. She was terrified of being away from Edward; he had slowly become everything to her.

The thought of being adopted by someone and not being able to ever see him again made her sick to her stomach. Bella began being bratty when was around, and she acted out whenever a new family came to visit.

This earned her quite a few punishments from Jessica and lots of lectures from , but Bella knew the pain was worth it. If just the thought of never seeing Edward again pained her this much, what would she feel if she ever did have to live without him?

Edward was blissfully unaware of Bella's convoluted plan. Bella preferred it that way. He would have thought she was crazy and convinced her that being adopted was important. He still held out hope for her to be adopted. Not that he wanted to separate but he knew she needed a nice family. Too bad he didn't feel worthy enough to have the same hopes for himself.

She got lost in her drawings as someone came up behind her and snatched the paper from right under her pencil.

"Hey, that's mine." She turned around to see James with her drawing in one hand, holding it way over his head. She was short as it was, so there was no way Bella was getting it back.

"Not anymore." James snickered. "Let's take a look."

The drawing was in black and white with shading all around. It was two birds kissing.

"Ha! Is this you and Lover Boy?" James taunted, setting the bait for Bella.

"Don't call him that. You know he doesn't like it." She crossed her arms defiantly.

"No thank you, sweetheart." He was rubbing her arm up and down when Jane came up behind her, taking in the scene.

Jane had become unhinged since being separated from Alec. She had zero patience for anyone but James, who she would say was her boyfriend. He doesn't use nice terms for what he classifies them as. Seeing James touching Bella sparked a venom inside Jane that even she didn't know was present.

Jane grabbed Bella's waist-long hair and jolted her back. James took that moment to backhand Bella across the face. Her cheek stung and was turning beet red.

Bang. Bella's back was slammed against the opposite wall. This time she was pinned against it with James and Jane on either side of her.

"Oh Janie, what should we do to Little Miss Goody Two Shoes? Lover Boy isn't here to protect her." James chuckled.

Jane narrowed her eyes, looking at Bella. She was jealous that Bella found such a tenderness in Edward. Jane never knew that life could be so soft and gentle, except for the times when she was observing the two lovebirds.

"Mhmm," Jane murmured. Her tongue sucked her teeth, making a tsking sound.

Jane took the gum from her mouth and motioned for James to tighten his grip on Bella's arms.

"Please stop! I'll scream if you don't let go of me." Bella tried wriggling from James' grasp but he was just too strong.

She inhaled deeply and shut her eyes, still attempting to kick them. She got Jane once in the shin, but not hard enough to deter them. Jane stretched the piece of gum and stuck it in Bella's hair.

James now had a hand covering Bella's mouth, just in case Jessica decided to come home.

Bella's eyes were now wide-opened, watching in horror, her precious long locks being destroyed. The tears fell no matter how hard she attempted to keep them at bay.

There was noise coming from behind them, what sounded like bags rustling.

James and Jane turned around to find Jessica watching with an angry look on her face. "What the fuck did you two do?"

She started swinging her arms, hitting Jane and James with the grocery bags. "Mrs. Cope is going to be back with Edward any minute. How the hell do you expect me to explain this?"

She looked at Bella who was curled up into a ball on the floor. Face bruising from the slap James had given her. Gum all tangled throughout her once long and luscious locks. She was a disheveled mess, on the verge of hyperventilating when Jessica ushered her off the floor to further examine her hair.

"Fuck, you just love to cause me trouble, don't you?" Jessica wasn't about to coddle the little girl even though she knew this wasn't her fault.

At that very moment, fate intervened and Mrs. Cope walked through the door with Edward in tow. Assessing the situation, between Bella's appearance and James and Jane's guilty expressions, it didn't take a brain surgeon to figure out what transpired.

After seeing if there was any medical attention needed, Mrs. Cope instructed Edward to take Bella inside the bedroom while she dealt with Jessica, James, and Jane.

Edward held Bella in his lap, heartbroken for the girl he loved. Nothing ever stayed good for long. Bella deserved good; she was good.

Edward felt helpless and blamed himself for the incident. If he had only hurried Mrs. Cope along. What if he suggested just going to the park with Mrs. Cope as opposed to McDonald's, would he have been able to save Bella? Only nine years old with the weight of the world on his shoulders.

Edward pulled Bella closer, kissing her head and whispering his love to her and how sorry he was. Every time something like this happened, she went into a state where all she could do was cry. There wasn't much he could do to stop it, but just like she was for his nightmares, he would be there for her.

There was a knock at the door, and Edward placed Bella down on the bed gently, handing her the worn copy of The Velveteen Rabbit, and made his way to unlock the door.

He knew that Jessica was already being watched closely by Social Services. He could tell things would be different from here on out. Question was if that was a good or bad thing?