DISCLAIMER: Stephanie Meyer owns Twilight not me. I just love playing around with the characters we all know and love. :-)

Authors Notes:

***BPOV. How will she handle loosing Lizzie from her class?

***Who else hates Tanya? I know I do.

***OKAY, OKAY, OKAY... I'm a sucker for all of you BEGGING FOR AN UPDATE. LOL *cough cough* Prescottdane *cough cough*

***Here's the next chapter and the one that will follow is by far my favorite and lets just say some tension will be laid to rest.

****JUST BECAUSE I GAVE IN THIS TIME DOESN'T MEAN I WILL NEXT TIME.**** ;-) ;-)

I still have my other fanfiction plus personal stuff. Thanks for reading and PLEASE SHOW SOME LOVE AND REVIEW. My Goal is to get more comments than any other posting I've ever done for any of my three stories so PLEASE REVIEW. :-)

CHAPTER #7: Contemptuous Understanding

BPOV

"What's the matter, Bella?" Jasper seemed genuinely worried about me as we sat in the break-room before school.

"Do I look that bad?" I was hoping I didn't look as bad as I felt but apparently I did.

"You have the look of someone that just lost their puppy." I raised an eyebrow at the analogy. He shrugged but didn't elaborate.

"One of my students was pulled from my art class. She was the happiest one to be there." I had received an email from 'The Desk of Ms. Tanya Denali' explaining that the class wasn't a 'good fit' for their family. Edward's... Mr. Cullen's name was attached to the email as well. I don't know why that had upset me so much, it's not like it was a signature or anything, but it did somehow. He hadn't even told me, he left his ex to do it. I was blind sided by the email when I got it. The last I had checked everything went great in the class. Lizzie loved it. She even loved helping me clean up.

I knew things were awkward between us, Edward and me, but it shouldn't have progressed to this. Edward... Mr. Cullen... and I hadn't been dating. We hadn't done anything to warrant pulling Lizzie from my class. Had I done something wrong? I couldn't help but worry that I was at least partially responsible. Should I say something to him? Would that make everything worse? I was more than willing to apologize if I had done something to upset him? I really don't know what I could have done but something was clearly wrong and I wanted to fix it.

"Sadly that can happen at times. Parents have lives outside the school curriculum and occasionally it gets in the way of what I'm sure they prefer for their child." He sounded sympathetic but he also made a good point. Maybe there was some sort of personal reason they couldn't let her attend. Was I being ridiculous? Jasper reached for my hand and gave it a reassuring pat. "It's okay to care Bella. It just shows how amazing of a teacher you are." I smiled at him. Jasper may be my boss but he was also a good friend. I'd heard from the other teachers that he always went out of his way to help everyone. He really loved what he did and everyone adored him.

…...

As I finished up eating in my classroom while the kids were at lunch I tried to think back to the last time I saw him. Tuesday had been such a perfect night with Lizzie and... Mr. Cullen... until it wasn't anymore. I knew I wouldn't see him again until Thursday because of the way his custody scheduled worked and I'd been so nervous about what would happen.

It was obvious how different he was from the moment Lizzie and I came back from the bathroom. I knew right away that our dynamic had changed. At best he was uncomfortable. He hid it well but the emotion was clear in the way he held himself. He was tense, no longer relaxed and not as confident as I'd grown to know. I took my leave quickly as a result, feeling as uncomfortable as he looked. I felt no desire to make things worse for anyone so leaving was for the best. Lizzie had thanked me for coming out with them, and despite how sad I felt, I smiled honestly at her before giving her a hug good-bye. She was such a little sweetheart, and gave me a big hug goodbye and told me that she would miss me.

On Thursday, he arrived at his usual time, after most of the other kids had left. I didn't know what to expect from his behavior as I'd only seen his charming side up until now. He could have just grabbed Lizzie and bolted, most people did as they were probably eager to get home, but he didn't. He stayed to ask how Lizzie did, if she was struggling with anything, and the usual things he always stayed to ask. He was after all still a devoted father, with or without any sort of relationship with me. Why did I have to be to young for him? He was so perfect. When we spoke on Thursday he was... pleasant I guess, not charming really, but nice enough. The thing that stung was when he called me Ms. Swan. I actually flinched when he said it because I was so surprised by it. I felt stupid the instant I did but I really hadn't expected that. He called me Bella for the most part... usually, and when he did call me Ms. Swan it was when he was being playful. This time wasn't playful however, he was serious. I tried to be graceful about it after he did since it's not like he was doing anything wrong. If he wanted us to be professional and not... friends, I could be the same way with him. I called him Mr. Cullen... no more Edward. I missed it the moment I called him his surname but it wasn't really my choice and since he didn't correct me I figured it was what he wanted.

I wanted to be mature about all of this and take it with grace but my feelings were in a completely different realm than my head. I HATED that this happened between us. I HATED that I was 20 and he was 35, and I HATED that the difference even mattered. I HATED that we had seemed so perfect together before we clearly weren't. I also hated that I felt like I was being punished for something that wasn't even my fault. It's not like I could control my age, or his. I gave a heavy sigh. Was there a way to escape my own head for awhile?

Yes, the situation wasn't my fault, but to be fair it wasn't his fault either. It would have been easy to try to be mad at him for maybe leading me on a bit, but I couldn't. He hadn't known my age when we met. I was a lot younger then other teachers and how would he have known that? I couldn't help but see the situation from his point of view. He was a single father, he had a very demanding job... and demanding life as a result. If I was in his place, a 35 year old single mom, would I date a 20 year old? I can't imagine that I would, so how could I judge him for the same thing? What would the people in his life think of him... of me? What would the people in my life think? People in my life would call him a cradle-robber, and people in his world would call me a gold-digger, or at best accuse me of 'daddy issues'. I winced as I thought about what his ex would say... or do? He'd told me all about his responsibilities on Tuesday and he was certainly a busy man. Busy... Fascinating... Charming... Highly intelligent... Kind... Loyal... Fierce... Confident... Amazing... Perfect... UGGGG. I needed to stop this. It... this...between us... wasn't going to happen. Thursday had made that very clear and now with the email I received on Monday that fact was firmly cemented.

I had seen Edward... Mr. Cullen on Monday afternoon when he picked up Lizzie but he'd been so happy to see her that I didn't feel it was the right time to bring up the art class. Should I bring it up? I didn't even know what to say but I felt I should say something, if for no reason other than Lizzie and how she deserved for everyone to at least take a moment to reconsider. Maybe I could shift something around so she could still participate, maybe they could, and I could help them come up with something. She loved art SO MUCH and I didn't want her to lose that for any reason, whether it was my fault or not.

Now I just couldn't seem to shake my sad mood, knowing my #1 art student wouldn't be in the class today. She had talked to me this morning about it and I could see her putting on such a brave little face, but her usually shiny green eyes were so much duller, sadder. I just wanted to hold her while she cried but she was being a tough little trooper. Keeping a brave face, probably for her parents. This wasn't right, but what could I do?

…...

"Okay everyone, excellent work today. Pack up your backpacks and wait to be dismissed." I always had all the kids sit in a circle with their stuff while they waited for their parents to arrive. It was the best way to keep track of them. I learned that the hard way last year when I was student teaching. Try having a group of 20+ 5 year old's in a room together without any instruction, for even 60 seconds. Yeah... not a good idea.

I was cleaning up some of the group tables when Lizzie came up to me asking if she could help. The other students were all talking quietly so I let her. She followed me around as we cleaned up and she shyly asked what would be happening in the art class today. When my eyes went to hers, there were unmistakable tears there. I bent down and tried to comfort her. She wrapped her arms around my neck and I swear I had to fight my own tears as I hugged her back.

I remembered being the shy little girl in elementary school, then junior high, high school, even college. I barely even looked at anyone, let alone spoke to them. My mom had enrolled me in an art class when I was a bit older than Lizzie, hoping to boost my confidence, and I had loved it so much that it was my minor in college. As I looked down at the sweet little girl sobbing in my arms I resolved right there to say something, if not to Mr. Cullen, then maybe to Ms. Denali. Maybe I had the wrong idea about her, maybe she didn't realize how much the class meant to Lizzie. I had to try, for Lizzie.

I had yet to ever speak to Lizzie's mom even once as whenever she was picking up Lizzie she looked really busy, on her phone typically, and left without a word to me. I wasn't even sure she'd ever actually looked at me. The only reason I knew she was Lizzie's mom was that Lizzie had run up to her the first time calling her 'Mommy'. I really didn't know what to make of the woman. She was taller then me by a noticeable amount, looking maybe 6 feet tall. Plus she wore heels making her look even taller. She had really beautiful strawberry blonde hair without a single strand out of place. Her make-up was flawless, as were her clothes, and pretty much everything else about her. She was certainly the woman that caused every other woman to take a hit to their ego just by being in the same vicinity. I hadn't gotten a look at her eyes as she was always looking away but I imagine they were as perfect as the rest of her.

As usual Lizzie was one of the last students to be picked up. Unlike with Mr. Cullen, who I was sure did it on purpose so he could ask about her day, Ms. Denali was last because she seemed focused on other things. I took it as a good thing though, since I wanted to talk to her. I just had Lizzie and Rebecca left when I saw Ms. Denali. I immediately went to her and was relieved that for once she wasn't on the phone. I was about to introduce myself when Rebecca said bye to me and as soon as I turned back to the woman, she was gone. Hadn't she seen me come up to her? It was pretty obvious I wanted to speak to her right?

I resolved to try to speak to her again on Thursday. If I'm to chicken to speak with Mr. Cullen directly tomorrow. I frowned at my own taunting brain. If he didn't want to speak to me enough to even tell me he was pulling Lizzie, why would he be willing to listen to me argue about it? My inner taunt had nothing to say to that. Great now I'm arguing with myself about this. I sighed as cleaned up my desk before I left.

I dropped the whole line of depressing thoughts and hurried to the art room. We would be doing more color combining today and the kids were really excited. I was able to help all the kids figure out how to create their own colors and the results were amazing. Henry decided he wanted to create the perfect shade of purple this time, to match my dress. I laughed at his charm but helped anyway, just as I helped everyone else with their choices. I loved all the different colors everyone wanted and why they chose them. One of my favorites was a little girl who wanted the perfect colors for a rainbow. I told her a rainbow was red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. She loved trying to figure out how to make indigo. Honestly I wasn't even sure exactly how to do it but we figured it out and she made the perfect rainbow. The green she made was so similar to the emerald that Lizzie had made during her first and only session that it actually made me fight tears. I missed her already.

Henry seemed to have picked up on my sad mood as he used his purple color to paint me an array of flowers. I swear I almost cried at how sweet he was. He gave me a big hug after I thanked him for the painting and then told me he didn't want to see his girlfriend cry. For once his behavior didn't make me blush but it did make me smile. I gave him a hug and told him to never change. He smiled before using the rest of his paint to draw a purple dinosaur for his dad and a purple kitten for his mom.

Despite Henry's efforts I still missed Lizzie so much. I missed her bright smile, happy stories, and even her daddy devotion. I just missed her. For probably the first time ever, I was actually glad when art was over. It took awhile to clean up as I didn't have help this time, and that thought just made me sadder. I shook my head of the thoughts and tried to remember how much I love art but somehow the class didn't feel right without my #1 green-eyed girl.

…...

THURSDAY MORNING...

I wasn't to proud to admit that I DID indeed chicken out of bringing up the class with Mr. Cullen on Wednesday, but I did find one of my old workbooks about how to draw eyes. I was cleaning up my art supplies at home when I saw it and I immediately thought of Lizzie and how much she loved to draw eyes. I found it Wednesday night and planned to give it to her first thing this morning. I pictured in my head how she would smile and imagined it would be the biggest one I'd seen since the last time she was in art class. That thought immediately killed my improved mood. I hated how sad she looked and how helpless I was to make it better for her. I REALLY wanted to talk to Mr. Cullen, but I couldn't bring myself to say anything. What on earth would I say? What could I say?

"Cheer up, your mood is bringing me down." Angela and I were having breakfast, early as she'd just gotten off a late shift at the hospital, and I had to get a lot of things together at school today.

"Sorry." I grumbled around my oatmeal.

"You have all week off next week, and you're all mopey." I rolled my eyes.

"I have a lot of prep work for the parent teacher conferences to do, so it's not really a vacation."

"You'll work for what 3 extra hours a day during the conferences?" She gives me her famous 'Bitch Brow' as my mother calls it. I want to frown but choose to let it go. She did just get off a double shift and is running on pretty much caffeine and adrenaline at this point. Who could blame her for being a little moody.

"Classes will let out a bit early so we can all gather all the progress reports for each student, and review everything with the parents. We go over any struggles, what we will be working on next,... lots of stuff. I'll be working till about 7 or so each day."

"Boo-hoo. My shifts are way longer." I sigh, choosing to ignore her. These meetings are stressful, especially involving any students really struggling. The parents can be defensive, distraught, angry, devastated, and pretty much everything else. No parent wants to see their child struggle.

"So... Is EVERYTHING going well?" Uh-oh. I know that tone. That's the 'I'm about to ask you about stuff you don't want to share and that is absolutely none of my business but I'm going to but in anyway' tone.

"Yep." She frowns and I stand up immediately to start doing dishes. I really need a better escape plan when it comes to trying to avoid her curiosity. The same thing happens when I'm around my mother. I freeze in place and then she has me right in her clutches.

"Any new developments with a certain Hot D.I.L.F?"

"Angela!" I spun on her so fast I sprayed water everywhere and she laughed as I flushed and immediately started cleaning it up in embarrassment. Why was I such a hopeless mess?

"I'm just kidding Bella." She rolls her eyes but can't hide her smirk. I can still feel the heat in my face and prey that she isn't looking as I mop up the water from the ground. She knows how uncomfortable I get talking about sex. "So any developments with...EDWARD?" She says his name in a mock dreamy tone. I flinch at the name but luckily she didn't seem to notice.

"Nope, no developments." Do I sound as disappointed to her as I do to myself?

"What happened?"

"Nothing. He's not interested I guess." I tried to shrug it off easily as I finished with the floors. I turned back to the sink and she reached for my arm softly.

"Bella, what happened?" Her voice is soft and I sigh as I turn to look at her. I really really don't want to go over our failed almost date but I've always been an open book to her.

"Long story short..."

…...

The short story version ended up being longer then I wanted as I told her about the restaurant and a very brief recount of what's happened since I told him my age. "WOW. 15 years?" I scrunch my nose in distaste. Why did that have to matter? She didn't have much to say after that. She tried to say comforting things but in the end she couldn't really disagree when I made my points about why my age was probably an issue for him. Beneath her brazen attitude she was a pretty logical girl so she understood. I just wished there was nothing TO understand.

…...

As I booted up my computer at school and worked quietly, I got lost in my thoughts about...him. I wanted to be logical and I wanted to be fair, but it was so hard to do it. My head was looking at the numbers and all the reasons we couldn't work but my heart saw everything else. The way he smiled at me. The way my pulse picked up with a simple glance from him. Then there was our almost date. I had really gotten to know him and he was better then I ever thought possible. He was everything I could want and yet it didn't matter. Feelings, chemistry, similarities... all of it meant nothing in the face of one stupid number... well 2 stupid numbers... 1 and 5... 15. I knew that we weren't... compatible because of it, but I couldn't stop feeling depressed regardless.

I had arrived at school early. It was Thursday and was the last day of school before we had break and it was an early release day as well. We had a three day weekend plus a week off before all the conferences the following week, which I was grateful for. I was pretty sure I had a good start on all of my progress reports but more time to look them over could only help. I had every parent down for a specific time slot each day and all had confirmed that the times worked for them but I still wanted to be sure. I was sending all the parents yet another emailed reminder. I also had printed copies of the schedules that I would send home with each of my students in case a parent forgot.

Considering that the day was early release everything was going pretty slow. It was obvious that I REALLY wasn't looking forward to my first parent teacher week. Deep down I knew I was over reacting but that wasn't something I saw changing anytime soon. As great as I found kids, and loved being with them, adults were more of a question mark for me. I've always been the shy girl, quiet and awkward around people and when I am on the spot I turn red and trip over myself. Despite this handicap when around adults, with kids I never feel out of place. This was one of the reasons I became a teacher. I understood kids better and they never made me nervous. None of this natural ease helped me when it came to their parents though.

At 12:00 the school released and the kids were crazy with the knowledge that they had no school for a week. I laughed as each parent rolled their eyes through their kids enthusiasm while confirming their appointments with me for the week after the break. As usual Lizzie was the last student and she happily worked on drawing quietly while I checked the clock. I frowned realizing her mom was now 20 minutes late. It was common to be a little late with a release time like this because of the lunch traffic but this was a bit much. I went to my desk and looked up her office number. I called, but there was no answer. She had 4 different numbers listed for her so I went through each, leaving a brief message on each. When there was no answer I sighed and went to sit with Lizzie. I decided to wait a few minutes to see if I got a call back. We drew for a couple minutes but when no call came I started to get a little worried. I looked at my cell and realized she was now 45 minutes late.

I watched Lizzie out of the corner of my eye and she was blissfully unaware of any problem. "Sweety?" She looked up at me happily, even showing me her drawing of her holding hands with Edward, judging by the bronze hair. She was so cute and I didn't want to worry her at all. I smiled encouragingly and patted her head as I praised her drawing before I spoke about her mom. How can I word this without upsetting her? I didn't want her to think that her mother forgot her or was missing. "Do you know how I can get a hold of your mom? She's running a bit late today and I want to make sure shes not caught in traffic or something." I kept my smile in place to ensure Lizzie was calm.

"Mommy is always late." Oookay. I glanced at my cell again and scrolled down to the number I hadn't been able to bring myself to delete yet... Edward's. I didn't list it under Mr. Cullen because secretly I didn't want to think of him by that name. This was his PERSONAL number, not an office number like all the other ones I had on the computer for his ex-wife. The one number I had for him is his personal number. The symbolism of such a thing wasn't lost on me, nor was the irony that I would never get to use it for a personal reason.

I took a deep breath and before I could chicken out I pressed send. I waited through shallow breaths for a few rings and then that silky voice answered.

"Bella?" Bella? He said my name, not Ms. Swan. I would have smiled if we weren't in such an awkward situation... yet again.

"Hi... Edward." Should I have called him Mr. Cullen?

"Is everything alright? Did Tanya pick up Lizzie okay?" Leave it to him to get straight to the point.

"Ummm, no." His breath caught and I rushed to soothe him. "Lizzie's wonderful. Her and I are drawing right now." I smiled at her and she beamed back before returning to her drawing of a big house behind her dad and her.

I heard something on his end of the call but it was far to muffled to make out any words though I was pretty sure there was a lot of anger radiating from the other line. His voice returned and there was a deathly calm to it that sent a shiver down my spine. "Tanya didn't show up." It was NOT a question and his lack of shock left me feeling both bad for him and a little mad at Tanya. How often did she pull this kind of thing? I'd been involved in their world for about a month and this was the third time she hadn't shown up. The parent-teacher class, the first day of school, and now this. How many times was it for Edward... for Lizzie?

"No, and I left messages under every number I have for her. I'm sorry to have to..." I didn't even know what to say. Hadn't we just had this conversation... a month ago? "I'm sorry." I didn't even know what I was apologizing for at the moment. I just felt bad for him, but mostly for Lizzie. She was even less surprised then Edward by Tanya's absence.

He went silent again and I heard more muffles, louder this time. I figured he was probably holding the phone to his shirt or something. I waited calmly until his voice returned. "I'm not close by right now. We had a conference a few hours away with another firm. I'm leaving now but with traffic it will be... awhile." The way he was speaking, with slow measured words, I could tell it was taking a LOT of effort for him to keep his calm. If there was one thing I had learned about Edward it was that his daughter meant everything to him, and considering the strong controlling man he was I imagined he was close to loosing it.

"Did you want me to call her grandparents?" They were listed as some of the few that were allowed to take Lizzie from the school and I figured maybe he needed help making calls since he was probably driving.

"They are out of state... it's their anniversary. I would call my brother but he and his wife are on a long weekend getaway." His voice was so cold it was unlike anything I'd heard from him before. Strangely it didn't make me scared though. It just made me want to comfort him, to soothe the worry I knew the anger was masking.

"Ummm,..." How would he respond to my next offer? "If...if... you wanted me to... I could take Lizzie to my apartment."

"What?" I felt like an idiot. Teachers didn't do stuff like that but I thought of them as friends... or at least I had...before... everything.

"Well, I live really close and she could hang out with me for awhile." My voice sounded shaky but I couldn't stop rambling. "My room-mate..."

"Angela?" He remembered that?

"Yeah, Angela... She works late tonight so it would be just Lizzie and me." Lizzie seemed to catch that as she bounced up and down in her seat excitedly. I smiled at her in encouragement. At least she wasn't upset about her mom, I really didn't want to see her cry ever again, especially when her smile was that beautiful.

"Bella, you shouldn't have to do that." His voice was so much softer now and I knew that the idea of his daughter having a safe place to go meant the world to him.

"I don't mind. I love being with Lizzie." I spoke honestly and he took a deep breath. "Did you want to speak with her?" I already knew the answer to that. He said yes quickly and I gave my cell to her. I couldn't hear him but almost immediately Lizzie was laughing and promising him she would. She ended it by telling him she loved him before handing me back the phone. I brought it to my ear and his voice was so much better now. The little princess could work miracles that was for certain. If I was Edward I would be distraught but clearly a few sentences from her cheered him up infinitely.

"Bella you have no idea how much this means to me. I'm so sorry for this, and I can assure you, it WILL NOT happen again." His words were so firm I instantly believed him.

"Of course, anytime... Edward." The tension between him and me was coming back but regardless of that, somehow it didn't feel right to go back to using his surname. Then again it never really did.

"Thank-you Bella. Could you text me your address? I'll put it into my GPS, and I'll call when I'm close by." I nodded then felt like an idiot because he couldn't see me.

"Sure. It's really easy to spot, right off the main street." Now for a tense question. "What should I do with the office involving Tanya not showing up?" It was a VERY serious thing for a parent to not show up for their child, and in the case of divorced parents the ugliness only got worse. Typically the office called all contacts related to the child, like I already had, then after that more drastic measures were taken. If no one could be reached police were informed followed by social workers. The idea of Lizzie being taken away by strangers, even for just a few hours made me want to cry. I couldn't imagine how traumatic that would be for her and she certainly didn't deserve such a thing. I had to help in any way I could.

"I will take care of it. You've done more than enough. Thank-you again Bella." There was that strong, intelligent, velvety voice that always made me smile. Why did he have to be so perfect while also being completely impossible? I wanted to smack myself. This was not the time, the poor man is worried sick about Lizzie.

"You're welcome Edward." I could hear his breath and I knew he was still upset. "Hey, Edward?"

"Yes?"

"Lizzie's in good hands. I promise she'll have lots of fun and I'll fill her up with so much sugar she'll be a bundle of smiles when you get here." He actually laughed at my lame joke. At least I made him smile so that was something.

"Thanks again Bella... for everything. I'll see you both soon." I smiled as I hung up. Lizzie had already pulled her bag on while she waited for me to hang up with her dad. She was certainly ready to go. I took her hand and headed for the office. The school kept extra boosters seats in there for field trips and day care so I knew I could borrow one. After I grabbed it, Lizzie and I went to my car and I managed to install it pretty easily. I got her in and drove, somewhat awkwardly, home.

It was going to be an interesting night...

END NOTES:

-PLEASE REVIEW

-How pissed is Edward going to be next chapter? Any guesses? Lol. A pissed Edward is a hot Edward.

-How can Edward stay away from Bella when she constantly reminds him of how perfect she is?

-You can really get a feel for Bella's maturity in the face of Edward pulling away from her a bit. Most would be hurt or angry and while she is upset she puts herself in his shoes which shows a lot about her. I don't know if I would be that reasonable. Lol. Good for her. :-)

-Despite both being smart about the situation and even seeing why a relationship between them would be difficult, they still show their differences. While he thinks on the more logical side of the obstacles they would face, such as how much of a future they have as well as similarities, she focus's on the emotional stuff such as what the people they love would think of them together.

-BEFORE anyone critiques Bella taking such a personal interest in her student instead of bringing Lizzie to the office and notifying authorities (As would be usual procedure) please remember that Bella loves Lizzie very much and sees both her and Edward as friends. Not to mention that she wouldn't want Lizzie traumatized with cops being involved, or God forbid social services. Also remember that this is FICTION. I try to follow facts but sometimes I stretch things a bit.