A/N: As usual, you guys have blown me away with the response to this little story of mine. Folks, I've been writing my hands to the bone today, unable to get this story out of my head fast enough. To celebrate, I am giving you another step in the story. I hope you enjoy! More at the bottom.

The next couple of weeks passed by in a haze. My husband didn't contact me, and I was grateful. My attorney assured me that he had the paperwork as of last night, but no one had contacted her yet. I sat with bated breath waiting to see what happened. After everything that happened between us, I wasn't really sure I wanted to talk to him ever again. I was also sort of afraid of what he would do next.

My attorney so far had been really great. She was a friend of Angela and Ben's, so I hadn't had to search for her. When I walked into the conference room where we were meeting, she stood up, shook my hand and said, "Let's nail this asshole."

"I don't want to nail him, necessarily. I just want out as fast as possible," I had said to her.

"I know that. But Ang told me what he did to you, so I want to see him get nailed."

After that, I just let her do her worst. She wasn't asking for anything unreasonable. She wrote up exactly what he and I had discussed and decided on that first fateful night: 50% of shared assets, per California law, cars to be separated, bank accounts right down the middle, etc. Nothing major. I didn't ask for any part of the stock I knew he had with his company; I simply didn't want it.

"Now, this is important. Once the papers are delivered to him, there is a mandatory six-month waiting period in the state of California. He has thirty days to file a petition, which is just a response or counter to anything we put in the divorce papers. If he contests anything, or requests an extension of the thirty days, it will come to me. We can then counter whatever he says, if it's necessary. You can also concede if you don't wish to continue the fight; that makes it a little bit of a faster process.

"We are aiming for an out of court settlement; but that assumes that you both agree to the terms and do not need a judge to intervene. Now that we have our paperwork in order, I will file it with the court and see that he is served. Then, it's a waiting game."

"Do I have to stay in California during the six-month waiting period?"

"As long as he stays within the county here, we should be fine. If he moves also, we will have to file a change of venue for a court within his, or your, new county. I don't recommend it, honestly. If he contests it you will have to travel back here to appear in court."

I looked down, worried. "His entire family is here; I don't think he would ever move away." I was silent for a moment. "I need to move to Seattle. It's for my job."

She stared at me for a few moments. "What's his name?"

I looked up at her. "Who?"

"The man in Seattle. What's his name? Does your husband know?"

"Edward Cullen. And, yes. I told my husband that I had slept with someone else. Right before he punched me." I swallowed thickly, even more worried.

"Well, let's just hope we get a sympathetic judge. The adultery will not really help our case, but the fact that he hit you as a result may push it into our favor. We will just have to see if he contests anything, and if we have to go in front of a judge. If we don't, then I think everything will be ok.

"When were you thinking of moving?" She was back to business quickly. Her ability to read me was sort of scary though; probably just a necessity based on what she does. We went through my plan, and we determined that now that the paperwork had been completed, I could conceivably leave whenever I had the money and had found a place to live.

My phone ringing at my desk startled me, bringing me back to reality. "This is Bella," I said, quickly turning back to my computer, seeing Edward's face on the call icon.

"Morning, baby."

"Edward, don't call me that when we are at work. Someone could overhear you!" I whispered, even though I knew no one could hear me sitting in Angela's guest room.

"I'm working from home today; no one is here."

"Where is she?"

"Staying with her mother until I can move out. She didn't want to stay here with me, so she left last night."

"I guess I can understand that. If I were in her place, I probably would have done the same thing."

"How are you doing today, baby? Did you hear if the papers were served yet?"

"I'm ok, I guess. Yeah, they were served yesterday. My attorney says he has thirty days to contest anything. Whether he does or doesn't, though, there is a six-month waiting period in California. So, even if he agrees to everything and we settle out of court, I still have to wait six months before I'm free."

He sighed. "Damn, that's a lot longer than I thought it would be. It's only ninety days here."

"When do you go see your attorney?"

"A week from today. It was the soonest he could get me in. This weekend is the dinner with my parents where I give them the update. Not really looking forward to that conversation."

"Do...how do you think they will take it?"

"Hey, why don't you share your video? I want to see you." It didn't escape my notice that he evaded my question.

I clicked the button to add video to the call, smoothing my hair down a little on the side where my ear piece was. Soon, Edward's face lit up my screen. I smiled at him, noting how tired he looked.

"Baby, you look so tired," he said, smiling sweetly at me. "Are you getting any sleep?"

I shook my head. "Not much. What about you? You look tired, too."

He ran his hand through his hair. "Last night was rough. It was a pretty heavy fight until around 2 or so when she left. Was probably around 3 when I fell asleep."

My eyes started stinging. I looked down, unable to meet his eyes. "What are we doing, Edward? Is it still...god, this is so hard! Look at what it's doing to us."

"Bella, look at me." Slowly, I brought up my eyes up to meet his. His gaze was intense. "We knew this was going to be hard. Right? We have to go through this to get back to where we were."

I nodded. "I know, I get it. It's just a lot harder than I thought it was going to be."

"Look at me and tell me you love me."

I stared straight into his beautiful green eyes. "I love you. Edward, I love you so much."

"Then it's worth it. Trust me, baby. It will all be worth it in the end." He sighed, keeping eye contact. "When are you going to be able to move?"

"I was thinking a week from Monday, but only if the apartment is ready. At this point, nothing is holding me here; he has the papers, he signed the bank documents to sever the accounts and didn't fight on half of the savings, either. Since I don't have to worry about the down payment on the apartment..." I glared at his sheepish smile and continued, "I can come up whenever. I need to talk to my boss again, though, and make sure the timing works. They were trying to find me a desk in the office last I heard."

He nodded. "The apartment will be ready next Friday. Since I'm seeing my attorney that day, I won't be able to get the keys until Saturday. I'm getting my moving truck on Sunday. So at least the place will be furnished when you get there." He reached over to the side of his computer and picked up his cell. "If you leave the following Monday, I'll be all set up by the time you get here."

"If I push it, I can get there the same day; the drive from here only takes about twelve hours. I took the whole week off, though, because I wanted to have a few days to orient myself to Seattle."

"And to spend extra, uninterrupted time with me, too, right?" His smile was huge.

"Of course," I giggled.

"I don't like you making a twelve-hour drive on your own in one day. Why don't you stop in Medford or something? That way you don't have to do the whole thing at once."

"I'd rather just start early on Monday and get there as soon as possible."

"But..." His face showed concern.

"How about this? What if I stop if I get tired or something? I can play it by ear and just find the closest hotel," I offered.

He nodded. "Ok, that should be good. I promise to have a bed here for you when you arrive." He smirked at me, and I just shook my head, a smile lighting my face.

"Are you taking a lot of your furniture with you?"

"No, not really. I bought a new bedroom set that I need to pick up with the truck, but I have a few things here that are big enough that I don't think my car can handle them."

"And the dinner with your parents is when, tomorrow?" He nodded. "I hope it goes well; you'll have to let me know how they are about everything. Is there anything I can do to help you?"

"Just get your ass up here as quickly as you can. I need you here with me."

"I promise."

The rest of the day went by smoothly, with Edward IMing me here and there about nothing of real importance. I was sure he was distracting me, which I welcomed. He was telling his parents this weekend, so I figured I should probably call mine also. Dad never really offered an opinion of my husband, but I know my mother loved him. So, it could be a toss-up as to their reaction.

The next morning, I decided to tell Dad first; otherwise, if I had called Mom, the first thing she would have done was call Dad to talk to him about it.

"Hey, Bells." Dad always answered the phone the same way. "I didn't expect to hear from you until tomorrow. I was just heading out to do some fishing."

"Oh, sorry, Dad. Should I let you go?"

"No, it can wait, kid. Sounds like you got something on your mind."

"Daddy..."

"Oh, here we go. What's wrong?"

"I left him." The silence was deafening on the other end of the call. I quickly rushed to explain. "We haven't been working for a long time. I didn't want to live like that anymore."

He huffed out a laugh. "I'm honestly not surprised, Bells."

"You never liked him, did you Daddy?"

"It's not that I didn't like him, I just didn't think he was right for you. Something about him was always off to me, but I couldn't put my finger on it."

"That's just the cop in you. You always thought my boyfriends were terrible people."

He laughed. "I had to protect you, Bells. That's my job, before being a cop." He sobered after a moment. "What else? There's something you aren't telling me."

I was silent for a second. That man had excellent psychic abilities. "I'm moving, Daddy. To my work's main office in Seattle."

"Not moving closer to Phoenix, huh? Well, now, that's too bad. Would have been nice to have you home."

"There's something else I have to tell you. Well, two somethings I guess." He didn't say anything, so I took a deep breath. "I fell in love with someone that I used to work with, I am moving to Seattle mostly to try being with him. When I told my husband about it, well...let's just say he was extremely angry."

"What did he do, Bells?"

"He hit me, Daddy. And then he bruised my shoulder the next day when I went to get the rest of my stuff. Angela and Ben went with me, though, because they didn't want me to go alone."

"Where is he now? Did you call the cops on him? Bells, tell me he's in jail!" My father never sounded this angry, even when he and Mom were fighting when I was little before they divorced.

"I don't want to deal with that, Dad. I'd have to stay here and testify...I just want out. Please, don't do anything. Just let my attorney handle this. Ang and Ben witnessed the second time, so I have witnesses to his casual disregard for my safety, as you would put it. They already gave a statement to my attorney." He was still silent. "Please, Dad? Don't do anything?"

"I'll keep it in mind. Email me your attorney's name and number; I'll give her a call. Make sure you tell her that she's allowed to talk to me, yeah? That way I can help stay on top of her progress with him, ok?"

"I will, Dad. I'll email you both later today, I promise." I bit my lip; he still hadn't mentioned anything about Edward. "What about me moving in with someone in Seattle? Are you ok with that?"

"Hmmph. I'll wait to venture an opinion until after I meet him. Is he good to you?"

"He's a wonderful man, Daddy. I had to hold him back from coming down here to kil-kick my husband's ass after what happened."

"Good."

"I gotta call Mom now, Dad. And I know you want to get on your boat. I'll talk to you later, ok?"

"Sure, Bells. When are you moving?"

"A week from Monday. I'll also email you my new address, so you have it. And I'll make sure to text you when I get in, ok?"

"Sounds good, kiddo. Love you, Bells."

"Love you too, Dad."

The conversation with my mother was much harder. Dad always did understand me a little better, but he was also a very practical man – something my mother never appreciated. When I told her about the divorce, she was devastated, telling me I should never leave anyone that handsome. But, when I told her about the abuse, she was quiet. That was alarming in and of itself, since my mother was never quiet.

"He hurt you, baby?"

"He punched me right in the face after I told him I had slept with someone else, Mom. Then, the next day, he squeezed my shoulder enough to give me several finger shaped bruises."

"You tell your Dad?"

"Yeah, I did."

"And is he on his way over to arrest the asshole?"

I almost laughed. I explained what I had said to Dad, and she was appeased – sort of. That was the turning point in the conversation. Once she understood what kind of person he was, she didn't want me to be married to him any longer. Then, most disturbingly, she wanted to know how the sex was with Edward. Pleading that I needed to get off the phone, I was able to avoid it. Though, knowing my mother, I knew she would ask again at some point.

Edward's visit with his parents went far better, in my opinion. They sounded like very nice people; they were concerned, of course, but ultimately, they wanted him happy. He sounded relieved when we spoke on Sunday morning.

"My Mom was easily the best about the whole thing. Dad just wanted to talk more about the fact that I had cheated, but Mom said it didn't matter. If I loved you, then she thought the whole thing was fine. Didn't seem like Dad was really that comforted by it, though."

"Well, I mean, we should have done this differently I suppose. I mean, neither of us were available when we slept together. If we had been thinking at all, then we would have declared our feelings for each other, divorced, and then slept together."

He laughed. "Once you told me how you felt about me, baby, I wouldn't have been able to keep my hands off you."

I joined in his laughter. "Yeah, I know. Same."

"Mom wants to meet you when you get here. I told her I would speak with you about it and let them know." I sucked in a breath. "But we don't have to do this right away. Let's take some time, just us, and settle in to our new place, ok? Then we can decide when is the best time for you to meet them."

I exhaled, relieved. "Yes, that works. It's not that I'm opposed to meeting them, Edward. I'm just nervous."

"I know, baby."

"I want this week to be over. I feel like I haven't seen you in months."

"You saw me on Friday, silly girl."

"You know what I mean."

"Yeah, I do. Honestly, I feel the same way. I shifted the truck rental to Saturday, so I can get everything in before the end of the day. A couple friends of mine are coming to help me out, so it shouldn't take long. I want to spend some time on Sunday cleaning up and getting everything ready for your stuff. Probably won't have the energy to clear it out of your car until Tuesday, though." He paused and laughed. "Of course, Tuesday we will both be tired from staying up all night long, right, baby?"

I giggled. Edward could always make me feel better about everything. "You better let me sleep, mister. Driving for twelve hours straight is going to kill me."

"I wish you didn't have to drive up here alone."

"I know; there's just no one to drive with me. It's fine. I'm a big girl, Edward. I'll survive."

We chatted for a little longer before hanging up to get other things done. I was still smiling when Angela came in to check on me.

"Oh, who put that smile on your face, hmm?" She sat down on the side of the bed, grinning at me. "Would that be Edward?"

I blushed. "Yeah, we just got off the phone."

"I sure as hell hope that you are planning on inviting me up there to visit someday. I want to meet this guy."

I reached over and hugged her. "You better come visit me." I pulled back with my arms still around her. "I'm going to miss you so much, Ang!"

She smiled, wiping a tear away. "I'm going to miss you, too. Ben and I love Seattle, we would love to visit you."

"I can't thank you enough for letting me stay here, for coming with me...just, everything."

She hugged me again. "You don't need to thank me. Just make sure you check in and tell me how things are going with your new man."

The next week passed by in a blur. My boss had finally found a desk for me, so at least I knew I had a place to be once I got there. She was nice, but I didn't really know her that well yet. She was also in Seattle, so I was looking forward to meeting her. Angela and I worked out which boxes she would ship to me, since my SUV wouldn't fit everything. We packed it up as a test, and found if I took everything, I couldn't see out the back window at all.

"Why don't I ship four or five to you? That way, the top layer of boxes won't be there. That will give you the visibility." Angela was assessing my car after we had the last box inside.

"Yeah, that should work. I wish I'd gotten that huge SUV now, not the smaller model."

"Well, it's only a few boxes, that's not a big deal really. Thank goodness you didn't have more stuff." She was joking, but that sort of got to me a little.

Once the work week was over, I was still thinking about that conversation while I set up my out of office message for the next week. Why didn't I have more things? The house was filled with his stuff...I wasn't really a collector, and he was, so it probably was just because of that. I never really had the need to buy things for myself.

My phone buzzed on the desk just as I was turning my computer off to pack it up.

Edward: Paperwork is done. Too late to get to the court today, but will be filed on Monday. She'll be served by Tuesday at the latest.

Me: Well, that's one thing down at least. How are you feeling?

Edward: Close to free.

Me: Close?

Edward: I'll feel better once it's officially filed and she's served. For now, I'm getting closer to being free for you.

I laughed. He certainly had a way with words.

Me: LOL, well that's good. I just turned my computer off; last time I do that I hope in California!

Edward: Fantastic! One step closer to me! How are you feeling?

Me: Good. Really good. Missing you, though.

Edward: Not too much longer, baby.

We texted throughout the weekend. He told me when he got the keys for our new place, and when he was done putting his new furniture, and the rest of his stuff in. We talked Saturday night about shopping we were going to need to do, and made plans to do that during the week. Edward had decided to take the whole week off with me, so we could really have some alone time. That made the weekend even better.

By Sunday, I was so excited I could hardly sleep, so I got up early. I was drinking coffee when Angela came down. She didn't say anything, just sat with me. She understood my nerves, and my excitement, but she would miss me. It kept her from being truly 100% excited for me.

"What do you want to do today, Bella? Anything you want to eat, or places you want to visit before you move?" I could hear the sadness in her voice. I leaned over and hugged her.

"I want to spend the day with my best friend."

Her hug was fierce. "Let's go get our nails, hair, eyebrows, whatever done today. Just us. Ok?"

It was an amazing day. Angela knew exactly what to suggest to keep me from wasting hours nervous about the next day. I knew that I could have left on Sunday, but I had wanted this last day with her, and I knew Edward wanted time to make sure the apartment was ready for me.

Hours later, we returned happy, nails and hair done, arms looped around the other. We walked in to the kitchen to see Ben talking to someone who's back was to us. Ben glanced up and smiled.

"Ladies, you look lovely. I want you to meet my new friend."

The man turned around slowly, smirking.

"Edward!"

A/N: Terrible place to end it, I know. But, man these chapters were getting long! Had to stop it somewhere. Next, we move!

Also, while this started out being just a fluff story, my characters do have a mind of their own. Stuff happens, stuff responds. You get it. We have evolved, yes? Hopefully you all still like the story once the evolving is done. Lots more coming (Up to chapter 10 in my head, 7 written). Good? Give you all something to read on a lazy social distanced Sunday?

Seriously, though, thank you all for the response to this. I am just loving this story, and so happy that you are as well. I saw some questions in reviews and PMs, and each of you have given me something to think about - and most likely address - for future chapters. Will get the next posted soon - tomorrow maybe? We'll see. May be Monday or Tuesday. I'll do my best.

Also, zombified419, what the hell would I do without you my friend? Seriously, folks, you can all thank my amazing beta for this story. Wouldn't be here without her. Love you to pieces!