A/N: There is some sensitive content discussed in this chapter. A detailed trigger warning is at the bottom. If you have any sensitivity to certain subjects, please scroll down there and read that before you continue.

BPOV

"I'm so jealous," Rosalie sighed. "This time next week you'll be in New York City."

It was pretty comical, Rosalie Hale being even remotely jealous of me for anything. "For work, not for fun."

"Yeah, but you'll have some fun," she added. "A lot of people would enjoy spending the week planning an episode of SNL."

"I'm not going to be planning. I'm going to make sure my client doesn't say anything stupid."

"That guy does have a track record of saying some stupid shit," Emmett added ruefully.

We were all at dinner, some casual burger place downtown. Rosalie and Emmett had been nearly inseparable since that first double date. It meant I didn't see her much, because she spent a lot of her nights at Emmett's apartment. I was pretty sure she was trying not to act too happy with him around me considering the only man I had ever been interested in was, technically, married.

I usually brushed off their invites to dinner because I didn't want to be a third wheel, and I didn't want to drag them down with me in my current depressed and angry state. I missed my friend, though, and I was about to be gone for a week.

"Did I tell you about the writer who nearly got the show cancelled a few days ago?" I asked, dipping a fry in some ketchup.

"Bella?" My name came from behind me. I turned quickly, my stomach dropping as I saw Alice and Jasper walking over.

"Alice, Jasper," I gasped, eyes wide and stomach in knots. I hadn't seen them since the last time I was at Edward's for their family dinner.

They smiled politely, and I realized I was supposed to make introductions. "Oh, this is my roommate Rosalie Hale and her boyfriend Emmett McCarthy. This is Alice Cullen and her fiancé, Jasper Whitlock. She's Edward's sister."

They all exchanged pleasant greetings and I sat there wishing the ground would open up and swallow me whole.

"We were just picking up some food to go. I thought I recognized you across the room, though," Alice added politely. "Maybe you can tell me why my brother seems to be a perpetual grump these days," she said with a laugh.

It was probably meant to be polite small talk, but it felt like a stab to each of the wallowing butterflies in my stomach.

"It's probably my fault," I told her. "He's still getting used to the whole publicity thing."

"I don't know," she sighed. "He does nothing but talk highly of you."

"Alice," Jasper interrupted, his voice sounding oddly like a warning. "We should get going."

"Oh, right," she giggled. "It was lovely to meet you two," she said to Emmett and Rose, who gave her kind smiles. Then, she reached down to whisper to me. "Don't give up on him. Please."

I frowned, unsure what it was supposed to mean. Did she think I would drop Edward as a client because he was grumpy? Like I really had a choice in the matter?

If I had a choice… if I could keep my current job and have a roster of other clients I wasn't slowly becoming overly attached to… would I do it? Leave Edward behind and never see him again? Part of me hoped I could, and another knew I would regret never seeing him again.

"So, who almost got the show canceled?" Emmett asked, leaning in and ready for a story.

-B-

On Monday, as I was walking past Edward's office to get to mine, a couple voices from his open office door shouted my name. Masen and Lucy skittered out of his office.

"Oh, hi," I muttered, stopping in the hall as they came over to me. "What are you guys doing here?"
"Schools out," Masen sighed. "We came to hang out with Dad for the day."

"That's nice," I smiled. "I should get going. Have fun, though."

I could still hear them walking behind me as I got to my office door. They followed me in without a word and were still standing there when I turned around.

"We're sorry. If we got you in trouble. Dad came home the other day and – "

"It's fine," I assured them. "You don't have to worry about it."

"He's been really grumpy lately," Lucy said, sounding sad. "I think he's mad at us for going to you."

I frowned, wondering why Edward was grumpy with his family, if what Alice and Lucy were saying was true. I understood his attitude toward me, because I kind of asked for it, but I didn't think it would make him upset all the time.

"His job has been stressful lately," I assured them. "I'm sure it's nothing to do with you guys."

"Yeah," Masen sighed. "So, is there anything else we can – "

"Oh, no. Definitely not," I answered quickly. I wasn't going to do anything involving them. "You should go find your dad. I've got some work to do."

"Okay," Lucy sighed. "Come on, Mase."

I managed to push Edward and his grumpiness out of my mind for most of the morning. I got a, thankfully, good script from the writers and sent it back to them. It was a simple, somewhat normal day, until a man dressed in all black came knocking at my door a few hours before filming was set to start.

"Isabella Swan?"
"Um, yes?" I answered, sounding like an idiot agreeing to my name like it was a question.

"There's a group out front wanting in under your name."

I frowned. Rosalie would never try to get in here, not without telling me first. Neither would Emmett. I couldn't think of anyone else who would know to try and use my name here. I got up and followed the man, who I now guessed was part of the security detail at the theater, to the guest entrance.

My blood ran cold.

Heart stopped.

Limbs went numb.

Ears started ringing.

The last people I expected to show up here were my mother, step-father, and their children.

I froze a few feet away, my body suddenly going through a fight or flight response. I wanted to turn around and not look back and I wanted to scream at them for everything they ever did to me.

"What are you doing here?" I snapped.

Renee frowned at me. Her face hadn't aged since the last time I saw her when I was eighteen. Not in a naturally pretty way, but in a God-how-many-needles-had-been-stuck-in-her kind of way. She wasn't that old, either.

"That's no way to greet your family, Bella," she groaned. "We came to Los Angeles for a little family vacation. Charlie told me about your job here, and Tyler has always loved the show."

It made me nauseous, thinking of Tyler liking Edward. They were polar opposites. And I didn't want them so much as associated together in the same sentence.

"You can't come in here," I said quickly, panic starting to take over.

Phil frowned at me, and I couldn't stomach looking at Tyler. There were a couple younger children with them. A ten-year-old and a fourteen-year-old. Bree and Royce. All of the people my mother chose and defended and believed over me.

It was hard enough keeping myself together around here these days. I couldn't have a few of my worst nightmares walking around.

"Come on, Bella. Tyler just graduated Miami State. Top of his class. He deserves a reward," Phil smirked in my direction and I wanted to throw up.

"Everything okay?" Edward's smooth, gentle voice came from behind me.

"It's fine," I squeaked. "This is my, uh, mother and step-father and their children."

Edward smiled, his should-be-award winning smile and shook everyone's hand. I wanted to cry when he grabbed Tyler's.

"You have a wonderful daughter," he told them with a smile.

Renee and Phil both beamed. "Thank you!"

Then, before I could do anything to stop it, he had one of the men at the nearby check-in desk grab a few passes for them for the rest of the day.

"I can show them around if you want, Sir," the boy, an intern I think, offered. Probably trying to make a good impression on Edward when he never even got close to him on a regular day.

"That'd be wonderful," Renee exclaimed with a smile. Then, they were all across the threshold of the door and I knew I had lost the battle. They all followed the intern, not sparing a second glance at me.

I must have stood there a moment too long, because then I felt Edward's hand on my back, warmth seeping through my thin button down.

"Are you okay?" he asked softly.

I blinked away the impending wetness behind my eyes and turned to face him. "Yes, fine. That was nice of you, thanks."

He nodded slowly. "Of course. They're your family."

I wanted to tell him he was wrong. Instead I nodded and held my breath around every corner until I was safely secluded in my office.

-B-

I didn't have to see them again until I walked out to the stage to watch Edward film tonight's episode. I could have chickened out and watched from one of the hundreds of screens in the building that showed it, but after James' stunt last week I didn't want to risk it.

They weren't here to see me, they were here for themselves. To feel special and get what they wanted. They didn't even try to pretend to want to see me, considering I had managed to hide out in my office the last two hours they had been here.

I straightened myself up, making sure my white button down was tucked in to my black jeans all the way around myself. It was procrastination at its finest.

After three deep breaths I opened my door and headed down the hall toward the stage. I wanted to scream when I heard a hauntingly familiar voice call out my name behind me.

I stopped and turned around and Tyler was coming down the hall toward me.

"I've been looking for you," he said with a nauseating smirk.

"I was working. What do you want?" I snapped. Taking a step back for every step he took toward me.

"I've missed having you around," he joked with a dark chuckle, reaching up to grab a strand of my hair.

I flinched out of his reach. "Don't touch me."

Again, he chuckled. "You were always so easy to rile up."

"You got what you wanted. You're at the show, go watch and just leave."

"Don't be so fucking rude, Bella," he boomed, hands clasping around my biceps and pushing me roughly into the wall.

I panicked for a moment, then remembered every self-defense class Rosalie went to with me. I managed to get out of his grasp but that quickly ended with his fist connecting with my nose.

In the back of my mind I heard my name being called out. My back slid down the wall and I felt Tyler kneeling on front of me, hands gently on my biceps now. I held my nose, which was now throbbing, my hands quickly getting covered in blood.

"She's a klutz, man. Just walked right in to the wall," Tyler chuckled, pretending to try to help me up.

"Don't touch her," the voice, now close enough for me to recognize as Edward's, said. Tyler was gone from in front of me. Through watery eyes I could see Edward push him against the wall opposite of me.

"She didn't just walk into the fucking wall," he spat out.

I saw someone in black pull Edward away from Tyler. My whole body kind of shut down. Went numb, maybe. My ears were ringing and my nose was throbbing and I thought I was crying. I couldn't tell.

"Keep an eye on him and call the cops," Edward demanded.

"No," I shouted quietly from my pathetic spot on the floor. "No cops."

Edward knelt in front of me, his demeanor doing a one-eighty from a second ago. He gently pulled my hands away from my nose. With a frown he pulled the handkerchief from his suit pocket and pressed it into my hands, already caked in my own blood.

"No cops," I repeated.

"Bella – "

"I don't want headlines about a woman attacked at your show," I pleaded. Maybe my mind was working better than my limbs. "No cops."

Edward sighed, eyes dark and sad and angry. He pushed a few strands of hair behind my ear as I held his handkerchief against my nose.

Finally, he turned to the small crowd that surrounded us. "Find the rest of his family and get them out of here. Now." Once Tyler and the few others were gone, he turned back to me. "Can you walk?"

I nodded, standing up carefully. My head was a little fuzzy and my nose was throbbing, but I was fine. Physically. Maybe.

Edward kept an arm tightly wrapped around my waist and walked me into his office. He had a couch to the left of the door and gently sat me down. I watched him walk around his office, grabbing a sweatshirt from a closet and a handful of Kleenex from a box on his desk.

He knelt back in front of me, carefully grabbing for my hands. "Let me see."

I dropped my arms to my lap, grateful that the bleeding seemed to already be slowing down. Embarrassment started to settle in and tears started to sting my eyes.

"It's okay," Edward sighed, cupping my cheeks and wiping them away quickly.

I knew from experience crying was only going to make things worse. Sniffles with a bruised nose were… not fun. "I'm sorry," I mumbled.

"You have nothing to apologize for, Bella," he answered fiercely. His eyes hardened but before he could say anything else there was a knock at the door.

"You're on in five, Mr. Cullen."

"Wait here while I cancel – "
"No. You can't cancel," I told him, my voice overly panicked.

"Yes, I can."

"Please, don't. Not because of me." It was already humiliating enough. "I'll go home and – "

"You won't be going anywhere alone," Edward responded quickly. "You can stay with me tonight. So I know you're okay."

I shook my head quickly, but that just made it more fuzzy. "No, I –"

"I'm not sending you home alone like this, end of discussion," he said sternly. It made me feel like a child being scolded. Maybe it was his dad voice.

Whatever it was, I sulked back into the couch. I didn't have the energy to fight. "Okay."

Edward stood, straightening his suit coat and dropping the sweatshirt on the couch next to me. "In case you get cold. I'll have someone bring you some ice."

He turned to leave to film, like I had pleaded with him to do, but my hand had a mind of its own when it quickly reached out and grabbed his. The thought of being left alone suddenly sent me into a panic.

"I…" I stuttered. I wasn't sure what I wanted to say, but I felt like there was something on the tip of my tongue.

Thank you.

Please don't leave me.

His eyes fell to me, probably looking more than a little pathetic. He lifted my chin, leaning down and ghosted his lips over my forehead. "You're safe here. I promise."

I nodded, watching him hesitate a moment before walking out of his office. Once I was alone I curled up in a ball in the corner of the couch, Edward's sweatshirt in my lap. My whole body was jittery and my mind was all over the place.

I hated myself for being in this position again, bruised and bloody because of Tyler. It was something I promised myself at eighteen would never happen again. I hated myself for being so completely comforted by Edward when I knew it made me so, so selfish. I hated myself for not being able to stick up for myself when I saw them all here this afternoon.

"Bella?" Lucy's quiet voice came from the door as it cracked open a little bit.

I sat up quickly, wiping my cheeks while being careful to avoid my nose. "You can come in."

She walked in slowly, a bag of ice in one hand and my giant tote bag in the other. "Dad told me to bring you some ice and pack up your stuff in your office. I hope I got everything."

"Oh, thank you," I said sincerely, grabbing the heavy bag from her hands and then taking the ice.

"Jasper said that if your nose isn't bleeding anymore to lie back and ice it until he gets here."

"Jasper?" I groaned, doing as instructed. Calling an orthopedic surgeon seemed a little over the top. But very considerate.

"Yeah. Masen broke his nose a few years ago playing baseball and Jasper took care of him. Sorry. I ramble when I'm nervous. Do you want me to leave?"

I smiled over at her. She was incredibly sweet for a sixteen-year-old girl. When I was sixteen girls pointed out my crooked nose when it was broken before I had it reset.

"You can stay," I whispered. "Unless you want to go watch your dad."

"No. He asked me and Mase to keep an eye on you. Masen is outside waiting for Jasper."

I sighed, doing my best not to start crying again. No one had ever cared so much about me when I was hurt. I had broken my nose, sprained my ankles, broken my arm multiple times… and it was always treated as a hassle.

No compassion, no sympathy.

It was my fault.

Always my fault.

-B-

Edward somehow filmed the show in record time. Less than two hours after he left he was back, walking in with Jasper. Who was still in a pair of scrubs, carrying a small medical bag.

My time with Lucy had been surprisingly relaxing. She told me about what schools she was going to apply to soon while I iced my nose, talked about some of her summer plans and friends. She was very easy to talk to, even for me. It was a nice distraction from the throbbing pain in my nose.

"How do you feel?" both Edward and Jasper asked as soon as they walked in.

"Like I got punched in the face," I grumbled, sitting up and dropping the mostly melted bag of ice to the couch.

Everyone looked at me with sympathetic, sad eyes.

"It was a joke," I muttered.

"How long did it take the bleeding to stop?" Jasper asked, kneeling in front of me and grabbing a few things out of his bag.

"Just a few minutes. I don't think it's broken, I'm sorry you had to come down here."

"It's no problem at all, Bella. You've broken it before?" he asked quietly, a nasal speculum and light in his hands.

The energy in the room shifted considerably. Worse than after my pathetic attempt at a joke. Edward told Lucy to wait outside, leaning against his desk with his eyes never leaving me.

"Yes," I sighed.

"Bella…"

"I don't want to talk about it," I said quickly. "Thank you for coming, I know you're busy but I just… I'm fine."

Jasper nodded and asked me to tilt my head back. After a quick look at my nose he agreed that it didn't seem broken. "Ice it a few times a day, that should help with the pain and bruising. Take some Tylenol as needed. And call me if you need anything, okay?" he said, pulling a card out of his bag.

"I will. Thank you," I whispered.

I watched Jasper nod at Edward as he left, closing the door softly behind him. My couple hours with Lucy calmed me down a lot, and left me feeling more embarrassed than anything about the whole thing.

"Thank you," I mumbled. "For… you know. Everything."

Edward nodded, eyes still on me. Always on me.

"I really can just go home," I told him quickly. His offer for me to stay at his home was sweet and generous and too much for me to accept. I had already come into his life and messed everything up. I wasn't going to impose anymore.

Edward frowned at me. "You already agreed."

"I know, but… you've already done more for me than you have to. And your kids are here and…"

Edward's voice was quiet when he spoke. Almost sad. "I would be able to rest better if I knew you were safe."

His sincerity and sad eyes wore me down immediately.

"Okay," I whispered. "Thank you."

Edward looked immediately relieved, grabbing my bag from the floor and holding a hand out to me.

I took his hand without thinking about the rush of elated butterflies that would swarm my chest. They were devastated when I dropped it as soon as I stood up. I reached for my bag and Edward shook his head, grabbing a few things off of his desk before we left the office.

"Don't you need to change?" I asked quietly. He was still in his suit.

He shrugged. "I can do it at home."

Lucy and Masen were waiting for us in the hall. Both seemed a little scared to look at me, probably because my nose had to look dreadful. The fresh air was welcome once we stepped outside. My nose was stuffy from crying and it was extremely unpleasant to try and sniffle it away, but the fresh air seemed to clear it up a bit.

Edward opened the passenger side door to his black Mercedes, carefully putting my bag in by feet once I sat down. He slid in gracefully next to me, and my heart went in to double time once his door was closed.

He had a very strong presence. For most it was probably because he was a celebrity, but it was more than that. Maybe just to me, but sitting beside him in the car made my head fuzzy.

I grabbed my phone out of my bag, typing and retyping a message to Rose to explain the situation. I settled on asking her if she was even going to be home tonight, to which I got an immediate response of no with a winky face.

Edward pulled the car smoothly into his spacious garage. There was room for about four other cars inside, and each one looked more expensive than the last. The Mercedes must qualify as his 'family' car of the bunch.

I opened my door to get out, met with a frown from Edward after he had opened Lucy's door. My bag was snatched from my hand again and I followed everyone inside.

"You two scrounge up something for dinner, okay? I'm going to show Bella to the guestroom," Edward said, walking by and ruffling Masen's hair as he passed him.

The guestroom was just around the corner from the kitchen. There was a queen bed covered in dark grey bedding. Everything else was inconsequential because suddenly all I wanted to do was sleep. And shower.

"There's a full bathroom attached here," Edward said quietly, walking through the room and opening another door. "Towels and everything you need should be there. I'll bring you something more comfortable to change in to."

I shook my head quickly. "You don't have to – "

Edward rolled his eyes and left quickly, presumably for the clothes.

I went to the bathroom, groaning when I saw myself in the mirror. My cheeks had dried tears stained on them. Blood was caked around my nose, and an ugly bruise already starting to form.

Grabbing a towel, I wet the edge and started working on at least getting rid of the dried blood.

"Ow," I mumbled, putting a bit too much pressure in just the wrong place. I squeezed my eyes shut, knowing every twinge was going to make my eyes water. When I opened them back up, Edward was standing behind me.

"Here," he said softly, grabbing the towel from my hands. He pressed a hand lightly against my hip, turning me to face him.

I didn't breathe the entire time he cleaned up my face. His hands were more gentle and steady than mine. And he looked so focused and concerned.

I should have been thinking about a hundred other things; my embarrassment over the entire night, what I was going to tell Rose, how I would ever repay Edward for his generosity.

Instead, there was only one question floating around my mind.

Why are you taking such good care of me?

A/N: Finally getting to the nitty gritty with these two… anyone who thought I could write a simple, sweet story has not suffered through the emotional trauma of the hopeless series.

A couple of you noticed I accidentally referred to Lucy as Maggie a couple times the last couple chapters. The mistake is fixed now, and I'm sorry for any confusion!

I think I am going to move to updates twice a week in order to try to keep a little bit ahead of myself and updates as regular as possible. Next week updates will be Tuesday/Friday!

Trigger Warning: a majority of this chapter deals with sibling abuse. If that or any kind of abuse bothers you, please PM me if you'd rather have a simple chapter summary to get through the story.