A/N: Before you get confused, I'm starting this chapter off with Bella instead, and the POVs will be switching throughout.

Cherry, my lovely fic wife, beta'd.

JSYK: Some harsh language in this chapter.

SM owns all things Twilight. Everything else is mine.

Chapter 7: I'm Gonna Stand by You

BPOV

Lying next to Edward while we read is wonderful. I loved how comfortable and calm he makes it feel, even though the air between us holds this charge that I can't place. It almost feels like the electrical build-up hum that happens right before a static shock from friction. It's oddly pleasing and it's unlike anything I've ever felt. I hope that once this is over, whenever that is, he stays a part of my life.

Putting my book down on the nightstand, I roll over onto my back and stare at the ceiling tiles, thinking about everything I wish I had and what I miss. I wish I had known Sam was this uncaring man who thought power meant abusing his wife in every way instead of treating her like an equal human being. I wish I had left sooner. I wish I had told my father when I'd see a concerned look pass with one of my fake smiles, or confessed when he'd corner me instead of coming up with a work excuse, regardless of my fear of Sam's actions when he found out. I wish I had taken photos of every injury for proof. I wish I had never fallen in love with him. Above all of that, though, I miss Alice. I miss my dad.

"What has you thinking so hard?" Edward asks, pulling me out of my thoughts.

I sigh, knowing I can tell him almost anything now. "That I want to go home. Alice … I know her and Jasper would do everything they could to keep me safe, but that's not why I want to see her. She was my best friend before things went down the hole. I want her back in my life again, for good. But more than Alice, I miss my dad. Charlie may be best friends with Sam's dad, but …" I sigh again, feeling uncertain. "I'm his daughter. He'd take my side, right?" I look over at him as I question it. His answering look isn't reassuring.

He takes hold of my hand in both of his, licking his lips before speaking. "I don't want to lie to you, so I can't tell you that. I don't know your dad, but he'd be the biggest idiot on the planet if he didn't." He sighs and looks down at our joined hands. "If you would like to go home," he looks up, locking his green eyes with my brown, "then I'll take you and stay by your side while you explain things however you want to."

Wow. "Just like that? You're not going to try to talk me out of it by saying that we're safest here or whatever?"

"No. I believe that you need as many people on your side as you can get. You already have Alice and myself, but your dad is the only family you have there, correct?" I just nod, realizing I haven't talked much about my family. "Okay, so, we go and talk to him." He pushes himself up to sit and I'm still unmoving, too surprised to say anything yet. "When do you want to go?"

"Um …" I blink a few times and look away for a moment to gather myself. "Is tomorrow okay? I think some rest for both of us would be good before all the hard stuff has to come to light again." Edward nods, telling me it sounds like a great plan.

"Besides," he says, "I was thinking that we should leave this motel and go someplace else anyway. But, after we see your dad, we might not have to."

With that surprising little turn, we decide to make good on that rest idea and turn the lights off. Edward goes to his own bed while I stay in mine and pray that the events of tomorrow go as well as hoped.

Sam POV

Getting to the motel was pretty easy given the way my two new friends were driving. They cut the time down to about half of what it would normally take. I also said it would be easier and less worrisome to the receptionist if it was just me that went in, especially since we saw it was a woman at the desk. Once I got the information, I'd fill them in.

"Hi! Welcome to the Motel 6. What type of room can I book for you?"

I plaster on my most charming smile, the same smile that got me the wife, and many others. "Hello. I'm actually just here to see a friend who's visiting the area, but my phone died before he could tell me the room number. His name is Edward Cullen. And, uh …" I lean in with a wad of cash visible and to talk quieter, even if we're the only ones in the lobby, "I have a birthday surprise so, no matter what you hear, don't be alarmed," I finish with my classic smirk and a wink.

"Oh!" She giggles and blushes. "Okay, sure," she says, taking the money and giving her promise for silence.

BPOV

I wake with a start, sitting up to look around as I try to figure out what that sudden noise was. My heartrate and breathing start to calm when I realize it was just the toilet flushing. The bathroom door opens and the light turns off, and I watch the dark figure walk out and over to the other bed with carpeted footsteps. The rustling of the bed sheets tells me that Edward is barely awake and hasn't noticed my slight panic. Sure enough, I can hear even breathing coming from him within a couple minutes. I, on the other hand, am now wide awake.

I look at the clock to see that it's a lot earlier than I thought it'd be and we've only slept for a couple hours. I decide to turn on the TV and see what's on at nine-thirty at night. Getting comfortable again, I pick South Park to keep me occupied. Sadly, I don't get very far into the episode before I hear someone walking in the hallway.

I try to think nothing of it, chalking it up to paranoia, but it just feels … off. I get out of bed and walk over to the door to look through the peephole. At first I don't see anything, but as I start to back away, I think I see a shadow. Looking again to be sure, I start to sweat when I see the shadow to the right side of our door. As quickly and quietly as possible, I race over to Edward.

"Edward," I whisper as I shake him, panic evident in my voice. "Edward, wake up! There's someone outside our room!" He starts to wake up since I'm physically moving him, and by the end of my statement his eyes are wide open. He jumps out of bed and pulls on his jeans, telling me in a loud whisper to get my things together. We have to leave.

Sam POV

Minutes before…

"What about his car?"

"It's three against two, you dumbass. I don't think there'll be a chance for them to get to it," I say, annoyed that he didn't think before speaking. "Actually, if you think about it, it's three against one and a half."

We make it inside from the stairs and start looking for 211, making as little noise as possible. I need them caught off-guard with no chance of finding a way out, even if there is one. We find the room and I place my ear to the door, listening for any activity. I hear something that sounds like a cartoon, but it's faint. I move away from the door to whisper to my acquaintances.

EPOV

Why am I shaking? This sunny beach is warm and…

"Edward!" It's a panicked whisper and I don't know why. Bella is asleep in the lounge chair beside me. "Edward, wake up!" Huh? I move to see who's talking and then it's dark. The beach is gone and I'm back in the motel room. Bella's voice hits my ears again, telling me there's someone in the hallway. Then reality smacks me full force and I jump up to get dressed so we can haul ass.

"Bella, you need to get your things in the bag, now. It's time to leave." The words barely leave my mouth when there's a series of knocks on the door. We both keep packing, but the knocks keep coming and soon become pounding.

"I'm scared." I hear from Bella, who's now at my side.

"I know and so am I, but we can do this. Remember what I said not three hours ago?" I stop what I'm doing and frame her face with my hands, forcing her to look at me. Her brown eyes lock with my green, searching for the answers to every question. She nods slightly. "No matter what, Bella, I've got you."

Saying it again seems to make her feel better, if only slightly. Now we just need to face whoever is out there, pounding and now kicking our door relentlessly, no doubt waking someone else up on our floor. The door won't hold much longer; I can already see the frame giving way. The only ways out are through whoever is at the door or the window. I don't know what to do because either way can injure us both, but then another idea hits me and no matter what happens later for Bella and I, it can't wait any longer.

"Bella, call 9-1-1 on the room phone. It's the last chance we have."

She does as I say, telling the operator where we are, but before she can finish explaining that someone is trying to break in, she's cut off by the door finally giving and banging against the wall. She gasps out and tries to hide herself as much as possible under the bed. A few strips of the frame fly off, but I don't care about those because Sam has marched his way in. And he's not alone.

Sam points a finger at me, anger written clearly on his face. "How dare you take her from me," he growls as the two guys who were chasing us before come up from behind him, one pointing a gun at me.

Fuck.

"I didn't take her from you," I say, no longer caring about the two guys or the gun. "Her leaving was your own doing."

He huffs with his mouth in a snarl, crossing his arms over his chest. "You remember these two? Since I didn't have the resources I would have liked, Demitri and Alec here were a means to an end."

"And what were you promised?" I fear I already know, but I can't stop the question if I want to.

He sneers. "I get my cunt of a wife and they get you—after I knock you around first."

"I won't let you touch her again."

He laughs. "We'll see about that."

He lunges for me but I'm ready for it this time and I side step him, attempting to lock his head into my side with my arm choking him. Unfortunately, because he has so much more muscle weight than I, his momentum keeps going and we crash to the floor, effectively knocking the wind out of me. He gets in a few good punches to my face and gut, all while I struggle to get out from under him. I can't hear anything from Bella, so I can only hope she's still hidden or found a way to pass the other two men.

Sam finally pushes himself off of me. I go to roll over so I can stand, but he gets one more hit in, kicking me hard in my hamstring. Now that I basically have one big Charlie horse, it's going to be more difficult to put weight on it.

"Now," he says, barely out of breath, "where's my wife?"

"I wouldn't call her your wife anymore, so go fuck yourself." It's probably not the smartest idea to antagonize him, but oh well. He starts to come after me again, but is stopped by Bella yelling out.

"No! Stop, please!"

"Bella, go. Run!"

"No, Edward," she says, only glancing at me, "it's okay." She's talking to me, but looking at Sam, but quickly starts trying to talk to him. "He didn't take me from you! I left on my own. I can't take your anger anymore. What did I ever do to you to make you hate me so much?" She's holding it together, but barely. Her distraction helps me though, and I finally get to my feet. "I never cheated, never lied, I always made sure you had a good meal in you after a long day at the shop. I always did my best to make you happy because I loved you!" Her voice starts rising with everything she says, and I'm ready to jump on whoever gets in my way of keeping her away from him.

I know I'm not a very good fighter and one wrong decision could mean the difference between life and death right now, but I have to think and think fast. I start quickly weighing my options until I find the least damaging and then take my opportunity when I see it. Seconds later, I run at Sam, who has his back to me, hitting him with enough force to knock him into Demitri and Alec. The gun goes off, shooting a bullet past my head, through the curtains and window, then drops to the floor. The struggle between these three and me is ridiculous since I'm outnumbered, and is quickly over when we come to realize that the gun is no longer there, but in Bella's shaking hands.

"Leave him alone!" Her voice is slightly panicked. I have no idea if she's ever fired a gun, but she at least looks like she's holding it okay.

"Bella," I try to say calmly, "you don't want to do this. I agree that they need to pay, but let the law handle them. Okay?" She doesn't give an answer, but I can see that she's terrified. It looks like she doesn't know what to do anymore.

Sam thinks she won't do it—I can see it in his face—and lunges for her. The gun goes off once, twice, three times, hitting him in the chest as he advances and she backs away. I don't know what happens because I still have Demitri and Alec with me. I don't know who's who and I don't care, but I punch the one on my left as hard as I can, catching him off guard and breaking his nose. The other one is quick and blocks me, pushing me back down on the floor. He stops his punch mid-way when the cock of the gun is heard.

"I said to leave him alone," Bella's weak voice says. The asshole gets up slowly and backs away.

Standing up, I calmly ask her to give me the gun. She hands it over willingly, for which I am more than thankful. I wish she hadn't needed to use it, but I can't blame her for defending herself.

I'm proud of her.

Now I stand here, pointing a gun at the two men who added to our hell. Thankfully, the cops show up a few seconds later, arresting Alec and Demitri, and questioning us about what happened tonight. Those questions bring on all the other questions: why were they after us, how did we become their focus, how did we evade them, where we've been, where did things start, and so on.

Most of the questions are done on the way to and at the hospital. That bullet that went through the window? Turns out that it also grazed my left ear and I needed to be looked at. Adrenaline is a powerful thing, and I hadn't started to feel the sting until it was noted and I put my fingers to it. I made sure someone contacted Emmett to inform him of everything.

After we're released from the hospital and the cops are done with their questions, they clear us to officially go home. We can't leave the state because of the trial that will most likely happen. We're assured that every police station in the state of Washington would know who to look out for.

Getting in my car after the detective on the case drove us back, I turn to Bella, who looks dead tired and rings her hands. "Hey," I softly say, reaching over and placing my hand atop hers. "It's over. Sam can't hurt you anymore, sweetheart. You're completely free of him." She nods and tries to hold in her tears. As soon as the first shuddered breath happens she can't, and finally lets go. I pull her over the gear shift and into my lap, and just hold her as she releases everything.

A/N: She's finally free! I know my beta was very happy with the outcome and how it played out, but what about you?