AN: Updated Chapter 3! I realized a couple days ago that I had TOTALLY messed up the ages of the Cullens. Earlier, I had said that Bella, Jacob, and Edward stayed in Forks, and that eventually the others came back, but that Alice was still in school. I know I've messed up a LOT in this fic so far, but this story is not beta'd, so I take FULL responsibility for any mistake. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to PM me about them!

Chapter Three: I Should've

***BPOV***

We went to Charlie's as soon as we got the news. Lucky for us, Jake, Seth, and Leah were there, too. It was just Edward and I that went, for the girls were fixing up a room at the main house. It had been decided that, since Renesmee didn't remember anything or anybody, Edward and I would move back into the main house for a little while- in other words, until she either remembered, or she was told.

Walking towards the door, I could hear the sounds of five heartbeats, three stronger than the other two, and the sound of forks scraping plates. Good. The boys were always happy whenever they had food nearby.

Edward and I walked in without knocking. This matter was too urgent for knocking.

The guys were in the living room watching the baseball game with their plates on their laps, and I could hear Sue and Leah in the kitchen putting all the dishes away.

"Hey, guys," I greeted as I walked into the living room, and since Jake was sitting on the couch closest to me with his head turned, I messed his hair up with my hand.

"Hey, Bells," Charlie greeted.

"Hiya, Bella!" Seth.

"Hey." And Jake.

I laughed. Everybody but Edward looked at me funny. He just smiled at me; he knew the reason behind my laughter. I knew why people were looking at me funny: they didn't know the reason why I was laughing. I hadn't done much laughing in the past two years.

"Aw, c'mon, Jake! We should be celebrating!"

He looked up at me with a weird gaze, then over at Edward. "Did Doc give her some happy meds?"

Edward and I both laughed.

"He wishes!" I exclaimed.

"Bells, what's going on? Why are you acting like that? I haven't seen you this happy since-" Charlie stopped himself.

I ignored him. "Something came up. But, in order to tell you, Sue and Leah need to be in here, as well."

Leah heard me, because I heard her tell her mother that they were needed in the living room. I listened as their footsteps got closer.

"Well, hello there, Bella, Edward! What brings you two here tonight?" Sue asked as she walked over to sit in my dad's lap as he muted the game.

I looked up at Edward, silently telling him to start. He nodded.

"Well, you all know that we recently got in touch with a friend of Carlisle's who's a social worker, correct?" he asked. We walked over to stand in front of the TV, holding the position Carlisle and Esme did earlier.

Nods went across the room.

"Well… Carla called today."

"No." Jake gasped.

I grinned at him. "Yes."

"Renesmee has just left her last foster home. She'll be here in the morning." Edward finished. Everybody was gaping at us.

"She doesn't remember anything, or any of us, from what Carla told us, so it can be anywhere from tomorrow, to next year before she does. Which means, we really need to take down those missing person's posters… Her seeing them would just confuse her more." I added.

"So what you're saying…" Jacob started. "Is that Renesmee-" his voice broke- "is coming home? She'll be here by this time tomorrow?" I could see the tears form in his eyes.

I smiled through my own tears, and nodded. "Yes, Jake. She's coming home."

He broke down into tears.

"So," he sobbed, "she's okay?"

I looked up at Edward.

"Well… Not exactly… Jacob, the reason she's coming here is because her foster father abused her. We don't know how, but I think we've all got a pretty good idea." I told him.

"How long has she been with him?" He looked murderous now. Even through his tears.

I shrugged. "A few weeks, I guess… Carla didn't tell Carlisle and Esme. Do you want to stay over there tonight? That way you'll be there when she gets here?"

He nodded through his tears.

"Okay. Then come on. Edward, can you go ahead and take him home? I'll stay and get everything situated."

He nodded, clearly listening to Jacob's thoughts. His gold eyes showed that he was in pain.
"Hey," I stopped him before he helped Jake up. "Are you okay? What is he thinking?"

"She was there for two weeks." he answered weakly.

"How do you know?" I asked.

"He felt it when she was-" he stopped himself on that sentence and started a new one. "He felt it that first night."

My eyes widened, as I sat down. "Oh."

Jake sobbed again. "I should've told you guys! I should've went to that damn place to get her when we knew where she was!"

"Jake, you couldn't have done anything." Edward said quietly. "She probably wouldn't have even left with you. She doesn't remember you."

"I shouldn't have let her drive home by herself that night! I wanted to, but she told me she'd be fine, to sleep because I'd ran that damn patrol the night before! I should've went with her, or hell, even ran through the woods to see the fuckers who took her!"

"Jacob. It. Was. Not. Your. Fault." Edward snarled. "Stop thinking that it was. Sure, there are some ways it could've been prevented, if it had been expected. If we knew it was going to happen, there definitely would've been protocols taken to protect her. But there wasn't, and that's a mistake we'll all regret for the rest of our lives."

The whole room was in tears. Including myself and Edward. Only ours, we couldn't shed.

"But she's coming back to us, Jacob. We'll have our Renesmee back. It might take some time, but I have faith that she'll remember." he said. "She has to."

***RPOV***

I think I may've said this before, but, I really don't see why I'm already being shipped off to another home. What's the point, anyway? Seriously, within a month's time, I'll be gone again and they'll just have to find me another one. It's time like this when I wished I knew when my birthday was- I mean, it was only a guess that I was seventeen to start with. I could be eighteen and not even know.

You see, when I was around fifteen, I was found in the city of Chicago, with obvious head trauma, but nobody knew what had happened, and I couldn't remember anything. The only thing I remembered was my name, and that was only because I had on a ring that had: "Jacob and Renesmee Forever," on the inside of it. Though I didn't remember who Jacob was, the ring always seemed important. I always had the ring, and the locket around my neck. I don't know if it ever had a picture in it, but the description always made me feel as though there was somebody out there- just waiting for me. I didn't remember ever speaking French, so at the hospital, one of my nurses translated it for me. "More than my own life." Every time I see those words- even though it's a language I don't know- it makes me feel all 0the emotions I've pushed down for so long.

Which is why I don't look at it much.

The ring, though, is constantly on my finger.

Anyway, back on topic, I was taken to a nearby hospital and had some tests ran to make sure I was okay. I had a mild concussion, and obviously, amnesia. The doctors didn't know when- or if- I would ever get my memory back. They called the local authorities to report that I'd been found, but, they never could find any of my family.

If I ever had any family.

That's how I ended up in the system.

But just because I was in the system, didn't mean that every time I left a family, I went straight to Carla to find another one. There was a time I lived on the streets, which was just about as bad as it sounds. I hadn't thought to take any money, considering I didn't always know where they kept it, but after I'd went hungry for three days, I'd always made it my priority to find out.

I'd picked up plenty of bad habits off the streets- things like smoking, and stealing- but never did I take drugs. Just because I lived on the streets, doesn't mean I ever attempted drugs. I can't say that I'm one of many, but I can say I'm one of the few.

And just because I learned the proper way to steal, doesn't mean I did that either. I would only do that when it was absolutely necessary. I didn't want to land in jail.

Smoking… All I can say is that is was a way to keep warm.

Carla wasn't too happy about it whenever she learned the terrible habit, but, she didn't attempt to stop me, either. And since most of the families I went to smoked, they didn't really care, either. They were just glad for the checks they got every month for putting up with me. But from what she told me about this new family, the Cullens, the dad was a doctor, so he probably wouldn't appreciate the habit I had.

Carla had told me a little bit about the Cullens- what they did, how old they were, etc.- on the way to their small town of Forks, Washington. Hell, if nearly seven and a half hours wasn't enough to get to know a family, I didn't know what was.

"Carlisle is the dad. He's a doctor, early thirties. He's been just about everywhere. Esme is his wife. She's a stay at home mom, but she's got a great eye for decorations of stuff like that. She's in her early thirties, as well. If I'm not mistaken, they got married when they were eighteen. After they got married, her niece and nephew- who were eight, at the time- came to live with her. She's their aunt."

"What's their names?" I asked.

"Rosalie and Jasper Hale. They're both twenty three."

I raised my eyebrow. "Twins?"

Carla laughed. "Yeah. Anyway, then there's Emmett- he's the oldest boy that they adopted. He's twenty four, and is married to Rosalie."

"Married?"

She nodded. "Mm-hmm. All of the children are married or engaged. To each other. Let me finish, and you'll see what I'm talking about."

At my nod, she continued.

"Let's see… Then after Emmett, they adopted Alice, then Edward. Edward and Alice are both twenty two, but they're not blood related. Alice is engaged to Jasper, Rosalie's brother, and Edward is married to a girl named Bella, who isn't legally related to him. They met in high school."

Those names sounded familiar, but I couldn't place them. Movies? Books?

I eyed her skeptically. She was acting like she knew these people. "How do you know all of this stuff? You've never met any of them… Have you?"

"No." she answered quickly. "I haven't. But, by the way they talked of her, she seems like a really nice girl."

"So… You didn't just talk to them into keeping me?"

"Ren, I didn't have to talk them into anything. And, not really. I just got to know them, a little. I wanted to make sure that this was a good home for you."

She was lying. She knew it. I knew it. And I was going to find out about what. Soon.

AN: There it is! What do you think? Please review and tell me!

Thank you all for reading! You have no idea how much it means to me!

As you've probably noticed, I did, in fact, change the rating. I want you guys to feel comfortable reading this, and I don't really know what'll happen when Ren and Jacob get together, so I changed it to M.

Anyway, thanks again, my awesome readers!

~Em