DISCLAIMER: SM owns all Twilight characters and settings. No copyright infringement intended.

So sorry for the delay in posting this chapter. My personal life decided to pay me a visit and it's kept me pretty busy. ;o)

For those that are reading and reviewing, thank you. Please note that I try to respond to every review but something is wrong with the link that is provided by fanfiction and it doesn't always work. I'll send you a personal message if I can but if you haven't heard from me, please know it's a technical glitch; I'm not ignoring you.

Edward was hungry.

Not like dig in the garbage can kind of hungry, but still hungry enough to have it on his mind as he played with his Legos, trying to build a spaceship like the one on the front cover of the Lego box. He was also lonely. He didn't think he was more lonely than hungry but it was something else that distracted him and kept him from assembling the spaceship using all the Lego pieces in the box.

He didn't realize how nice it was to have lots of people in the house until he came to live with his mom and dad again. They were only two people and though they didn't work or go to school, they didn't have a lot of time to play with him because they always had company.

He didn't really mind so much at first, because he was just happy to be with his real mom and dad and not be a foster kid anymore. He was happy that they remembered him and even happier that they came back for him and said they were sorry they left him in the first place and would he please forgive them. And he had. He had forgiven them that very day in Mrs. Grant's office and after that nothing more was said about it.

At first everything was back to normal, even better than normal. He didn't have to eat alone anymore and though his mom didn't cook like Esme did and pile tons of food on his plate from all the different food groups, he got to eat a lot more of his favorites like hotdogs and macaroni and cheese and he didn't have to wait until everyone else was done eating before he got his share.

He also had his own bedroom and it wasn't in the basement or someone's office, it was his very own room with a real bed and a closet for his toys and a dresser for his clothes. He spent most of his time in his bedroom playing and it was at times like that that he wished he had someone to play with…someone like Emmett. He thought maybe his dad would play with him like Emmett did, but his dad was like Carlisle, a grown man with responsibilities and he didn't play kid's games. True, Emmett looked like a grown man, but he was still one of Carlisle's children and was still in high school so just because he looked like one didn't mean he was one.

He wished he had brought the chess set with him, because chess was something grownups played and he thought it would be a good way to break the ice with his dad, but when he mentioned it, his dad told him he didn't know how to play chess so it didn't matter anyway.

There were some things that right off the bat he noticed were different from when he lived with the Cullens, some things he remembered about living with his parents from the last time, but had forgotten about after they went away.

First, it was his responsibility to get himself up in the morning for school. He didn't think he had to do that before, but couldn't remember for sure. Karen always got him and his foster brothers up for school and when he moved in with the Cullens, Esme or Carlisle would wake him up. But now he had no one and after he had missed the bus three days in a row and Mrs. Grant came to check up on him, his mom showed him how to set the alarm on his clock and told him it was his responsibility to do it every day and if he didn't they would all get in trouble. He didn't want anyone to get in trouble so he always remembered and he always got up.

Picking out what clothes he was going to wear was another problem…a big problem. When he was with George and Karen, he didn't have many choices. He only had one pair of tennis shoes and three pair of jeans and a couple of shirts so getting dressed was easy and the only hard thing was finding something clean to wear and not wearing the same thing every day.

With the Cullens, he had lots to chose from but Alice always picked out his clothes the night before and laid them out for him so he had no trouble deciding what to wear and if he didn't want to wear what she picked out, Esme helped him pick something else out when Alice left for school.

But now he still had lots of clothes and no one was around to help him pick something out so he spent a lot of time deciding what to wear. The good thing was that he had a lot of time in the morning to get ready for the school bus. He wasn't allowed to turn on the TV because that might wake someone up and he usually only had toast in the morning so eating didn't take up much time. He couldn't get too involved in playing because he might miss his bus, so he would spend most of his time deciding what to wear and the rest of his time sitting on the front step eating his toast and waiting for the bus so he wouldn't miss it.

Other than that, Edward thought that living with his mom and dad was pretty darn good and though things weren't perfect, they were a lot better than he remembered. But after a couple of weeks of everything being happy and normal, things changed and went back to the way they used to be. He wasn't sure why it happened or how he could remember how it used to be since that was a long long time ago, but after a couple of weeks he knew that living with his real mom and dad wasn't all that it was cracked up to be.

No one really ever hit him or yelled at him too much so it was nothing like living with Geroge and Karen, but somewhere along the way he started avoiding being around his parents, mostly his dad because he would get a weird look in his eye and talk funny and that made Edward uncomfortable.

Pretty soon his mom stopped making him dinner and no one ate with him anymore so he had to scrounge for food, like he was digging in a garbage can but this time he was digging in his own refrigerator or the cupboards. When he stopped finding things to eat besides chips or ketchup and mustard, he was told he would have to wait until his dad got paid so they could go grocery shopping again.

His dad didn't get paid very often, so they never had much food and when they did buy groceries he had to make sure he got as much as he could before everyone else ate it all; and by everyone else he didn't mean his mom and dad but all the other people that were always coming over, especially at night to watch TV and make stuff in the garage.

He wasn't allowed in the garage and the one and only time he got spanked by his dad since he came back was when he went in the garage anyway to see what was going on. It stunk in the garage and he wouldn't have gone in there again, even he hadn't been spanked. He didn't know what it was that was so stinky but it made his nose burn and his eyes water and it looked like a mad scientist lab with glass tubes and bottles everywhere.

His mom told him it was his dad's job and how he got paid which didn't make a lot of sense unless his dad was a scientist and if he was a scientist, he didn't know what a scientist had to do to get paid and he didn't ask.

"Eddie…hey Eddie."

He stopped playing with his Legos and listened. He wasn't sure who called him or even if he was being called at all. His dad had the same name as he did, though most people called him Ed. It was confusing with all the company always at the house and only after making the mistake of running out of his room over and over again, did he finally realize that most of the time no one was calling him or even talking about him.

"Eddie, come here, kid."

That was definitely his dad's voice and he was definitely being called.

Cautiously, he opened his bedroom door and peeked out. He could hear the voices of the adults in the other room. They all sounded funny; not ha ha funny, but sort of like George did when he was drinking. He also noticed the smell. It wasn't as bad as it had been in the garage but it still burned his nose a little.

"What?" he muttered loudly enough that he hoped his dad would hear him.

"Come here Eddie, I need you to do something for me." His dad laughed a little and then someone else did and it wasn't a nice laugh, it was sort of a peculiar laugh.

He walked down the hall sliding his hand along the wall and turned the corner ready to run if there was anything scary happening in the living room, but as usual, he overreacted. Everyone was just sitting around on the couches, his mom and dad and two of his dad's friends whose names he couldn't remember and a nice lady named Trisha and another lady that never said one word to him, but he thought her name was Abbey.

"Well it's about time," one of the men whose name he didn't know said when he saw Edward. "You should get one of those couches with a cooler in the middle of it so we don't have to wait for your kid."

"Yeah dude that's a good idea, but who's going to keep in full?" his dad snorted, then pointed at Edward.

"You…go get us some beers…and don't drink any on the way back." He laughed again….a cackling laugh like he just said the funniest thing in the world.

Edward tried to laugh too but it really didn't sound very funny. He didn't mind getting beer for his dad, but he felt anxious around the others and wished they would go home.

The refrigerator didn't have a lot of food, but it did have a lot of beer so finding it wasn't a problem. He carried three cans out figuring only the men would want it but he could always go back if he needed too.

When he offered them to his dad, he took one but pointed to the others. "Give them their own damn beer; I ain't no waitress."

His dad was holding a glass tube and was looking at him like he wasn't really seeing him. Edward didn't like it…he didn't like it at all.

The second man on the couch by his dad took the beer and smiled a big huge smile and Edward shuddered a little. The man had icky teeth, like they hadn't been brushed in a long long time. He was glad he seemed too tired to do more than take the beer from his hand, because Edward was pretty sure he wasn't very nice and might try to hurt him if he did anything wrong.

The third man had a scruffy red beard and was sitting in a chair with his eyes half closed not moving at all so Edward just put the beer on the table next to him and turned to leave before anyone decided he needed to do something else for them.

"Oh Edward baby, come give your mommy a hug."

But Edward didn't want to give his mommy a hug; he wanted to get out of that room as fast as possible. He didn't like the way the adults were acting. True, it wasn't like when he was with the Cullens and they got black eyes and looked like they wanted to eat him. This feeling was different, not scary exactly, but more uncomfortable, like something wasn't quite right with his mom and dad. Like they weren't really aware of what was going on.

"Baby boy what's wrong, don't you miss your mommy, don't you love me?"

He looked at his mom and noticed that she hadn't changed her clothes from the day before and though he knew she didn't have as many clothes as he did, he also knew that she should have more than one set of clothes to wear so she should be able to change more often than that.

"How did you produce such a cute kid, Lizzy," Trisha said tapping her hands on her knees to encourage him to come to her. "He's so kissable. Are you sure Ed's the papa?"

"Hey, I heard that, bitch," his dad said, but he was laughing so Edward didn't get too worried that he had just called that lady a bitch which as far as he knew was not a nice thing to say.

He slowly went to where his mom was sitting hoping she might forget he was there like she usually did when she was in one of those moods, but this time her eyes opened wide like she was trying to focus on him and she reached out and pulled him into her lap before he could squirm away, plying him with kisses and hugging him until he could hardly breath.

"Oh Eddie…I missed you so much. Goddamn social services, always trying to steal you away from me…but we got ya back didn't we….didn't we…didn't we?"

With each didn't we, she tried to tickle him but it felt more like a pinch and though he nodded to show he was listening, it didn't stop him from trying to get away so he could go back and play Legos and leave the adults in peace.

"Oh you want to go down…such a big boy…too big for mommy's kisses ain't ya?" She sighed, kissed him one more time, a big wet kiss that missed his cheek and landed in his hair and when she let him go, he sort of wasn't expecting it and fell on the floor which made everyone hoot with laughter but him.

"Hey little Eddie, come on over here, I got something for ya," the man with the bad teeth said and Edward could see he was holding out a little glass tube. He stood up and took a step toward the man. He didn't trust him but he was curious what it was about that piece of glass that was so interesting.

"Naw, come on don't be doin' that," his dad said, sounding a little bit like a dad should when he wasn't snickering.

"Ahh…give him a taste, it'd be funny to see a kid high."

Edward didn't know what high meant but if it would be funny he guessed he wouldn't want to do it. Funny for them didn't mean it would be funny for him. He stopped in his tracks and shook his head.

"Good boy…see that's my baby, not stupid like his old man." His mom giggled to show she was just kidding, but his dad wasn't paying attention anyway. He had the piece of glass in his mouth puffing on it like a cigarette and was leaning back against the couch with his eyes closed and every once in a while a puff of smoke would swirl out around his lips.

"Hey, kitten, get over here; all this baby talk is making me horny," the man with the red beard who Edward thought might be sleeping said.

Edward didn't know who kitten was until Abbey got up and went to sit on the man's lap, giving him kisses like his mom did to him but on his mouth instead of all over his face.

"What's horny?" he asked without thinking and cringed when the entire room erupted in laughter.

"I'm horny, that's what's horny," the man with the red beard said growling a little, but it sounded more like a fake growl; not a real one the way Carlisle did it when he was trying to be scary.

He was tickling Abbey all over her body, but just like when Edward's mom did it to him, she wasn't laughing and instead she was groaning a little like it might hurt, but she was still kissing him on the mouth.

"Baby…get your momma that pipe before daddy takes it all."

Edward didn't see any pipe, he just saw the piece of glass that looked like a cigarette.

He looked back at his mom who had her eyes closed. "What pipe momma?"

She opened them and looked at his dad. "Ed, give me some."

That's when Edward figured she was talking about the cigarette thing. He took it from his father's mouth and handed it to her. His nose burned. Whatever it was, whatever they were doing, it didn't smell very good.

"Thanks baby, now go in your room."

"I'm hungry." He hadn't meant to mention it, because it looked like she had enough on her mind, but at that moment his stomach let out a big I'm hungry growl.

"Ahhhh, he's hungry...feed the little bugger…he's still on the tit…ain't he?"

Edward felt his ears burn. He didn't know exactly what that meant but he knew that tit was a private part and shouldn't be talked about in public. He ignored the snickers and concentrated on his mom who didn't seem to think that comment was too funny either by the way she was glaring at the man with the dirty teeth.

"You're a pig," his mother spat at the man and Edward felt a little better.

"Oh Lizzy lighten up, he was only giving the kid some shit," his dad said, taking several long gulps from his beer. "Edward, don't be such a baby. You can get yourself something to eat."

Edward ignored his dad who in that state wasn't much good for anything but telling Edward to get him another beer. Instead he stared imploringly at his mother who was concentrating more on the pipe in her mouth and the lighter in her hand and less on him.

"There's nothing to eat."

"Momma's busy honey. Go be good and play in room. I'll find ya something to eat later."

Edward folded his arms against his chest and without another word stomped out of the room. He wanted to tell her that Esme wouldn't let him starve to death and Rosalie wouldn't let those icky men say bad things about him, but he didn't think it mattered or would do much good. They didn't seem too interested in him now that they had him and he had only himself to blame for that.

But there was a way to fix it and make things right again and the only one that could do that was him. So even if he was only seven years old he would have to take matters into his own hands, because he had made a mistake, a bad mistake and he had to fix it before it was too late.

The backpack was heavy; so heavy that Edward couldn't even wear it like a real backpack and had to drag it on the ground most of the time. It was so full of stuff that he couldn't even carry his school books in it and that drew suspicion right away from his teacher, Miss Woods. But he was ready for her questions and after at first looking doubtful, she eventually believed him when he said he was going for a sleepover and needed all his stuff with him. It wasn't a complete lie, he was going for a sleepover alright, he just didn't say where or for how long.

He was a little disappointed that he could only fit a couple of pair of jeans, his Seahawks jersey, two sweatshirts, a T-shirt, three Lego sets, his Harry Potter books and an extra pair of tennis shoes in the backpack, but there was nothing he could do about the closet full of stuff still at home. He couldn't carry a suitcase onto the school bus, because that might draw attention and he couldn't ask his mom and dad to drive him to the Cullens after school, because they didn't have a car that started. His dad worked on it during the day but since Edward had moved in, the car hadn't been started once.

With the final school bell, Edward dragged his backpack out to the line of school buses ignoring bus number eleven which would bring him back to his mom and dad's house and instead making his way to bus eighty-five which would bring him to the Cullens.

He hadn't forgotten the bus number because Emmet had told him it was Rosalie's age which was pretty funny. Rosalie wasn't eighty-five years old even if she did look too old to be a kid, but that number stuck with him and when he finally made his way to the bus, the bus driver was Mr. Romero who recognized him right away, so he knew he remembered right.

"Hello, Mr. Masen. What brings you to my bus?" the man who looked like he could be eight-five asked pleasantly.

Edward liked Mr. Romero more than he liked the driver of bus eleven whose name he never bothered to learn.

"I'm going to the Cullens' house and this is the bus that gets me there," Edward said in his most serious voice.

"You are? But I thought you moved into town?"

"The Cullens are babysitting me tonight. He lifted the backpack up and put it on the top step. If Mr. Romero wanted to look inside he would see clothes and some toys and all the stuff that confirmed his story. "See, I'm all packed to stay overnight."

"Do you have a permission slip?" Mr. Romero was looking over Edward's shoulder; he guessed to see if there were any teachers around to verify if what Edward said was true.

"No one told me I needed one." Edward tried to keep his voice steady, but he felt a panicky feeling in his chest. He would only get one chance. "They're expecting me; I don't want to be late. They pick me up at the end of the driveway."

Mr. Romero nodded. Of course he would remember, it had only been a month since he moved in with his real mom and dad. "Okay, I guess if they're waiting for you, I can ask them."

Edward should have probably been even more panicked by that comment. He had decided just the night before that he wasn't going to stay with his real parents anymore. There would be no way that Carlisle or Esme would know he was coming, but then he reminded himself that the Cullens always seemed to know things that most people didn't and if they lived up to expectations, this would be no different. He could expect Carlisle to be waiting for him at the end of the driveway just like he always did before Edward went to live with his real mom and dad.

He held his breath until the bus pulled away from the curb and turned south towards the Cullens' home. He always sat in the front of the bus, partly because he liked Mr. Romero and partly because his former foster brother, Eric rode the same bus and he didn't want any confrontations with Eric who usually pretended he didn't know him now that they didn't share a house anymore.

He was a little nervous that his plan wouldn't work or that things wouldn't turn out like he imagined they would which happened to him a lot when he got his expectations up. He kept trying to imagine how the reunion would go but it was hard to know given his abrupt arrival. Would they miss him and be happy to see him? Would they be mad at him for wanting to leave in the first place? Or maybe they would realize now that he had been gone for awhile, that it was nice not having a seven year old kid around anymore.

He tried not to think about the last one, because that was a real possibility. He knew he was a lot more trouble than he was worth and he couldn't think of a single good reason why they would want him back when there were so many other kids out there that needed homes. He thought about his bike and wondered if they gave it away to another little kid and he thought about his chess set and wondered if Jasper had it and had played with it since he left, but most of all he wondered why he didn't realize that being a foster kid with the Cullens was better than being a real kid with his mom and dad.

The bus had a lot of stops before his stop and he had a lot of time to think and worry about what would happen when he finally got to the Cullen house not least of which was whether they would lie and tell Mr. Romero that he was spending the night, just like he said. But when he looked out the window as they approached the Cullen driveway he didn't see any black shiny car waiting for him; no one was there to pick him up and when his eyes locked in the mirror with Mr. Romero's, he knew he was going to get in big trouble for this little escapade.

"I can't let you off the bus if no one is here to pick you up," Mr. Romero said, like he was giving Edward the benefit of the doubt but making an excuse why he couldn't just leave him there with no one's permission.

"We're early…aren't we? I think we're early…they'll be here." Edward whispered, trying to come up with a plan before the bus started up again.

"We're a little early. I'll wait a few minutes, but usually they're waiting for us." The bus driver glanced at his watch and then at the three other kids on the bus.

And then just like it was when Edward imagined it, he saw flashes of Carlisle's car through the trees winding down the driveway, stopping right by the road where it always did.

"See I told you," Edward said like there was no doubt in his mind that Carlisle would show up.

Mr. Romero grunted and opened the door of the school bus as Edward dragged his backpack from under the seat and down the steps of the bus as quickly as he could. He didn't want to give Carlisle or Mr. Romero any time to change their mind.

He knew from experience that Carlisle wouldn't get out of the car with the sun shining. It had something to do with his sparkly skin and not wanting Mr. Romero and the little kids left on the bus to get that creepy feeling like he got the first time he saw Esme sparkling in the sun, so he didn't expect any help with his heavy backpack that he tried to carry without dragging it around the front of the bus and to the passenger side of the door.

He was relieved when the window rolled down and Carlisle stuck his hand out giving the bus driver a quick wave to let him know it was okay to leave Edward with him. Carlisle was pretty smart that way and he would know without Edward even having to tell him to do that.

He sighed when he heard the bus pull away, like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders and suddenly the backpack didn't seem that heavy; he hardly had any trouble at all opening the car door and lifting it up onto the backseat.

Edward was surprised to see that Esme was in the car too; they never picked him up at the end of the driveway together, so then it occurred to him that maybe it was just a coincidence that they were at the end of the driveway at all and he got the fluttery feeling in his stomach that he got every time he was anxious. But Carlisle had waved at the bus driver and the bus had left, so it wouldn't make sense that they would let the bus leave if they didn't want him to stay there.

"Did you get on the wrong bus, Edward?" Carlisle questioned without looking back at him. His voice sounded gruff, like maybe he wasn't all that happy to see him.

When he didn't answer, Esme who was looking at him almost sadly, but not like she was mad, reached back and squeezed his knee.

"It's alright sweetie. Were you coming by for a visit?" she asked softly, her eyes flickering to Carlisle like they were sharing a look.

It was one of those moments where Edward wasn't sure if he should tell the truth or not. He sort of imagined that when they saw him they would hug him and kiss him and tell him right off how much they missed him and they were glad he was back, but he knew that was unreasonable. They would want an explanation first. They couldn't get too excited if they didn't know why he just suddenly showed up. He decided he would just tell the truth because it would just be easier in the long run.

"I wasn't coming for a visit, I want to stay here. Did you get rid of all my things? I couldn't bring everything in just a backpack."

It didn't escape his notice that Carlisle wasn't just turning the car around; he was pulling out onto the road…onto the road back towards school, back towards town and back towards his mom and dad's house.

"Put your seatbelt on, Edward," Carlisle said in that same strange serious voice which just confirmed that he wasn't happy to see him. That fluttering feeling in his stomach got worse.

"Does your mommy and daddy know where you are?" Esme asked.

He nodded his head and when he saw her eyebrow go up, he explained. "I left a letter in my best penmanship and told them I was coming back here and would visit them. I like living with you, better."

"Oh sweetie, I don't think they would be too happy with just visits. I think they would be very sad to find you gone. I know I would be."

Edward smiled a little at that. It made him feel a little better that maybe it wasn't that the Cullens didn't want him, but they were just worried about how his parents would feel now that he was gone. He just had to explain the situation. His parents wouldn't miss him, he was sure of that. They might not even know he was gone for a few days, so that would give him plenty of time to settle in.

"No, they won't miss me. They have too much company. We can go back for a visit on the weekend," he said diplomatically.

"Oh honey, I'm sorry you feel that way, but I'm sure it's just a misunderstanding. We'll go have a talk with them."

"No, it wasn't a misunderstanding. They have too much company to have a kid. They only have time for visits." He didn't mean to sound grouchy but he knew that's how it came out. It was one thing if the Cullens didn't want him anymore, but so far he didn't get that impression. So far he thought this was all about his mom and dad and whether they would miss him and he knew the answer to that already.

"Edward, you need to put on your seatbelt; I'm sure this can all be worked out, but we can't keep you, your parents want you, we have to take you ba…"

"NO!" Edward interrupted Carlisle, defiantly kicking the back of his seat for emphasis. Why couldn't adults ever listen? They could never listen. They always thought they knew what was best for little kids like him but they always got it wrong.

"Edward, please sweetie. It's not that we don't want you back, but kids should be with their parents first, that's what the law says and we can't break the law."

At least Esme appeared sad that she couldn't break the law and maybe he had some sympathy for that. He wouldn't want anyone to get in trouble because of him. But if they really wanted him, they would listen and understand that no one was going to call any policeman. He wasn't sure how he knew that, but he did.

"I don't want to go back," he said trying to control the tone of his voice. Then, realizing Esme's weakness for food, he tried a different tactic. "I'm hungry."

"Are you not getting enough to eat, sweetie,"

"No, it's not like when you cook." He felt a little better. He knew Esme always worried that he didn't get enough to eat. She wouldn't make him go back if she thought that they weren't taking care of him. He saw her glance at Carlisle, like Carlisle said something under his breath.

"We'll go and talk to them and find out what's going on. Carlisle is right. As much as we want you to stay with us, we can't just keep you without telling someone where you are."

"Esme."

Edward definitely heard Carlisle that time, but she ignored him and gave his knee a squeeze again. "Now, please sweetie, put your seat belt on and we'll work this all out when we get you home."

Home.

It was the way she said it that made him realize they were just trying to make him feel better. They weren't taking him home, back to their house, they were taking him home to his mom and dad's house that smelled funny and had a lot of company almost all the time. But he wasn't going to put on his seatbelt and he wasn't going to go to that home.

He guessed they hadn't gone that far down the road; it wasn't so far that he couldn't walk from there and once he found Emmett he was pretty sure that Emmett would be on his side and not make him go to that other home. Emmett was like that, always seeing things the way Edward saw them. It was one of the things that made it easy to forget that Emmett was almost a grownup. Emmett had common sense.

He guessed if he thought about it harder he would realize he wasn't showing much common sense himself when he pushed the backpack out of the way and climbed across the seat to the door behind Esme, the door closest to the side of the road. He managed to get the door open, before anyone noticed what he was doing and he even had time to think about how the ground was moving pretty darn fast, even if it didn't seem like it when he was just sitting staring out the window, but he was already committed to his plan so he figured he'd just take his chances.

He thought he heard Carlisle say his name and then he felt familiar arms around him, the arms that he used to like climbing into even if they were cold and hard. Before he could even think about what it meant, he was sitting in Esme's lap, still in the backseat, but no longer ready to jump out of the moving car. He didn't listen to what Esme was saying to him as she ran her fingers through his hair and he didn't try to pay attention when Carlisle asked him a question.

He would only get one chance and he knew that from the moment he climbed onto bus eight-five. Once they brought him back home to his real mom and dad, he wouldn't be able to tell a lie to Miss Woods or Mr. Romero again and he would never find the Cullen house on his own. One chance was all he had.

So he fought. With everything he had he fought and struggled and kicked trying to break free of Esme's arms so he could open the door and jump out the of the car and find Emmett who would understand. And it wasn't like he meant to kick at Esme or hurt her, but she was keeping him from his plan, keeping him from going home and even if Carlisle was driving the car, it was she that kept him from escaping.

"Edward, please sweetie, please stop, you'll hurt yourself," Esme whispered in his ear.

He might have argued with her, might have told her that she was the one that might be hurt, but she was so hard, so strong and no matter how much he kicked, it was his foot that hurt, hurt enough so that he cried out until finally she wrapped him up in a little ball and then he couldn't kick or fight anymore, he couldn't even move, not an inch, but it wasn't for lack of trying.

"That's it Carlisle, take us home."

"Esme, we can't keep him."

"I'm not doing this too him, I'm not sending him back. You need to fix this Carlisle. I don't care what you do, I don't care how you do it, but you need to fix this. He's not going back."

Edward heard her, heard every word but he didn't stop struggling. He didn't want Carlisle to think he had given up, because then he might just keep on driving. He wouldn't have an excuse to turn around. But it was hard to kick at Esme when she was whispering in his ear, telling him she wasn't going to send him back and he didn't have to fight her anymore.

Through Esme's embrace, he saw Carlisle make a U-turn in the middle of the road. He wondered if he was mad at him. He didn't look mad. He could see his eyes in the mirror and they were still sparkly gold, not black so at least that was a good thing. He was talking to Esme, Edward could see his lips moving but he couldn't really hear him, not clearly, it sounded like he was humming. But with his head pressed against Esme's shoulder, he could hear her a little better, not the words, but the sounds and she was angry and he liked it because for the first time in his whole entire life he felt like he was worthy enough to fight for.

He didn't remember the exact moment when he stopped trying to kick free of Esme; maybe it was when Esme said she wasn't giving him back and Carlisle would just have to fix it or maybe it was when she started giving him kisses on his forehead, kisses not unlike when his mom did but these were different, they seemed real, not like she was putting on a show or doing what she thought moms were suppose to do to their little boys.

When he stopped fighting, he felt her arms release him and he knew why, knew that she was worried he would get too cold in her arms so she never held him for a lot of time in a row. But this time he wanted to be held and he didn't care how cold her arms were or that goose bumps broke out on his skin; this time he couldn't get enough of having Esme's arms around him, because if she held him like that it must mean she wanted him.

So he wrapped his arms around her neck and buried his face into her shoulder and tried not to cry like a baby and then he felt her arms around him again holding him just like he thought a mother should hold her son when she hadn't seen him in a long long time and he was pretty sure right at that moment that Carlisle would fix it with his parents, because he thought Esme was going to keep him no matter what.

Author Notes:

Say goodbye to seven year old Edward.

The next chapter will be from seventeen year old Edward's POV then I'll be exploring different periods in Edward's adolescence and Bella will become more of a focal point.

If you aren't clear what happened in these last two chapters, lets just say I wanted to tie up some loose strings with regard to Edward's parents. Though not necessarily physically abusive, they were neglectful and involved in illegal activities. The garage was a meth lab and the source of income was drug dealing, hence all the "company" that Edward was so uncomfortable around.

Comments always welcomed and appreciated.