All things Twilight belong to Stephenie Meyer, everything else is mine.

Thank you Midnight Cougar for beta'ing!

Enjoy!

A note: For the last few weeks myself and others, many of your favorite authors, have been attacked on FF and FB. This person says she has "polite criticism", but when has yelling, cussing, and threatening ever been "polite"? She is now going around to other authors and pm'ing this – "I have been reading on this site and recently have been giving my opinion on certain fics…such as ones by Catastrophia, twilover, jaxon22, NikiV, and a few others…I was met with hateful words and cruelty…then I tried to go on FB and explain myself only to be met with the same!"

Let me be clear that she instigated hate and cruelty against us and when she opened her first FB, she had a mission statement to "Save fanfiction from badly written fics", then proceeded to attack myself and others. It is one thing to have an opinion, it is another to set out on a crusade to tear people down. Do NOT force your opinion on others! People can think for themselves, and decide if they like something or not! I know my writing is not everyone's cup of tea, therefore, not everyone will like it. That's okay, but what she is doing is not.

I also believe she never read any of the stories she reviewed due to the vagueness of her rants. I've ignored her for weeks, despite her attempts to get to me react to one of her comments and her blaming me for being kicked off FB.

She has since continued to create new FB accounts and attack straight out of the gate, even bringing in Nikiv's six year old little boy. This person doesn't seem to think she is doing anything wrong.

Her "polite criticism" was so far against the TOS, FF tore it down from my review page.

Just be aware that there is someone trying to destroy your favorite stories and authors.

Chapter 3

A week later I was free, gliding through the water again. School was out and I was left to my own devices, but I had no way besides my own two feet and a bike to get around. I had no car, not that I really wanted to drive, or honestly thought Edward would let me considering my daytime "sleepwalking" espisode, but it did make it inconvenient to get a lot of places.

The building Edward lived in had a pool, a very nice one, and I was alone. Then again, it was only nine in the morning. I decided to get in before everyone else arrived. I'd been threatened not to go back to my old neighborhood by pain of…well, he didn't really give a punishment. Then again, Edward had never given me a punishment. He would just yell, which caused me to yell back. I probably deserved it though.

What I really wanted was the ocean. A large expanse of water to swim through with boundaries that were miles away and people were few. To swim until I could swim no more. Find an empty island and make that my home.

Swimming was the only time I was free from my real life, from reality. Before they were gone I'd been on the swim team, winning many state titles. No more of that. I stopped swimming at a competitive level, only for enjoyment now, for moments of freedom from my own hell. When I dove in that crisp, cool water it felt like the turmoil in my head and throughout my body went away…at least temporarily.

My days at Edward's were numbered, despite what he'd said, and as much as I didn't want to think about what was next, the reality was I had too. He was only obligated to house me until my eighteenth birthday.

Did I want to buy a house, or get an apartment? I knew the amount coming to me could afford me a small little bungalow, but did I really want to live in a house all by myself? Apartments seemed like a waste of money to me; pay so much and have nothing in the end.

I would need a car by then as well, but even if I bought one there was no way they would clear me to drive with how I'd been blacking out lately. If I was to get into an accident due to that, I could kill someone, even myself, and be in a world of financial, legal, and emotional trouble.

Edward had only spoken a handful of words to me in the past few days, ever since our heavy kissing.

Later that day I found myself sitting in an uncomfortable chair, staring at the blond in front of me. Due to my "episode" last week I missed my therapy session and it had now been three weeks since I'd been in to see my psychologist.

"Isabella, how have you been feeling lately?" my therapist, Dr. Irina Denali, asked. "Edward tells me you've been blacking out, or maybe sleepwalking, and haven't been taking your meds."

I cringed and mentally flipped him the bird for tattling on me. "I forgot to take them."

"You really must take them every day. They're not beneficial if you do not use as directed," she lectured and pursed her lips. "Have you been swimming lately?"

"Yes."

"How does it make you feel?"

I rolled my eyes and stared at her. "Like I'm out of this hell you call life."

"Why don't you take this seriously, Isabella? I'm here to help you, but I can't if you won't help yourself."

"Because no amount of talking about it will change anything."

"No? So, you're just going to run around the rest of your life playing the orphaned victim? Blaming your parents?"

"It is their fault!" I raged, balling up my fists. "If they hadn't left me I wouldn't be here talking to you! If they hadn't died I would still be normal! And I would still have a fucking family!"

"But they are gone, and this is your life now," she noted, her arms open to the space around. "You need to accept this new reality and learn to live in it, because it isn't going to change. You need to be thinking about your future and what you want to do in life. You seem to be drifting in the sea, lost to the world, but you're right here in front of me. I'm not saying you should stop mourning their deaths, only that you should start living your life again."

"But I don't know how. I feel like I'm at the bottom of a deep pool trying to swim my way to the surface but the water just keeps getting deeper and deeper. Darkness closing in, sucking me down," I admitted, tears forming in my eyes.

"Start with something little," she suggested.

"Like what?"

"You love to swim, right?" she questioned. "And you were excellent at it." I nodded and waited for her grand idea. "Why don't you try to join the swim team again? Make this negative analysis you made, a positive. Get a sense of normalcy back in your life. You might be able to make some new friends or gain back some of your old ones. You just need to put in a little bit of effort. I know it's hard, but it will pay off in the long run."

I left her office with a tiny spark of hope that maybe my life wouldn't always be the hell I'd been living in. Perhaps she was right in that I just needed to get back on the wagon, so to speak, and start doing things I used to do, like the swim team.

I parked my bike in the garage, locking it up before hopping on the elevator and taking it up to our floor. Upon opening the door I found Edward dishing out some dinner.

"How was therapy?" he inquired as he handed me a plate.

"Good, I think."

His eyebrows rose. "I think I see a change, small as it may be. That's good."

"We'll see."

We ate in relative silence again, but afterwards we headed to the couch to watch a movie he'd rented. I curled up with a blanket on one end of the couch while Edward sat at the other. It was an interesting movie, but halfway through I began to get tired.

The motion was instantaneous; I didn't even have time to think about what I was doing. I laid down on the couch with my head resting on Edward's lap. It startled him, but he soon relaxed, resting one of his arms on my waist.

His warmth felt good, comforting. My head burrowed down into his leg and he stiffened beneath me, a small moan escaping his lips while his hand clenched into the fabric of my shirt. It was an interesting reaction, arousal, one I wasn't expecting. After a few moments he relaxed again, his hand trailing up my arm, making soothing motions against my bare skin.

Maybe my therapist was on to something, about getting back to the things I used to do. Because in those moments I realized the thing I'd been overlooking for so long.

I turned so that I was looking up at him. The movement caused his hand to skim my breasts, making my nipples pebble, and his attention to move from the screen down to me. He smiled at me, sweet and loving, his hand brushing away a stray strand of hair from my face. It wasn't the look of a parent to a child, I knew that one well. No. It was the look of a man to a woman.

All this time…I'd been overlooking Edward.

Reaching up I cupped the back of his neck, pulling him down as I sat up, placing my lips lightly to his. He nuzzled my nose and smiled softly as I moved back down.

I fell asleep there, in the calming comfort of Edward. Wondering when things had shifted and how long I'd felt a spark for my much older guardian.

Me and Mr. Cullen will be up in the next day or two!