One chapter left after this...

IMPORTANT: The jail sentence mentioned in this chapter is the current punishment as a part of Arizona Law - every sentence depends on 'ranking' of the felony and current convictions.

.CHAPTER EIGHT.

Bella.

I watched them shake hands and exchange silent thoughts with a quick nod of their heads. They were the most important men in my life and had never seen eye-to-eye, but today, when all hell broke loose, they put aside their differences and worked as a team. For me, but mostly for my children.

"You did good, Son." Charlie slapped Edward's shoulder for good measure. We rang Charlie to help deal with the unconscious fucker behind us, because he's family and I knew Charlie would do whatever it took to make sure Edward didn't get charged for abuse. "I'll make sure that sick son-of-a-bitch never sees the light of day again." Dad looped both thumbs inside his gun belt and stepped to me. "You okay now, Bells?"

Was I okay? Ha! un-fucking-likely. My daughter was seconds away from being in a monster's van, and I just stopped my husband from becoming a murderer. Of course I wasn't okay. But for Charlie I shrugged it off, like I had done many times before that. "I'll get there. Thanks for helping out, Dad."

Charlie wasn't an affectionate hugging kind of man, so a brief hug with one arm said it all. "You and those kiddo's are my life, Bell; you know that." My response came in the form of a bob of my head. "And I realize you've both had it rough recently, but don't do anything stupid - Masen would dodge a bullet; keep him around."

A cocky smile formed, "wow, Dad, I don't think you've ever told me to keep Ed around."

"I haven't, but he did good today."

"I know." In the corner of my eye I spotted the man in question stub out his smoke and head back over. Mini was running after him; his long hair flying back with the breeze.

"Yo, Grandpa." Charlie and Mini bumped knuckles. "You gonna lock that fucker up?"

Dad threw his head back with a loud laugh. "I sure am, lil man. Now watch your language." Like Dad could talk - my first word was 'shit', thanks to him.

"C'mon, Old Man, don't bust my balls!" Edward and I shared a look - who taught our son that line?

"Just you wait till you're my age, Madd."

"I don't care, as long as I'm fuck-awesome like you."

Edward saw that as the time to intervene. "Okay, Mini, that's enough. Say goodbye to your Grandpa, then go finish your dinner."
"Catch ya' later, Chief!" With a salute and a wink, Maddox left us to finish up. Charlie told us that he'd get in contact when he knew for certain that the monster was going to serve time, and for how long. There was no hiding the fact that this man had been... (holy fuck, deep breath)... stalking India up until today, which Charlie said would bounce the jail time up. He could rot in there till the day he dies for all I care. With the man cuffed and slowly coming 'round again, Charlie and Edward shoved him into the cruiser.

"Breathe." Edward sniggered, looping his arm around my shoulders. "It's over now, B."

I looked up at him with a sad smile. "It'll never be completely over though, will it. He could be behind bars but the image will always be there - hijacking my every dream." I was relieved that he had gone, but I still felt... scared? anxious? I couldn't put my finger on it.

His hands moved from my shoulder to my cheeks, "no-one is going to hurt India and Maddox, and no-one is going to hurt you, either. I won't let them." From the look on his face I could tell that Edward was thinking hard over his next words. "I... I love you, B..." He rubbed his forehead roughly, "I know I've, well... I know I've never said that before... but I do, y'know... I love you. Like, a helluva lot."

More tears rolled. We didn't marry for love; we married for the kids, and Edward has never been the type of guy to admit how he feels. I hadn't said it to him either, but it all made sense then - how had I not realized it before?

"I love you, too." My own words shocked me. It never occurred to me how good it would feel to admit that. "You annoy the hell out of me, and if I had any commonsense I would have dumped your ass years ago... but nothing changes the fact that I... y'know... feel that way."

The two of us laughed in unison, "we are such hopeless romantics."

"'Hopeless' being the operative word."

He pulled me into his arms and pressed a kiss to my crown. "How about we get the kids home and then we have that chat?"

My shoulders slumped. Everything had been going so well. "Really?"

"Yes. We can't forget that our separation didn't happen, B."

"I know..."

"C'mon, it won't take long."

0-0

Edward and I worked as a team getting the kids to bed - he managed Maddox, and I helped India. It had been months since we last working together as parents, the 'old Edward' would lounge on the couch with a drink as I attempted to juggle cooking various meals, feeding the cats, getting the kids bathed and into bed before I could even think about myself. Part of me did have that worry that Ed would turn back into his old self once this had all blown over, but I also believed that we both learnt a valuable lesson the past two weeks.

"Want one?" He interrupted my silent ponder by holding out a cold beer recently taken from the fridge.

"Er..." I covered my stomach with one arm, "nah; I'll pass, thanks." I still felt queasy from earlier on in the day - granted it didn't help with the scenario this evening, however alcohol for once was not what I wanted. "I'll take some water though, if you're offering?"

"You alright?" Concern was etched all over his face. He, too, knew me better than anyone. "You never pass up a beer. And water? What the fuck is that?"

"I haven't been feeling good recently. I think I have a stomach bug." Edward made a disgusted face - he doesn't do well with sickness and illnesses. He was probably more worried that he'd catch it from me.

Once I'd swallowed a couple Pepto Bismol tablets and had refilled the glass of water we found comfort in the living room to have the dreaded conversation. I didn't know where to start, or what to mention first. There was a minute of awkward silence, before E spoke first.

"I'm sorry, B. That shouldn't have happened - our fall out shouldn't have happened." He wrung his heavily inked hands together as a sign of distress and nervousness.

"No, I think we were right to separate." Worried eyes suddenly stared into mine. "I'm not saying we still should separate, but we were right to have that break. It taught us so much, Ed; you need to admit that."

"I realized what an ass I was..."

"Me too. I expected too much from you, and I'm sorry."

"You expected me to be a father, Bella. That's nothing to be sorry for."

I shook my head, "don't make me seem like an angel, 'cause I'm far from it. We were both wrong and both said things we didn't mean."

"Yes," Ed nodded slowly, "the idea was to see whether we were better off together or apart and, I don't know about you, but I know what I want."

"I feel the same, however we need to set some ground rules or else we'll say this now and go back to square one tomorrow."

"Okay."

I scratched under the bandana that circled my head as I thought, "we both want this relationship to work but we both work long days, so lets set 1 day a week where Indie and Maddox go to their aunt and uncles' house after school and we could spend the day together?"

Edward smirked and rose his eyes brows in a suggestive manner, "I'm fine with that."

"We will not spend the day in bed." But I had to admit, the idea floated around for a few minutes. "Another rule - we work as a team for dinner and school runs, etc."

"That sounds fair to me. How about this," Ed adjusted the way he sat, "we'll talk more - don't keep our troubles bottled up. Also the way we talk, like the words we use. Mini's language is getting out of hand, so we need to keep a lid on it."

I suddenly thought that someone should have been writing this down, but I hoped we were both old enough to remember it all. "On weekends we'll schedule things to do together with the kids, like a proper family. Even if I'm at the diner and you're at home you could bring them to RB's and I'll spend as much time as possible with you guys."

He seemed a little hesitant with that option. "I guess..."

"I know you don't like the diner, Ed, but I'm not asking a lot."

Ed stood from the couch and came to rest on the arms of my chair, he cuddled me into his side. It was one of the cutest things I had seen him do in a long time. "I know," he patted my shoulder, "and I'll try my best. I think we should stop there or else we'll have too much to think about at one go. We can discuss more tomorrow."

He made sense and it had been a long day.

Up in the bedroom, Edward stole a pillow from his side of the bed followed by the pajama pants I had neatly placed in the closet. "Please don't," I said which stopped his walk to the door. "I can't be alone tonight." I knew nightmares would plague me, and to know he was there may have made them a little easier to handle.

"I'm not going anywhere, Babe."

"I know that, but... please."

With a gentle smile, Edward retraced his steps and made himself comfy in the bed. It didn't take us long to fall asleep, but as expected I awoke only a short couple hours later. Although it wasn't because of a nightmare. The Pepto Bismol obviously had not done it's job, seeing as I spent a majority of the night with my head over the toilet.

0-0

Early the next morning, Charlie was on the phone to us. Ed and I sat at the kitchen table with him on speaker. His voice was steady, so I had no way of knowing whether he held good news or bad news. I prayed for the former.

"His name is James Adams..." It sounded as though Charlie was reading from a report. "But on further inspection I found out that is an alias - his real name is Joseph Roberts and he has been wanted by the San Diego Police Department for the past nine years. They lost all trace of him until yesterday. Roberts was wanted on more than one occasion..."

Charlie stalled - he didn't want to go into more detail, but curiosity killed the cat. "How many?"

"Edward, I..."

"That was our daughter, Charlie. We have a right to know."

"He has been found guilty for seven previous child abductions."

I couldn't breathe. I gasped for air in panic as I clung on to Edward's shirt. That could have been my little girl... It very almost was.

A loud bang spooked me as Edward punched his fist against the table top. "Why was he not caught before?! Why did it take our daughter to be in the situation for that sick fuck to be found!"

"Son, calm down. Every case was known as a class 4 felony - the children were found, alone, before any physical harm was done to them. But every child was asked to describe his face to an artist, and each portrait looked practically identical."

"And?" Edward's knuckles had turned white with the strength he squeezed his fists together. "Is he some kind of fucking ghost? Did he vanish into thin air? It still doesn't explain why he wasn't caught."

"Edward, I'm only telling you what I know."

"So what now?"

"Due to the fact that Roberts is a wanted man he will be sentenced straight away. Wanted on several occasions for a dangerous crime against children, and kidnapping, he's looking at a maximum of 35 years. No parole."

A ton of weight lifted off my shoulders - he'll be locked away for a very long time. But the weight fell back when I thought about something else.

"Dad, what about Edward? Is he going to be okay?"

"The severity of Roberts' injuries have not gone unnoticed and they will be interested to see who did that." Oh God, I feel sick. "I suppose you have cameras on the diner, Bella, that would have picked up yesterday's happenings?"

"Um, yes. Yes there would be footage."

"Right, well suppose someone accidentally did some editing on said tape and accidentally clipped out Edward's ten minutes of fame, there won't be any evidence. The guys don't know that I know. Once Roberts is behind bars, another case will come in that is more important than you, Edward. I think you'll be just fine, Son."

I could breathe a sigh of relief finally. "Thank you, Dad. For everything."

"Don't sweat it. And if for any reason they find out, half the guys at the station are fathers - I'm sure they'd completely understand."

0-0

Fast forward a few months and Edward and I lived in peace knowing that the sick bastard was stuck in a jail cell somewhere. India still had trouble being left alone or going anywhere on her own, but she was getting better, and Maddox had taken his duty of 'protective brother' to the next level. He may be younger than her, but that boy sure knew how to hold himself, and at school if anyone dared to look at India in the wrong way, they'd know about it soon enough. Ed and I had spent a large amount of time in the Principles office discussing our son's behavior, even though he'd never been the golden student to begin with.

Our relationship had become so much stronger - yeah, Ed and I argued from time to time, but Rome wasn't built in a day, and there was a clear difference between how we used to act, and how we act now. I knew we'd be fine, especially as we had a major change on our hands too. That stomach bug I thought I had? Yeah, wasn't no damn stomach bug. Turned out we hadn't been as careful as we first thought, and I was in fact, carrying our third child. The positive pregnancy test had caused an argument, seeing as we both decided Maddox would have been our last, but after the initial shock wore off we came to a decision that once Baby Masen Number 3 had arrived, Edward would get a little operation...

As Number 3's due date crept closer and closer, Alice and I hired a new staff member for the diner, so I didn't have to work as much, and could take the leave I needed when the baby arrived. As much as I was told to stay away and stay off my feet, I couldn't do it. I needed to be in that diner.

The pregnancy was easy and there were no major problems until two weeks before the due date, when Number 3 decided to make an unplanned arrival during dinner. Edward was working which meant I relied on my baby girl to make the call to tell her father that he was needed.

Seven hours later and I was cradling my baby boy, Axel Hendrix Masen.

0-0

A wee into-the-future chapter left guys and then we'll be closing the lid on this one.

Tell me what you thought, and remember to welcome the wee man, Axel, in your reviews :) A picture of him shall be uploaded to RosieRathbone FanFiction on Facebook a wee bit later on.

Thoughts?