A/N: Thanks for coming along with me on this ride.

Edward, it turned out, was an excellent wingman. The problem was, they rarely agreed on who Bella should be targeting. So it was no surprise when Edward followed her gaze across the room at the party they were at and immediately turned back to her with narrowed eyes. "Bella, no."

Bella frowned. "Seriously? All I've done is look at him."

"I know that look." He pointed a finger between her eyes. "And he's got trouble written all over him."

"Are you high? Have you ever seen him before in your life?"

"No."

"Don't know his name?"

"No."

"So what—"

"Bella. No."

Looking back across the room, she saw the man who'd caught her eye had spotted her. He had long, scraggly blond hair, and a delicious grin. He had to be at least a senior if he went to school at all. He started walking her way.

"Bella, yes," Bella said, patting Edward's arm.

"Bella—"

She swung around, taking his hand and squeezing it. He wasn't trying to be a pain in the ass. He really cared about her. He had this whole theory that her poor taste in men was a result of the fact she'd had to be too responsible in her childhood, and she was making up for it now. "Hey, if this all goes tits up, I won't be mad if you say 'I told you so.'"

~0~

Edward didn't say 'I told you so.'

James Hunter, the quintessential bad boy from the wrong side of the tracks, with his badass motorcycle and his guitar strapped to his back, had shattered her heart into a million pieces one week before finals. Of course he had.

But Edward was a good friend. He'd picked up all the pieces, wrapped her up in his arms, and wiped away all her tears.

"Ughhh. The fucking bad boy." Bella sniffled, raising her head from Edward's shoulder. "It's so cliché I want to die."

"Pfft. No," Edward said. "You're missing a few elements. He doesn't have a record, first of all."

"Only because his files were sealed because he was a minor."

"And he's blond, not dark haired."

Bella sniffled, shaking her head. "I have a thing for blonds," she muttered.

Edward hugged her. "Don't feel stupid. We've all been there."

"You haven't."

"Ah, yes I have."

She quirked an eyebrow. "High school? Really?"

"How do you think I know trouble when I see it?"

Their front door came open then. Bella's head shot up, but she shouldn't have been surprised. The only other person who had the key to the apartment was Carlisle. Sure enough, there he was, carrying a bunch of bags. Bella hopped off the couch, running to help. Those bags looked heavy and it wasn't like her apartment had an elevator. "What's all this?"

It wouldn't be the first time Carlisle stopped by with groceries. He refused to let them live off Ramen noodles and grilled cheese like normal college students. But these weren't the usual groceries he brought by.

"This is your 'boys are stupid' starter pack," he said, settling the bags on the kitchen table.

"Present company excluded," Edward said.

Carlisle scoffed. "Present company included. Especially you, but not the dumb boys in question right now." He started to take things out of the bags he'd brought. "Dinner."

Bella's broken heart warmed slightly when she saw that he'd brought food from her favorite Italian restaurant. "Double breadsticks, even."

"Yep." He set out the next items. "Chocolate, ice cream, and cookie dough." And the next bag. "Darts, in case you have a picture of the bastard you want to desecrate."

Bella bit her lip, smiling a little in spite of herself.

"Booze. Either wine coolers or hard lemonade." He set two six packs of both on the counter.

Bella's eyebrows shot skyward. "Encouraging underage drinking?"

He grinned. "See, that's the benefit of being the cool older brother instead of the parent. I won't tell if you won't."

She made a show of zipping her lips.

"Last category." He took several Blu-Rays out of the last bag. "Entertainment for distraction purposes. We've got action, in case you want to see guys being blown up or beat up. Romance, in case you're in the mood to remind yourself that good guys still exist. And then there's this." He handed her three DVDs.

Bella gasped, grasping them to her chest to hide them and then dropping them all together. "Carlisle, what the—" Her eyes went wide, and she stared at him.

"Lesbian porn. In case you decide to play for the other team after this," he said, completely straight-faced.

That did it. Bella threw back her head and laughed, cheered for the first time since this whole debacle started. She let Carlisle pull her into a hug. Damn. He gave good hug. Comforting.

Many hours later, Edward had passed out—damn lightweight. Bella was, for the most part, better. Her heart still ached terribly, but it was easier to tolerate now. At some point during the evening, she'd ended up wedged between the Cullen boys. Edward was snoozing now, his head on her lap, and she was pressed against Carlisle's warm side, not self-conscious about it because booze was a wonderful thing.

"The first time James…" Bella swallowed hard, searching for the right words. "The first time he scared me, Edward tried so hard to get me to wake the hell up. Call a spade a spade. He said he just didn't want me to end up like his mother."

Carlisle sucked in a breath, and Bella felt bad. She'd wanted to ask for a long time, but Elizabeth Cullen was a bit of a sore topic amongst her boys. They seemed to have very different, very complicated relationships with her. "Sorry. It's none of my business."

"It's okay." Carlisle lifted his beer to his lips and took a small drink. He tapped his fingers on the bottle a few more seconds before he began to speak in his gentle voice. "Our mother met our father the first day of university. She was pregnant with me three weeks later. He was a controlling, abusive asshole, and when she was finally in a place where she felt like she could leave him, he sabotaged her birth control."

"Jesus Christ," Bella muttered under her breath.

"Yeah." Carlisle's arm had been draped over the back of the couch most of the night. His fingertips skimmed across her shoulders in a soothing motion, absent motion. When she looked over at him, he was staring straight forward, lost in memory. "Edward was ten before I could get him out. Mom… Well, the mind of an abuse victim is hard to understand. Put it that way. Really long story short, it was just me and Edward until about three years ago. Mom was finally able to get away from Dad. Got her life together and got Edward back."

"Damn." The stroke of Carlisle's fingers on her skin was making her sleepy. She yawned. "If you're trying to get me never to date again, it's working."

He made a face. "I was going for, the 'at least it wasn't that bad' angle." He ruffled her hair. "You're going to be okay. There are a lot of assholes out there, but there are a lot of good guys too. And you have time, Bella. All the time in the world."

She yawned again and rested her head tentatively on his shoulder, needing the warmth and easy comfort. Good guys. "Hey, Carlisle?"

"Hmm?"

"Your dad's a dick, but that you turned out to be such a good guy makes you pretty awesome."

He sighed. She thought she heard him mutter, "I'm not that good," but she was already mostly asleep.

A/N: I'm going to try to post every other day until we're caught up to where the o/s ended.