Disclaimer: I own nothing, characters belong to Stephenie Meyers.

Chapter 8

As the weeks passed, the three of us had fallen into this weird routine. I began training to take Sam's position while he went on vacation, Alice finished the school year and began spending more time at the cabin with us. Edward, well, he basically lived at the cabin. I hated that he was spending so much time with us, I knew he had a life before he met me, but he always reassured me that he couldn't think of anything else he would rather do.

"I think… it's time to tell your parents about me staying here. I know it's been almost a month…"

"Yeah, and you said you were only going to stay for a day," Edward laughed pausing the movie we had been watching. This was one of the rare moments that I forgot every problem I had lived through, Emily was fast asleep for her nap, Alice was at home, no doubt packing for a weekend here. Edward and I were sitting on the couch watching Netflix. "I will gladly tell them, if you want me to."

"I do," I said giving him a smile. "I want them to know how great of a son they have."

"They already know," Edward smirked.

"How come you don't work at the hospital with your dad? I mean, I kind of get the idea that it's something he wants for you."

"He does," Edward agreed leaning forward. "I have actually started talking with him about going into the medical field, but in a different way."

"How?"

"I want to be a paramedic. Maybe that's why I haven't gone to work at the hospital, because I want to do that. I've wanted to since I was in high school."

"You're, what? 24?" Edward looked shocked as he sat back, as well as a little hurt.

"I'm 22, thank you very much."

"Okay, so have you already gone to school for it?"

"Nope, planning to start enrolling in some classes." I nodded and looked down at my hands. Edward had a plan, he had a future planned, something he wanted to do. I wasn't sure what I would be doing for the rest of my life. Edward must have picked up on my thoughts, he put a finger under my chin and forced me to look at him. "Hey, you'll figure something out. You won't work at the diner for your whole life. When you were little what did you dream of doing?"

That was a question that I hadn't been asked in a long time, I wasn't sure I could even remember. "Honestly, I don't know. You already know my life has never been easy, I mean, you heard me telling Alice when I first met her. I guess… I guess I always dreamed of living in California or New York. Somewhere big, somewhere I could blend in easily. But now, I have Emily and I just want somewhere I can take her and give her the childhood I never had."

"You already are, I bet you are doing better for her than your parents ever did for you." I nodded in agreement, I was doing better for her already. "How did your parents die?"

"They overdosed when I was 10, I guess you weren't back in yet when I told Alice that. But, yeah, they overdosed… I always wonder if it was on purpose. They should never have been parents, my mom and dad met when they were in high school. She got pregnant when she was 15, like mother like daughter huh? Anyway, they had me but often left me on my own to go party or something. I had parents until I was 10, but I've learned to be on my own for a long time."

"That day in the park… You were how old?"

I turned to face him a little better. "So that was me, I thought so. Anyway, I was 5. My mom left me there to go meet her drug dealer. She came back after a few hours, but multiple people stopped to see if I was lost."

"I'm surprised no one called the cops," Edward observed. "Okay, I'm not going to push you. But, Mike… What's the story with him? You told Alice that you thought he loved you?"

"I did. I thought that he was the one, ya know all that stupid corny romantic stuff. Anyway, when I was 15, we went to a party because he had convinced me that I needed one night and I agreed. I mean, it made sense, I did need one night to act like a teenager and be a stupid girl, you know?" Edward nodded, I could see he was having problems hearing this, but it felt good to tell him. It was basically the only thing he didn't know about me. We had opened to each other more and more as the days passed, but he never pushed me to talk about Mike. "Anyway, I'm sure you can figure out what happened. It wasn't consensual. But, his dad is chief of police, I went in to report it after Jake found out. His dad laughed in my face and told me his son would never do that; that Mike knew how to treat a woman. A few months later, his wife left, it was the big news of the town."

"I remember. I never put two and two together about Mike and his dad. There has to be some way to get justice."

"I haven't found a way yet," I said taking a deep breath. "Hey, enough about me and my horrible past. What made you want to be a paramedic?"

"My best friend, Tanya, she was the girl I was with at the store." I nodded. "We were in a car accident when we were 17, I was driving and didn't see a car pulling out. He hit us right on her side, she was hurt worse than I was mainly because she had just taken off her seatbelt. It's a miracle that she didn't get thrown out, but anyway I immediately started trying to help her. After I saw how they helped her, I knew I wanted to do that." Edward looked like he was about to say something else when his phone chimed that he had received a new message. Taking a deep breath, he chuckled after reading it. "Alice is ready to come. I better go get her or else she'll start texting me nonstop."

"I like her, she's a nice girl. You should be nicer to her," I teased.

"Very funny. I'll be back in a bit," he said getting up. I don't know if he even thought about it, but as he got up he gave me a quick kiss and walked out before I could say anything. Did he like me?

-0-0-0-

"Mommy!" I put the book down that I had been reading and smiled. Edward had been gone for about thirty minutes and Emily was already up. Running out of the room, she stopped and looked around. "Where's Edward?"

"He had to go get Alice, he'll be back," I said right as I heard a car pulling up. Looking down at Emily I smirked, "I bet that's him right now."

"Edward!" Emily yelled running and immediately threw open the door. It wasn't a black Lincoln pulling up. It was a banged-up ford truck pulling up.

A/N: I know, this is kind of a filler chapter but it really sets up for the next chapter! Hope you enjoyed it!

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