A/N:This story is a collaboration between GinnyW 31 and Shug (sshg316), and was written for curious88 who won it in the Fandom Gives Back auction last November. Thanks to twitina for looking things over.

Disclaimer: The characters are the property of Stephenie Meyer. The rest is ours.

Contractually Bound: Chapter 2

Bella sat at her small dining table, reading over the housing forms for U-Dub while waiting for Edward. Her mind, however, was whirling with the ramifications of the so-called contract she'd signed. From what she could recall, it had stated six months or…. Damn it. She couldn't remember the exact wording. She would have to ask Edward for a copy of that contract. For now, she would just go by the six months, which meant the fall semester would have already started by the time their "marriage" ended.

The pen in her hand hovered over the housing forms. She would be living with Edward until October—she shuddered at the thought—so she wasn't sure if student housing was her best option. She could commute for the first month or so, and then when everything ended—she refused to think about what thatmeant—she could move into a small studio near campus. On the other hand, she wasn't sure her old truck would be able to make that kind of commute for a month. She could always block her classes to only two or three days a week, maybe find somewhere cheap to stay for those few days... or maybe there were some on-line or distance learning options, so she'd only have to show up on campus a few times during the semester; she would only be taking introductory courses to begin with, anyway. Then there was her financial aid to consider. She didn't know if she would still be eligible for the grants and loans she'd received, given that her income was about take a giant leap upward. But the divorce would cancel that out, albeit not in time for the fall semester. From what she was able to work out, there was a strong possibility she would have to sit out the first semester and start in the spring instead—maybe.

After several minutes of useless suppositions, she realized she had no idea what to do. Everything was such a mess. This marriage thing was going to throw a wrench into all her plans. Of course, even though she'd signed the contract, it wasn't truly binding—not yet. There was still time to back out if she changed her mind. Maybe—maybe her mother and Edward had been exaggerating and things weren't as dire as they believed. She could hope, anyway. For both Esmeand herself.

Shaking her head, Bella decided the best course of action was to talk to someone in the admissions office. Knowing there was no time for that at the moment, she tossed the papers onto the table where they joined the fall semester's course catalog. Bella glanced at the clock, despite already knowing that Edward was about to arrive.

Her fingers twisted together in her lap, then toyed with the skirt of the dress she'd chosen to wear. Usually she stuck to jeans and t-shirts, but a dress had seemed more appropriate for the day's events. The knot of guilt in her stomach tightened, and she took a deep breath, hoping to calm her nerves and praying that she was better prepared to see him than she had been earlier in the week—that she was prepared to see his parents. To see Esme.

Filled with nervous energy, she stood and paced the small apartment. Somehow, she ended up in front of the bookshelf, her fingers reaching for her two prized first editions—Pride and Prejudice and Wuthering Heights. She hadn't touched either book since she'd placed them on the shelf when she moved in, hadn't opened the covers for years. Too painful, too many memories. She slid the Austen a little to the left, her heart pounding as she removed the photograph carefully hidden between the two books.

The Cullen family smiled up at her, eighteen-year-old Edward in his canary yellow graduation robes, his arm flung around seventeen-year-old Bella's shoulders, tucking her close to his side. Esme, Carlisle, and Alice were gathered around them, Alice clinging to her big brother's free hand. She brushed her fingers over the picture, almost hoping she could catch the love, happiness, and optimism she could see encompassing all of them and hold on to it.

As she studied the photo, Bella tilted her head to one side and wondered how it had all gone so wrong. The day the picture had been taken, she would have never dreamed things would have turned out like this. Her eyes were drawn to Esme. Never this.

Swallowing the pain, she turned her attention to Edward's smiling face, his expression bright with excitement at all of life's possibilities and his eyes filled with love for his family… for her.

But now, instead of the loving, considerate boy she'd known, Edward was hard and bitter and angry. Vengeful, even.

She hadn't expected that. Somewhere along the line Bella had convinced herself that their breakup had left him completely unscathed, that he would have moved on and forgotten all about the small town girl he'd left behind.

The sound of a car horn interrupted her thoughts, and she quickly tucked the photo back between the two books. Crossing the room to peek out the small window, she noted the shiny, new Volvo parked in the diner's back lot. The car was not one she was familiar with, but even so, she knew it was Edward.

"You could have just honked the horn," Bella groused, rolling her eyes as Edward led her to the car, his umbrella sheltering her from the pouring rain, his arm preventing her from slipping. "Then we wouldn't have had to deal with my dad." She shuddered, remembering the inquisition they'd just been put through.

"My mother raised me to be a gentleman," he replied, grinning at her crookedly as he opened her car door, sending her heart rate soaring. "I love you, Bella. I would never disrespect you like that."

Still looking out at the car waiting in the lot, Bella sighed, then nodded. Edward was making a statement—and she'd heard it, loud and clear.

With a grim smile, she grabbed her umbrella. If Edward Cullen thought he was going to walk all over her, he had another thing coming.

~o0o~

Edward didn't bother going up to her door; he simply pulled into one of the two parking spaces behind the diner that were reserved for the small apartment and honked his horn. Within a few minutes, Bella was walking down the steep steps, gripping an umbrella in her right hand while her left clutched the railing. He noticed twice that she started to lose her balance but quickly righted herself, and he fought the urge to roll his eyes. What he'd once found to be an endearing quirk in her personality, he now hated. Her clumsiness was simply a sign of carelessness, and if Bella paid more attention to her surroundings then she wouldn't have so many accidents.

While he sat warm and dry in the car, she narrowly avoided mud puddles and ran to try to stay out of the rain on her way to reach him. Edward cringed when she closed her umbrella and put the wet thing on the floor of his new car, but he held his tongue, grateful that she'd at least used it instead of entering the vehicle in the same condition as a drowned rat.

As he drove, the air was thick with tension. The only sound to be heard was the pounding of the large raindrops on the roof and the whooshing of the windshield wipers. Edward saw no point in attempting to mask it with music. Instead he allowed the silence to grow, the tension to fester until Bella was noticeably fidgeting. First, she was simply grabbing her hands and then alternating between squeezing her fingers and wringing her hands. Next, he watched as she rotated a shoulder, shifted in her seat, and finally began tapping her foot in an erratic rhythm.

When he couldn't take it anymore, he let out an exasperated sigh. "Just say it," he said bitterly.

"I haven't seen her."

Bella's words were so soft, so full of shame, that Edward could barely hear her. He gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white and continued to try to make out the road through the pouring rain.

"I don't see how that's my problem."

Bella let out a breath. "Mom said she's really frail."

Edward could only nod his head sharply in response; he didn't like to think about Esme's physical well-being... her physical health was already a hopeless cause. Right now his focus remained solely on how his mother was doing emotionally, which meant ensuring her happiness. That was all any of them could worry about anymore. Even so, he also knew that some small part of him hoped that if he could make her happy enough, make up for staying away for so long, then maybe God would grant them all a miracle.

He turned the car onto the nearly hidden gravel road and noted that Bella's breathing increased as they got closer to the house. "It's your own fault you haven't seen her, you know," he told her.

Bella's refused to turn her head to look at him, and after several long moments, as they traveled down the private drive, he heard her say, "I know."

The satisfaction he'd expected to feel at her words never came, causing Edward's irritation with her to grow. Annoyed, he muttered curse words under his breath as his parents' house came into view. As he pulled the car into the driveway, he shut off the engine and turned his attention to the woman sitting beside him.

When he didn't move to exit the car, she turned her head and they made eye contact for the first time that day. Edward tried to figure out what to say. On the one hand, he felt he had to tell her how to behave; on the other, he knew that wouldn't be necessary. He was having a great deal of difficulty reconciling this Bella with the girl he'd grown up with and the one he'd admittedly built up in his head. He took a breath and opened his mouth to say something, and then snapped it closed just as quickly.

Bella looked at him curiously, but Edward shook his head. "Never mind."

A beat later, he opened his car door and ran quickly through the rain up to the covered porch. It took Bella another few moments before she got out of the car. Edward didn't have to be a genius to know that she'd been waiting for him to open the door for her. He scoffed at the very idea and watched through narrowed eyes as she ran up the slippery steps, barely keeping herself upright, to join him.

It was as she was standing beside him that he finally took a good look at her. Unlike the other day when he'd shown up at her apartment, Bella had put some effort into her appearance. When he'd left that evening, he'd been tempted to tell her to take a shower before coming over to see his family, but he hadn't wanted her to think he cared one iota about how she looked. Because he most certainly did not. Therefore, when she arched an eyebrow at his appraisal, he found himself telling her, "I hope you don't think dressing up will impress me," in his most sarcastic voice.

Bella looked down at her dress and tugged on the already stretched out cardigan she'd worn in lieu of a jacket, before looking back up at Edward. "Don't flatter yourself. I just wanted to look nice for Esme."

For some reason that Edward couldn't even fathom, his anger flared, and he didn't know if it was because of her snappy reply or because her clothes looked as if she'd bought them at the local thrift shop. He found himself clenching his fists several times at his sides before he let out an exasperated breath and turned to the door. He didn't bother knocking as he opened the front door and then, remembering that their performance now mattered, he waved his hand forward, inviting Bella inside like a gentleman—just as he'd been taught. As she walked past him, he quietly ordered her to smile and then followed her through the door.

Obviously phony grins were plastered on both their faces.

~o0o~

Bella stood awkwardly in the foyer of the house she remembered playing in as a child, feeling oddly out of place and significantly under-dressed. She smoothed non-existent wrinkles from her dress. It had been the nicest thing in her closet. She wasn't sure why Edward seemed so upset about it, but then again, he seemed to be upset by anything and everything to do with her. Perhaps she should simply resign herself to that fact and ignore it.

She sighed and tried to put all of that behind her; it was time to focus on the reason they were there. It had been years since she'd been in the house, and she was surprised by how much of an outsider she felt like in such familiar surroundings. Six years ago, Carlisle and Esme had moved to Seattle for work, but they'd kept the house in Forks as a summer retreat. Bella's mother had mentioned in passing that the Cullens jokingly referred to it as their "weekend cabin."

Edward led her into the living room, and Bella's fake smile quickly turned genuine.

"Oh, Bella, I'm so happy to see you," Esme said as she slowly stood from her chair and walked over, immediately engulfing the younger woman in her arms.

Relishing the embrace of the woman whom she'd always thought of as a second mother, Bella found she had to fight to hold in her sobs. The guilt at having stayed away for so long was tangible, and she was certain that Esme could feel it, as well. Her thoughts were confirmed when Esme whispered in her ear, "It's okay, sweetheart. I forgive you. It will all be okay now."

For a moment, Bella allowed herself to believe her and took solace in Esme's arms, but a small voice in the back of her head reminded her that it was all decidedly backward. Esme was the one who needed support and comfort, and Bella needed to quit being so selfish.

Esme squeezed Bella a bit tighter before releasing her grasp, and Bella noted how thin she felt. Esme Cullen had always been a slender, petite woman, but she was nothing more than skin and bones now. Bella studied her face. To the casual observer, Esme might have looked to be nothing more than a bit tired, but there was something decidedly off about her, even aside from the hollowed cheeks, the pallor of her skin, and the chapped lips. Her hair had always been a beautiful caramel color and full of body, with not a single hair ever out of place. Today, it was straight and lifeless, with far more gray than the light golden brown Bella remembered. However the most troubling change was found in Esme's eyes. She'd always loved Esme's eyes. They'd always been vibrant and expressive, the same color as her son's; now they just appeared dull, sad, and laced with exhaustion.

As if knowing what Bella was thinking, Esme said, "I'm fine. Don't worry about me today."

It was a clear warning that it was not the time to discuss her health and they would leave it for another day.

"I missed you."

Reaching up and patting her cheek, Esme said, "I missed you, too, sweetheart."

Ever the gracious hostess, Esme ushered her son and Bella to the living room where they could chat comfortably, informing them that Carlisle, though excited to see Bella, was busy in the kitchen finishing up the preparations for dinner. The pair sat together on the sofa, just close enough to make it appear as if they were not avoiding one another. Esme eased herself into a plush chair with an ottoman, and Edward immediately jumped back up to cover her legs with a heavy afghan as she rested her head back and closed her eyes for a moment. Then he joined Bella on the couch once again.

"So, Bella, Edward hasn't yet told me how the two of you reconnected," Esme said after she'd caught her breath and composed herself.

After looking over to Edward with a silent plea for help and finding nothing but thinly veiled scorn, she flashed Esme the most sincere smile she could muster and began weaving the tale that Edward had briefly mentioned when he'd arrived at her apartment a few days before.

She could feel Edward's eyes on her as she laid out the story they'd discussed, ready to jump in and provide additional details if necessary. Her voice was a bit shaky and her hands were clenched together in her lap, but despite her nerves, she was going to stick to the plan. Not that she had any choice. To do otherwise would hurt Esme, and that was the last thing she wanted to do. Esme's face lit up as Bella explained how they had run into each other at the diner when he'd first joined his family in Forks. A hint of sparkle returned to Esme's eyes as Bella babbled on about how they'd been spending time together ever since and how happy she was to have Edward in her life again.

That sparkle was worth every painful, detestable moment she had to spend sitting next to Edward Cullen.

He laid his hands atop hers and squeezed lightly, and one glance at his face told her that he thought she was laying it on a bit thick. "We're lucky to have found each other again," he said, effectively cutting off any more of her rambling explanations.

Bella fought back a growl; he knew she was terrible at lying. If he wanted to be certain that everything went off without a hitch, he should've been the one doing all of the talking. Then again, knowing Esme as she did, it was likely that Edward had already received the third degree from his mother before Bella had arrived. Bella bit the inside of her cheek to keep from snapping at her so-called boyfriend; Edward should have spent their time in the car prepping her on the correct answers rather than merely glowering at her.

"Dinner!" Carlisle called from the kitchen.

Edward and Bella rose from the couch, and she stood off to the side as Edward quickly moved to help his mother. Esme leaned against him as he helped her to her feet. Bella noticed how his face pinched slightly when Esme was in his arms, and she imagined it was because his stomach twisted just as much as hers at Esme's too light frame. She smothered a laugh when Esme smacked at Edward's hand, however, as he tried to take her arm and walk with her to the dining room. Esme Cullen had always been independent, and not even her fragile state was going to change that.

"It makes me so happy to know that you're happy," Esme said softly to them both as she walked between Edward and Bella. "It's about time that you finally set your hurt and anger aside so the two of you could talk things through. I know that you've both been miserable these last few years, but I knew that you two belonged together and that you'd find each other again. I've always felt that the heartache we suffer through in life makes the joy and love that much sweeter. Wouldn't you agree, Edward?"

At his mother's words, the toe of Edward's shoe caught the corner of the coffee table and he briefly stumbled before catching himself.

"Of course, Mother," he managed as soon as he caught his balance.

Biting her lip to hide her amusement, Bella accompanied them into the dining room to greet the rest of the family for their meal.

~o0o~

Three hours later, with dinner eaten, dishes done, and stomachs recently filled with coffee and cake, Edward and Bella finally left. Carlisle and Esme stood on the porch, his arms wrapped protectively around his frail wife, as Edward escorted Bella out to the car. This time Edward politely opened her door for her, a show for his parents, she knew.

The quiet in the car was instantly stifling, but Bella held her tongue until Edward had the car traveling down the narrow gravel road before asking, "How long?"

"Until what?"

She kept her eyes down and picked at the imaginary lint on her skirt. "How long does she have?"

"I thought your mother would've told you."

Without even bothering to look at him, she knew he was glaring at her by the way he spoke the words. Choosing to ignore his obvious annoyance, she pressed, "I was afraid to ask, and I didn't really want to harass her for the information. Mom's pretty upset."

"We all are," he replied in a tone that clearly indicated that Bella was obviously not one of the "we" who cared about Esme.

Edward's statement hung in the air, and it wasn't until he turned the car out onto the highway that he turned his head and looked at Bella. With what almost sounded like a sigh of resignation he said, "Less than six months. Though Dad said that after her last set of labs, he thinks we'll be lucky to get four."

Four months. Bella's stomach twisted, and her heart felt as if Edward was crushing it between his hands. Part of her had refused to believe that Esme could be so ill, but now, having seen her, she could no longer fool herself. Bella put her elbow up on the car door, and chewed on her fingernail as she stared out the window. She was slowly finding her resolve as she digested his words. Since she'd first heard her mother utter the words "pancreatic cancer" less than two months earlier, she'd known that the outcome wouldn't be good. But she'd avoided asking about things like what stage the cancer was in or what the prognosis was. The truth of Edward's answer was in everything—from the slow, careful way Esme moved to the way she simply pushed her food around her plate and barely ate to her labored breaths when her pain escalated.

Now that she knew, she wished she could take that information and hide it away again behind lock and key. Ignorance was indeed bliss.

"You're sure they can't do anything?"

The car swerved, and as Bella snapped her head to look at Edward in panic. "What the hell, Edward?"

"How can you even ask that?" he shouted, bringing the car to a skidding stop on the side of the road and then turning his full attention to her.

"Do you blame me for asking? Surely you asked the very same question. At least the Edward Cullen I knew would have. He never took things at face value. Henever took a simple answer and sat back to await an outcome." She squeezed her eyes shut to fight off the tears that were attempting to fall and turned her head to rest back against her window. "Obviously you've changed much more than I'd originally thought."

"You know absolutely nothing about me," she heard him say. Then a moment later, she felt the car pull back onto the highway. She didn't open her eyes again until she felt him turn and she saw that they were only a couple of blocks from the diner. Bella thought again about the course catalog and housing information that was sitting on the table in her apartment, but even as her mind shifted in that direction, it immediately changed course, leaving her thoughts completely consumed with Esme.

"Edward, there was something in your contract about the duration…." She let her words trail off, inviting him to fill in the blanks for her. There had been a condition of sorts, but she'd not truly given it much thought beyond the "six months" part.

"Six months or two months after Mom's funeral, whichever is longer," he said, this time his voice devoid of any emotion as he turned the car into the parking lot of the diner.

It sounded as if they would only be married for six months, as she'd originally thought. It was a small fact that would have made her happy just a few hours earlier, but for the first time since signing his contract, Bella realized the full implication of the marriage's time limit. She'd known on some level, of course, but it was only now, as she considered the two events together that she fully accepted just how intertwined they were—her marriage and Esme's health.

It would be Esme's death that would set the wheels for her divorce into motion. Like the falling of the first domino or a gun signaling the start of a race.

The vision of Esme's smiling face just after she hugged both Bella and Edward when they had left less than twenty minutes ago danced before her eyes.

Less than six months.

Bella's stomach began to churn, and her heart felt infinitely heavier at the thought.

A moment later, Edward pulled the car into a parking space, and Bella leaned down, grabbed her umbrella from the floorboards, and willed herself to keep her tears at bay for the final minutes she would be in Edward's presence. "Thanks for—" she began, but instantly stopped when she saw his narrowed gaze. Bella gave an annoyed huff and opened the car door. "Just let me know if I need to know anything else about your brilliant plan."

"You'll be seeing me plenty."

Bella glanced at him and nodded, the lead weight in her stomach inhibiting her from coming up with a witty reply. "Okay."

Then, without another word, she shut the passenger door a bit harder than she probably should have and ran up the steps to her apartment, not even bothering to open the umbrella this time. She no longer had anyone to impress. Without a moment's hesitation, Bella walked directly to her dining table, collected the papers she had strewn across it, and promptly tossed them all in the garbage can.

Decision made. She wasn't going to back out now.