Hey Guys, wow lots of reviews! Thank you so much belleanne, immortalwizardpirateelf-fan, Frying Pan of DOOM, 4ever, geekyfaerie, majolevi, lilmstran, A is for Angel, Charmlight, weaknessisour-strength, Edwards squeaky chew toy, ignore common sense and Amanda413.

And thank you for reviewing the second chapter, sorry I missed you.

Immortalwizardpirateelf-fan, to answer your question, Edward felt that it was fault that he brought Tanya into Illyssa's life and that he could be reported for neglect since he didn't notice what was going on.

Frying Pan of DOOM wow what a review! Thank you for being so interested in my story. I do have an idea about how I want Bella to react in my mind, if at any time you don't think it seems to fit please review and tell me. To be honest I just based the kinder experience on my own – with the terminology I mean. I was there when I was three and four for whole days. We always referred to it as kinder and my parents would call the carers my "kindergarten teachers". But it's possible that I'm not using the correct terms at all. I'm not really sure.

Ignore common sense, yes James was definitely abusive, it is possible that I will include him in a later chapter at some point but I'm not sure.

So on with the story...

Bella was not so fortunate as Edward was, to have her family around to talk to in times like these. Her Saturday afternoon was quite different. She had let herself sleep in until noon since it had been difficult for her to fall asleep. As she woke she surveyed her bedroom floor which was littered with tissues on one side. She had cried uncontrollably last night to the point where she no longer cared to aim for the rubbish bin after she continuously blew her nose with every fresh set of tears. Sadly the feelings she had then had not left by the morning. Shakespeare was wrong when he had stated that sleep was 'the balm of hurt minds', she didn't feel any better, all she felt was dehydrated.

Stumbling out of bed, she picked up all the tissues put them in her bin, washed her hands and went to the kitchen to pour herself a tall glass of water. She didn't feel like eating but she forced herself to put two slices of bread in the toaster. She had never felt so alone. She needed to talk to someone about the events of last night, but she didn't want to interrupt Angela who was probably with Ben. After buttering her toast she eventually decided upon emailing the only person she ever felt truly comfortable talking about anything with, her closet friend, Brandon. They had met on the first day of boarding school and had been best friends ever since.

Hey Brandon,

I miss you so much and I wish that you were here. I had the worst night last night and you're not here to make me laugh at myself or you know, buy a ridiculously expensive pair of shoes.

Yesterday I found out that one of my kids was being smacked by her dad's girlfriend and when I told the father he got really mad. Maybe it was my fault, he only started yelling when I spoke of reporting the abuse. It's obvious that he really cares about his daughter though because when he thought that there was a chance of losing her he went nuts. Still I don't understand, it's a bit screwed up, he didn't say anything about being pissed at his girlfriend. I wonder what he's going to do about her. It would be so damaging for his daughter if he kept seeing that bitch!

And what do I do? He said that he's going to withdraw his daughter from the kinder. Do I involve the authorities? Or am I being dramatic? I just want to make sure that she's safe!

Please tell me what you think, I feel so lost. I'm sorry that this email is so depressing. Tell me how you and Jazz are, I could use some good news right now.

I love you,

Trip.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Bella hadn't expected a reply until the next day but it came within the hour and not by email. When the phone rang she was surprised to hear her best friend's voice.

"Hello?"

"Hey Trip!" came the enthusiastic voice of her oldest friend.

"Brandon? What are you doing? This is a long distance call! You do know that you're in Paris right?"

"Oh and here I thought you'd be happy to hear from me!"

Bella smiled. "I am! She then sighed, "Brandon, you have no idea!"

"Then talk to me hun, sounds like you've had a crappy couple of days."

Bella told her about everything that happened the night before while Brandon listened quietly and intently. She had gasped at the part where the jerk had called her a 'fat whore', but she also, very wisely concluded that his reaction must have been from the fear of losing his daughter and the shame of being the one to let such abuse enter her life.

"Don't call the police or anyone about this just yet, just wait and see if he actually withdraws her from kinder," Brandon had advised. "My bet is that things will calm down and it won't be as bad as it seems. His anger shows how much he loves his daughter. I'm sure he'll show his girlfriend the door, just wait and see what happens, if he doesn't, then get the authorities involved."

Bella had protested, feeling slightly upset at her friends' calm, rational view. She wanted Brandon to encourage her to take this guy down. However, this is why she had contacted her, she had always had an almost freakish gift for seeing things for what they really were. It was like that when they had first met at school. Within minutes of knowing each other Brandon had exclaimed that she could tell that they would be best friends forever and she hadn't been wrong so far.

Bella found that she felt a lot better after that and she got through the weekend without anymore tears. On Sunday night, however she felt a little nervous and found herself fretting over the outfit she would wear the next day. She finally settled on her favourite black slinky skirt that rested just above her knees, her white eyelet blouse that allowed a little more cleavage to show than usual and her black leather boots that had quite a high heel. She normally never wore any type of heel since her ability to balance while walking across a flat surface would pose many sorts of problems, that and her feet would be killing her by the end of the day. However she felt that adding a little height might make her feel a little more in control if a certain someone showed up. She also put a nice set of spare clothes to take to work in case she would need to change them again.

She woke up several times that night feeling anxious, however when she woke on Monday morning she was determined to have this day be one where she was in control.

"Jessica," she began, as she walked through reception. "Mr. Cullen spoke to me last week about possibly withdrawing his daughter Illssya from here. If he comes in today to do so, please call me, I would like to speak with him first." Bella made for the exit but Jessica stopped her.

"Bella he's actually here right now, he's here to speak to you. I let him wait in your office, I hope that's ok. He's sooooooooooo hot isn't he?" Jessica looked her up and down. "Is that why you're all dressed up today? Bella you have your hair down and you're even wearing eyeliner!"

Bella froze. He's here already? She was beginning to have doubts about what Brandon had said. What if he really did take Illyssa away from here? Instead of being afraid of him she felt angry. She ignored Jessica completely and marched in the direction of her and Angela's office.

As she got there she slowed down and stopped in the open doorway. Edward had his back to her. His head was tilted to the side because he was looking at a picture that one of her past kids had drawn her. It was clear that he was trying to figure out what the swirl of colours were.

He was wearing a grey suit and Bella could tell from just the back of him that he looked good in it. She noticed that on the desk she and Angela shared, was a bunch of yellow roses. She was shocked because she realised in that instant hat he was here to apologise. She had seen it a million times before. Every time James had gotten angry and taken it out on her, he apologised with flowers. His apologies had been theatrical, they involved flowers, chocolates, jewellery, special nights out – all to ease his guilt and all meaning nothing to her. She crossed her arms confidently and leant against the doorframe.

"They're fairies," she stated loudly. Dr. Cullen spun around surprised, he looked confused.

Bella moved further into the room and gestured to the picture.

"The picture you're looking at, it's a picture of a group of fairies having a party, one of my kids from a few years ago drew it specifically for me." Although her conversation was about something light, her dislike of him was not easily missed.

Edward swallowed awkwardly as he looked Bella up and down. She hadn't looked like this the last time he had seen her. His eyes lingered on her glossy lips for longer than he cared to admit. Licking his own he turned around to distract himself by looking at the drawing again.

"How can you tell?" he asked continuing with this small talk while he tried to gather his thoughts.

"Because she told me," Bella answered and shrugged her shouldrs as if he were stupid and it were the most logical answer in the world. She walked over to sit at her desk and as she did Edward's eyes followed her cleavage as it slightly bounced up and down with each step.

"I'm good at listening to my kids when others are too busy to pay attention," Bella continued alluding to the situation with Illyssa.

This pulled Edward out of his trance and his eyes snapped to hers. But he didn't reply with a defensive retort like she expected.

"Yes," he agreed quietly as he put his hands in his pockets. "You are."

They stared at each other for a while, neither knowing what to say. After a few moments Edward sighed and pulled a chair from across the room to sit in front of her at the desk.

"Look, Miss Swan," he began as he sat down. "The things I said to you on Friday, I-I'm ashamed to admit I even said them - "

Bella sighed as if she was bored and then cut him off mid speech. She had heard her fair share of apologies for one life time and wasn't interested.

"Are you withdrawing Illyssa from the program?" she asked abruptly in her school teacher voice.

Edward blinked in surprise but he answered her.

"No, she loves it here. She loves you." He said the last part softly and then flashed her his charming crooked smile that would have melted any other woman easily, but Bella's strict expression didn't change.

"Good," she answered simply.

This wasn't going at all how Edward had hoped. His last resort was to give her the flowers even though she had obviously already seen them and hadn't seemed moved by the gesture.

"These are for you, to thank you for what you did for my daughter. Seriously I don't think you know how much I appreciate what you did. And I need to apologise, my behaviour was unthinkable - "

Bella opened her mouth to say something to cut him off but he spoke louder to make sure she wouldn't.

"I am truly sorry Ms. Swan and I am so grateful that you were brave enough to tell me. The thought of my daughter being hurt by anyone or anything makes me sick."

"Me too," Bella said in a small voice as she took the flowers from him. She could tell that he genuinely meant what he had said by the expression on his face. As she felt her dislike for him begin to crumble she reminded herself that James had meant every one of his apologies. She thanked him politely for the flowers and placed them in a vase on her desk even though she hated them. She desperately wanted to ask what he had done about his hell bitch girlfriend. But instead of wording it that way she simply asked him if Tanya was going to be picking Illyssa up again this week.

This broke his 'I'm really a sweet guy inside, please forgive me' face immediately.

"You really think I'm an asshole don't you?" he growled angrily and stood up. Bella stood up too. "I ended things with her that night, what kind of father do you think I am?"

"I barely know you," Bella answered forcefully.

He glared at her for a moment, then took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"Right, and with your first impression of me being what it was, how could you not think of me as a complete bastard?"

Bella looked down as she felt a fresh wave of fear and humiliation wash over her. She remembered the way he had towered over her the other night. She remembered how scared and helpless she had felt. She hated herself for not having defended herself. She should have fought back and told him he was a prick that night, maybe she should have even punched him. She hadn't taken self defense classes for the last year for nothing.

But he hadn't been violent towards, she reminded herself of that.

Edward took a few steps forward and reached across to touch Bella's arm. She flinched but didn't pull away. He frowned at her reaction and noticed also that she wouldn't meet his gaze. What he didn't know was that she was concentrating on not crying. He sighed and leaned slightly over the desk and whispered gently to her.

"I'm truly sorry for the things I said and the way I treated you Ms. Swan. I hope that we can start over."

He pulled away and straightened up. Bella still refused to look at him.

"I have to go to work but, I'll be back to pick Lyss up around 5, so I'll see you then."

Once he left the room, Bella let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding.

Review! Review! Review! XOXOX.