A/N: Wow. Quite a reaction last chapter. *holds hands* Let's talk to Edward and Bella now.

When Edward got home, he pulled the car in the driveway and cut the engine. He kept his hands gripped around the steering wheel, his knuckles white with tension. He closed his eyes and breathed in through his nose and out through his mouth a few times. Adrenaline still burned in his blood. It was a strange energy, one that left him raw and grasping for something intangible.

He hadn't even been himself when he talked to his brother.

Part of Edward and Bella's mutual anxiety for the two weeks between Jasper's letter and the call Edward got from his mother saying he'd arrived was not knowing when their lives were going to change. Jasper was one big uncertainty, a force they couldn't control or predict. They'd both been on edge for those two weeks.

Still, when Edward went to his parents' house, he had every intention of being calm, rational. He and Bella had talked about whether or not she should come with him in even tones. Despite all that, the second he set foot in the door, laid eyes on his brother, he was a wild beast at the end of a rapidly fraying tether, all rage and feral instinct.

There was just so much. Seeing Jasper again had brought back every horrible memory. Bella looking so much younger than the twenty-year-old girl she was. Heartbreakingly young, lost, in pain. Back then the doctors hadn't known if she would lose her leg, if she would have to learn to walk again. The last thing, the very last thing, Edward wanted to do was hurt her. It went against his very being. That was the first time he hated, truly hated, his elder brother. When Bella asked for him, it was Edward who had to break her heart.

Then, from the very moment he'd seen her, Kaylee had owned Edward's heart. He'd watched her, painfully tiny and bird-like those first few weeks, and the idea that anyone could look at her and not understand how precious she was drove him to the edge of madness. He was there every minute he could be, not because he had to, but because it was a physical need. He needed to be close to Kaylee. He needed to be there for every milestone she hit, every update from every doctor. He needed to be with Bella, to hold her and comfort her, and just be there every minute. It was never a chore or a responsibility. And back then, they hadn't been his.

So when he'd seen Jasper, all of that, plus all the tears he'd seen his mother shed, the regret his father and brother had been through, all came to a head. Edward had not been in control of his body, let alone his mouth, at all.

Edward opened his eyes, his breath leaving him in a long sigh. He started when he realized the front door was open and his wife was standing in the doorway, their daughter on her hip.

The weight on Edward's shoulders lessened in an instant. His lip turned up.

His family. No matter what the future brought, Jasper couldn't change that.

~0~

"Daddy, Daddy, you missed one."

"What did I miss, sugar?"

Kaylee pouted and pointed in the direction of her dresser. "Mister Bubbles is scared."

Edward looked at Bella who was leaning in the doorway, watching them, and he raised an amused eyebrow. He stood and crossed to the dresser, picking up an oversized stuffed gorilla. "This guy is Mister Bubbles, right?"

"Ya huh."

"I see. And this big, buff gorilla is scared of…?"

"Sleeping alone." She held her arm out from where she lay on her bed. "He needs me, Daddy."

"Baby, you're not going to have room in your bed for you."

"He needs me. He gets awful cranky if he can't sleep, an' he won't sleep if you leave him all alone in the dark." She lowered her voice to a stage whisper. "He'll cry."

"See, now how can I argue with that? It would be horrible to see such a big, strong gorilla cry." Edward brought the stuffed animal over to her bed and tucked it in with her. "All better now. Do you think little girls named Kaylee can sleep now that everyone is comfy?"

His baby girl grinned and threw her arms around his neck. "You're the best daddy, Daddy."

Edward enfolded his daughter in his arms and rocked her for a few beats longer than normal. A thrill of fear and possessiveness went through him. Bella's hand on his shoulder brought him back to the present. He laid Kaylee down and smoothed back her hair. "I love you, baby girl."

When he leaned down, she kissed him. "Love you, Daddy. Goodnight."

Bella came to sit on the other side of Kaylee's bed, careful of the myriad of stuffed and plastic toys. She leaned down for her goodnight kiss and hug. "I love you, baby bird."

"Love you, Mommy. Good night."

Edward stretched his hand out to take Bella's hand, and together, they walked to the bedroom door. They both lingered a few extra moments before Edward turned off the light.

Only when they were safe behind the door of their room did they stop. Edward turned to Bella, and she was already looping her arms tight around his neck. He held her close, so close he lifted her right off her feet. He stumbled a few steps forward with her in his arms, his lips possessive over hers, and pinned her up against the door. Bella's body was pliant under his. She ran her fingers up into his hair, pulling him closer. She hooked her bad leg up around his waist and pressed her body against his.

Only when he needed to breathe did Edward stop. He had to clear his head. He knew how much his brother's reappearance was playing into his actions right then. He had an urge, an insatiable itch, to possess Bella, to make visceral this knowledge in him she was his. He wanted to feel it on his skin as well as in his heart. She was his and he was hers, and he wanted to prove it with his hands, his mouth, his body.

But he didn't want to invite his brother into their bed. He didn't want it to be about that, about the only bit of control he had left in his spinning world. He tilted his forehead against hers and kissed the tip of her nose as he tried to catch his breath.

When he opened his eyes, he found hers on him. Such a warm, inviting brown. Alive, and when they looked at him or their daughter, adoring. Her look tamed that feral beast inside him, sated his need for ownership. He didn't own her and wouldn't want to. She chose to walk with him, and that was a gift he would never take for granted.

Bella took his face in her hands. Her thumbs stroked over his cheeks. They had so much to talk about, but when she began to kiss him, her lips soft and slow, he let his thoughts slip away. He got his arms around her, cupping her ass as he pulled her up against him. She walked him backward and pushed him to sit on the bed, leaning down to keep their lips attached as she stood in front of him.

Edward made quick work of her pants and his. Bella straddled him and raised her arms so he could peel her shirt off. His hands were on her body, running up her side. As always, she felt incredible under his fingertips. How well he knew this body, how well he knew her. He dipped his head to take her nipple in his mouth. The way she whimpered was at once familiar and titillating. He knew how to stroke her, how to coax the hoarse cry of his name to tumble from her lips.

And Bella, in turn, knew him inside and out. She knew how he liked the scratch of her nails down his back. She knew how to touch him, how to get him hot and hard. She could make it last minutes or draw it out until he begged.

That night they seemed to be on the same page. He wanted to be inside her. He needed it with a desperation that crawled on his skin. It wasn't about ownership but consumption. He wanted to drown in her, with her- to forget anything outside this perfect union existed.

When she slipped down onto him, her arms around his neck and his around her body, he was home.

Bella tilted her head back so he could kiss her neck. She cupped his face in her hands, bringing his head up so she could swallow his pants and moans.

When he felt her begin to tighten around him, Edward rested his head on her shoulder. He quickened his pace, his hands digging into her hips. "Love you," she said against his lips. Her words, her breathless voice, shot straight through him, and he felt the coil of orgasm wind tighter.

He pressed his hand over her mouth to muffle the sound of her cries as she spasmed around him, and she kissed him to muffle his when he followed her.

They stilled while they caught their breath, arms lazy where they fell, hers on his shoulders and his wrapped around her. He swayed them both back and forth a moment before he raised his head to look at her.

The look in her eyes was a reflection of his own thoughts. They needed to talk.

Still, they were both quiet as they got to their feet. Bella winced, favoring her left leg as usual. Her residual pain and the limp he'd long since gotten used to brought back a shadow of the maelstrom of his thoughts earlier that evening. As they got into their night clothes, he tried to find words for his fears and his anger. He had complex feelings about his brother's return.

Finally, when they were both in bed curled under the covers, lying side by side looking at each other, Edward was ready to speak.

"Do you hate him for everything he did to you?"

Bella pressed her lips together and studied him hard for a long moment before she answered. "No."

Edward chuffed.

"It doesn't mean I'm not angry or that I forgive him. It doesn't mean I like the idea of letting him anywhere near Kaylee. The idea that he could hurt her like he hurt everyone else...I'd kill him myself before I let that happen. But no. I don't hate him. How could I after what happened with my dad?

"My dad should have been there to take care of me instead of the other way around. He should have. It sucks that he wasn't. It absolutely isn't fair, but at the same time, I know how much he wanted to be. He tried. He failed, but he tried. In the end his demons won. They robbed him of a life he wanted to live, a person he wanted to be. I mean, I saw that he fought. He fought hard and he fought alone. He still lost.

"Then, when I met Jasper, I was a stupid, eighteen-year-old kid who thought she could make up for not saving her father by saving this beautiful, damaged man."

"You weren't stupid," Edward said, his voice fervent.

Bella cupped her hand against his cheek. "I recognized his demons. That was what attracted me to him in the first place. I didn't run away from them. I ran right for them."

"But he-"

She put her finger to his lips. "I think my point is, what I had with Jasper was never about us. It was me fulfilling a need in an unhealthy way. And I kept coming back, Edward. I would reach my limit and walk away from him, and then I would just go right back thinking this time, this time we would do it. We would conquer his addiction together." Her voice wavered. "I wanted to help him so badly." She sighed. "But do you see? I made some very poor choices because my past left me with a hole inside myself I couldn't figure out how to fill. My thing was Jasper. His thing was drugs. How can I hate him when I know he just made a different mistake than I did? How can I hate him when I know it would have taken just a twist of circumstance for me to fill that hole with alcohol like my father or drugs like Jasper? I don't hate him, and I'm not going to waste my energy on that when it won't help us." She brushed her thumbs over his his cheeks. "And how can I hate him when I have you and Kaylee because I had him?"

Edward's lips quirked. He hated that he had his brother to thank for his family. It was one of life's cruel ironies.

Bella's eyes, as she looked on him then, were pleading. "The Jasper I knew didn't want to hurt me or Kaylee. What does he want now?"

Edward took a deep breath, guilt stirring in the pit of his stomach. "I don't know."

He told her about what had happened at his parents' house, the things he had said and what little he gave Jasper the chance to say. Her expression was contemplative as he spoke, and he couldn't read what she might have thought of about the whole scene.

"I've thought about that a lot...what I would say to him if I saw him again," Bella said. Her lips tugged down, and he could see the worry on her face. "I guess I'll find out."

Edward bristled. "I don't want you anywhere near him."

Bella raised her eyes to his. "I know you don't."

She didn't say that she wouldn't go, and really, he hadn't expected her to. He closed his eyes and counted to ten before he tried again. "Can I come with you when you see him?"

"I need you there with me." She ran her fingers along his cheek, down to his chin. "But we need to be the rational ones. We need to listen without screaming."

"That's asking a lot." Edward pressed his tongue to the roof of his mouth. Even imagining his brother's face in his mind sent a rush of boiling hot rage through him. "I suppose I can't punch him either."

The side of her lip lifted ever so slightly. "Think of your mother."

Edward ducked his head. "You're right. Of course you're right. That was one of the things I could never stand about Jasper. He made Mom cry. But tonight, I was the one who did that. I made her anything but proud."

"You make her proud every day."

Edward brushed his nose with hers. "Okay. We'll go tomorrow and we'll listen. " He furrowed his eyebrows. "But if he hurts you or Kaylee, I reserve the right to kill him."

"We both will. Together. I won't make my mother's mistake either. I won't let Kaylee's life be tainted by his disease."

"We won't. "

"We." She twisted the wedding band on his finger. "Our life is about to change, but we'll get through it together. Partners, remember.?"

He kissed her soundly. "Always."

A/N: Nothing like a little sex to calm ya down, right? :) Many thanks to songster, jfka06, and barburella.

Shout out to my San Diego girls. MWAH. Had a lovey time last night.

A little calm before the storm maybe? Hmm. We'll find out.