Hello again! I'll keep this short and sweet. You all blew me away with your response to the last chapter. Thank you… I know that Bella is a hard character to read but things will get clearer as the story moves forward and you'll figure out how this is going to happen… Especially as you read this chapter.

This was difficult to write… But as always, I'd love to know what you think.

And again: Thank you to zgirl21 and NoMoreThanUsual for your support!

You Found Me
Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight

Chapter Fifteen

First of all must go
Your scent upon my pillow
And then I'll say goodbye
To your whispers in my dreams

And then our lips will part
In my mind and in my heart
'Cause your kiss
Went deeper than my skin

Piece by piece
Is how I'll let go of you
Kiss by kiss
Will leave my mind one at a time
One at a time

First of all must fly
My dreams of you and I
There's no point in holding on to those

And then our ties will break
For your and my own sake
Just remember
This is what you chose

Piece by piece
Is how I'll let go of you
Kiss by kiss
Will leave my mind one at a time
One at a time

I'll shed like skin
Our memories of lazy days
And fade away the shadows of your face

Piece by piece
Is how I'll let go of you
Kiss by kiss
Will leave my mind one at a time
One at a time, one at a time

Katie Melua, "Piece by Piece"

----------

"Goodbye," she whispered as her hand cupped his cheek, the stubble from not shaving scratching the sensitive skin of her palm. Her heart was heavy as she looked at him; her eyes searching his for answers, for understanding. There was a sadness there that she knew had been lingering all week though she had been trying her hardest to ignore it. It wasn't as easy now. She knew that this goodbye was exactly that, goodbye.

He leaned into her hand, pressing his cheek against it harder, trying to memorize the feel of it, to be able to draw from it later, when she was gone. It was masochistic, remembering anything about her, wanting to remember anything about her would only hurt him in the end, but as much as he knew he needed to forget, he couldn't. Most of all, he didn't want to. She was such a large part of his life, that if he tried to forget, he would lose all his best memories.

"Goodbye," he said softly back and reached forward, his large hand grasping the back of her neck and bringing her face closer to his.

He let his lips just graze her own for a moment before he pressed them to hers with a fierceness that surprised them both. He wanted nothing more than to taste everything, to leave her dazzled and wanting more, because even though he knew that nothing was going to change, the deepest depths of his soul hoped that with that single kiss, he could change the course of their relationship, change the fate of their relationship. He wanted to show her that she belonged with him, because they both knew that she did. He wanted her to know that she would never feel this way about anyone else and that walking away would be the biggest regret of her life. He wanted her to go to her husband and end it, once and for all. The kiss was his last hope, his last chance, and it hurt him knowing that it wouldn't help. She was too stubborn, too set in her ways. He knew she had a reason for what she was doing, but he knew he couldn't risk his heart any longer.

She parted her lips and deepened the kiss. She wanted nothing more than to savor it, to remember the way his lips felt, the way he tasted, the way he made her feel. She wanted him to know that despite the pain that she had caused him, that she loved him, that she would always love him. She wanted him to know that there would never be anyone else for her but him. She wanted to try and get him to reconsider, even though she knew that it would break him. It was selfish and she knew that, but she couldn't help but want that. She tangled her fingers in his hair and sobbed into his mouth but still refused to part from him. These would be their last moments and she wanted it to last for as long as she could. She didn't want to let go. He had shown her that she was worth loving even though it couldn't have come at a worse time for her. He had found her, lost in the world that she was living in and managed to help her resurface. All of that would be gone soon. She would no longer be his Bella… She would no longer be the old Bella. She would go back to being Jacob's Bella, a person she hated, but now felt she deserved to be. She didn't deserve to be happy after breaking Edward so terribly. She would suffer and she would do it gratefully. It was the only way for her now. She just hoped that he would find someone else, someone who couldn't hurt him like she had. He deserved all the happiness in the world.

After he pulled away, she whimpered. It wasn't enough time for her and she choked back a sob as the backs of his fingers trailed down the side of her cheek. His eyes were glistening and it broke her heart as she closed her own to erase the image. This wasn't how she wanted to see him. She hated that she was doing this to him, it wasn't fair and it was why she knew that she had to walk away. It was what he wanted, what she knew he needed.

Gathering the courage she could muster, she pressed a final kiss to his cheek. "I love you… I always will."

"Forever…" he whispered and kissed her forehead before turning around and going back into the building, shutting the door on her, knowing full well that the pain of watching her walk away would be more than he could ever possibly bear.

He leaned against the back of the door and he could hear her crying before she said a soft goodbye to the nothingness before her. It was only then that he was able to sink down to the floor and let the months of pain finally bubble to the surface.

So he cried. For the first time in his life he really, truly cried, knowing that there was nothing else that he could do. It was the only way to purge the pain, the only way to attempt to ever reconcile with the situation. If they were truly meant to be, some day, she would find him again or he would find her and the obstacles that were keeping them from moving forward would no longer be there. Until then, he knew he had to find a way to live his life. He had to find a way to survive.

----------

The rain was pelting the ground furiously and, though she was short, she always seemed to get hit by others umbrella's. She figured it was because people never really saw her when it rained; her bright and expensive wardrobe was never appreciated when people were buried behind the shields of their umbrellas. Careful not to step in a puddle or drop the things she was carrying, she made her way to the door and smiled as William, Edward's doorman, held it open for her before taking the wet umbrella from her.

"Thank you William," she smiled.

"You're welcome Miss. Cullen."

"Have you seen my brother around?"

He appeared thoughtful for a moment and she watched the worry line form in his brow. "Only on his short trips to the off license. I've never seen him drink so much in all these years."

"How exactly does he look?" she hated to ask, she already knew the answer but for some reason, she needed to hear it to brace herself to the reality that she was going to be walking into.

"Like a man who doesn't have a reason to live anymore," he sighed. "I haven't seen Ms. Swan with him as of late… Should I take that to be the reason?"

She forced a tight smile and nodded her head.

"That's a shame… She was a lovely woman," he responded genuinely and Alice bit her lip. She wondered if he knew that she had been married and that for the past few months Edward had been nearly tearing his hair out because he was so frustrated by the situation. Still, she knew that he had been happy with her and she knew that he was completely and utterly broken up by what was happening.

"She was."

"I don't think I had ever seen him so excited to be with a woman. And I've known him for a while know."

She didn't know how to respond to that, she knew that what William was saying was true, but now she knew that he was hurting so bad that she was having a hard time reconciling it with how he had felt before. Could that happiness even be worth it when he was feeling so horribly now?

"I suppose you're right," she relented and waved goodbye to the immaculacy dressed man as she entered the elevator.

She didn't really know what to do or really, how to react in this situation. She had never known Edward to get so emotionally invested in a person before, though not for lack of her trying to push him to do just that. It didn't seem fair to her that it would happen, though it would be destined for failure. His relationship with Bella had been intense and passionate and there wasn't a bone in her body that didn't believe that he was in love with her. But the way Bella had seemed to treat it so casually, the fact that even knowing how intense Edward's feelings were she continued to stay with the husband she claimed to love, the more she wondered if she had felt anything at all for him. Shouldn't the choice have been easy? She couldn't understand; she was certain that if she was married to someone else who treated her horribly and Jasper had come along, the choice would have been simple. Right?

It was hard to shake the thought that maybe things weren't as black and white as she wanted them to be. She wasn't sure anymore if she could really judge Bella for the way she was with Edward, that maybe the choice wasn't easy. Maybe it was easier to judge, maybe it was easier to say that you could leave your husband than it really was to actually get up and leave. She didn't know and she hoped that she would never know. Why would anyone want to be in that situation? Why would anyone want to make that kind of choice?

Alice trudged her way to his door once the elevator doors had opened at the top level. She was loaded down by the heavy bags of sustenance and hygiene products that she had purchased prior to her trip to his flat. To say he went AWOL would have been an understatement; they were beginning to think that he was MIA. She hadn't heard a thing from him since the day he called to say that he had let go of her and that she was gone. Her heart broke for him to hear the agony in his voice.

She put the bags down and began to pound on the door, though still no answer from him. In a last ditch effort to get in, she reached into her pocket and extracted the key. He had given it to her a few years back in case he ever locked himself out or if he needed someone to check on Hudson. Usually she had no qualms against using it, but in this situation, she couldn't help but be hesitant about it.

"If you don't answer this door Edward I'll use the key," she yelled and when she could only hear Hudson's barking, she relented and opened the door.

She knew that she was going to walk into something she wasn't likely to enjoy seeing but she hadn't prepared herself for the sight before her. The usually tidy Edward was completely gone. The room was a disaster, and that was being nice. Cardboard take out containers littered the floor, empty bottles of Johnnie Walker and Jack Daniels were strewn all over the coffee table and nearby floor space, and the entire flat smelled like something had curled up and died in a corner. The curtains were drawn and no light was able to make its way through the drapes and though she wanted to ignore it, she saw, and smelled, the evidence that he hadn't taken Hudson out in what could have been days. It was that evidence alone that alerted her to the extremity of the problem; he never neglected his canine.

She made her way down the hall to the bedroom and peaking in she saw him, face down on the bed, his head buried in a pillow. He was asleep and, as she looked at the bedside table to the bottle of whiskey, he was probably drunk as well.

Retreating back to the living room, she pulled her phone from her purse and dialed the number.

"Jazz… I need you."

----------

"Where are you today?" Bella looked up from her plate to the woman sitting in front of her. She was surprised to see that she had made an unlikely friend in Leah, but after hearing what she had been through from Emmett, part of her felt a bit connected to her.

"Sorry," she sighed. She hadn't slept in weeks and she knew that it was showing, the dark circles under her eyes gave that away. Even more apparent was her lack of appetite. Jake had commented that he thought she had never looked better, but Rose had nearly forced food down her throat every day she had seen her in the past week.

"Is something bothering you?"

"Nothing that can really be changed."

Leah eyed her curiously, watching the way she played with her food but never really ate much. She knew that something was wrong, she even thought she knew what it was. "Is everything okay with Jacob?"

"What?" Bella was startled, she hadn't even thought much about Jacob really, how could she when all her thoughts were on Edward.

"Did you and Jacob have a fight?"

"Not really."

"Has he…" Leah wanted to ask if he had even been aggressive, especially as she remembered how violent he had been with her in St. Tropez. Bella had seemed, at least at the time, to be someone who wouldn't put up with it, but the more time she spent with her, the more she saw a woman conflicted, a woman unsure of her own self and the amazing person she was deep inside.

"You aren't the same person you were when you got married." It was a statement, not a question and she watched as Bella looked up and their eyes connected.

"I'm not sure I ever was the real me…"

"Who is the real Bella?"

"I'm not sure I can answer that."

The door opened and Bella's eyes immediately went to the door. She shouldn't have gone there, she shouldn't have taken Leah there but part of her just wanted to catch a glimpse of his bronze hair and though it had been their coffee shop, she wasn't sure he still went there now she was out of the picture. She had tried to call him multiple times but each time she hung up when he answered.

"Bella how much have you had to drink?" She looked up from her phone to see Rose towering over her, her wine glass in her hand.

Still, she couldn't answer because in reality, she hadn't even really been keeping track. Maybe a bottle… Bottle and a half.

"I don't think you should do that."

"Do what?"

"Call him," Rose responded softly but she was interrupted when the baby monitor alerted them both that Aiden had woken and was probably in need of a diaper change.

When the room was empty, she pressed send and listened as the phone rang.

"Bella?"Her heart broke with the sound of his voice, so broken, so defeated, so sad. Her mouth however was clamped shut. She didn't even know why she had called. Didn't she want him to move on? Didn't she leave so he could find someone who could really be there for him? Now, here she was calling him and making it worse. "Bella…" She could hear the muffled sob and pressed end and let herself cry, the tears only exaggerated by the alcohol.

"Bella?"

"What?" She shook her head as she snapped out of her daydream. She missed him and she knew that it was obvious to everyone but Jake.

"I'm moving back to New York…" Leah smiled sadly. She wasn't sure what it was, but she knew that something had changed in Bella over the past few days. She just wanted to know what it was. Regardless, especially with her impending move, she had tried countless times to tell Bella about what had happened with Jake, but every time she was never able to find the courage. Maybe she shouldn't tell her, maybe she was better off not knowing. She knew that leaving would make it easier to keep her secret.

"When?"

"The end of the week."

Bella felt like she was hit with a ton of bricks. First she lost Edward, and now she was losing Leah. True the relationship with the woman had started off rocky, but as she learned more about the woman, she more she realized that she had merely been a victim of the people around her and she began to relate to her more than she wanted to admit, at least, out loud.

"I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too."

----------

"Come on Ed… You need to take a shower." Jasper was shaking the limp body that was lying on the bed but he wasn't getting much of a response: merely a grumble here and a fuck off there.

"Anything?" Alice popped her head in the room and eyed her boyfriend who shook his head.

"He won't budge."

"Fuck."

"I've never seen him this bad before Ali…"

"I know… I haven't either."

He hated that they acted like he wasn't there. Here they were, standing in his god damn flat, talking about him, and if his head didn't hurt, he knew he would have been screaming at them to get the fuck out. Why couldn't they just get the fact that he wanted to be alone? He didn't want anyone around him, he wanted to smell her scent on the sheets, and even though it was going away, he didn't give a shit because two weeks ago she had been laying there, she had been sleeping there, and they had been making love there. Why couldn't they leave him be? Why couldn't the world just fucking stop pestering him.

He knew that they were only acting out of love, but he didn't want to hear them bad mouthing her anymore. As painful as it was, he understood and he couldn't hate her as much as he wanted to. It wasn't possible to hate her, not when he loved her as much as he did. She could have sentenced him to death and it wouldn't have matter, hell she could have had him hung, drawn and quartered and he still would have loved her until he took his last breath. Why couldn't they just leave him the fuck alone?

"Will you get the fuck out of my flat?" he managed to get out, getting a hard slap on his back by what who he assumed was his sister.

"Don't you dare fucking speak to me that way." He could hear the tears in her eyes as she spoke and her voice cracked.

"Fuck Alice… I'm just…"

"Wallowing."

"I don't want to get out of bed okay."

"How will you ever get over this if you don't?" She said softly, sitting down on the bed and pushing him over, making him look at her. What she saw hurt her: the beard that had managed to grow, the red eyes, the dark circles under them, the shallow, gaunt look of his face.

"I just need more time."

"Ed… We didn't want to tell you this way but you don't have a few days…" Jasper interrupted and because he couldn't stand laying and having this conversation, he pulled himself up.

"What do you mean?"

"Sony offered us a contract a week and a half ago… They want us to record and that means you have to join the land of the living again."

There it was, the one thing that should have made him happy. Two weeks ago, he knew it would have. Now it just seemed hard to hear. He wanted her with him, he knew how happy she would be for him. But he also knew that he couldn't disappoint the others, he had to move on… At least, he had to move on, on the outside.

----------

"You should see someone Bella…" Rose watched as her friend polished off the bottle of wine. That small gesture was happening more and more often.

"What do you mean?"

"You know exactly what I mean… This isn't healthy."

"What the fuck would you know?" Rose recoiled for a moment and snatched the glass and bottle away from her before stomping into the kitchen and tossing it in the sink. She could hear that the glass had broke but she didn't give a shit anymore. She was too concerned about Bella, too upset watching her drink herself into a stupor so she could sleep at night.

"I know that you haven't had a decent night's sleep in three weeks. I know that you call him when you're drunk and tell him you love him… I know that you should just fucking leave your husband and go to the man that loves you… I know that you made a mess of this whole fucking situation… I know that you're going to regret this for the rest of your life and I won't fucking sit back and watching this anymore."

"Then don't… Leave!" Bella screamed as she stood up, her knee hitting the table as she doubled over and rubbed the area, feeling later the warm liquid of her blood.

"I'm not going to leave… No… You're going to get help… You're going to a psychiatrist and you're going to sort your fucking shit out…"

"There's nothing to sort out Rose... Edward is gone… He'll never want me back again and I don't fucking blame him… You're not even addressing the fact that I can't just leave Jake…"

"What's it going to take for you to realize that you can't keep putting that asshole before yourself? What the fuck has he ever done for you anyways?"

"Just get the fuck out Rose," she screamed and went to hit her but Rose grabbed her fists and pulled her into a hug. Bella clung to her fiercely, sobbing, letting the tears make a wet puddle on Rose's shoulder as her friend rubbed her back and let her cry it out. Right now, Rose knew she needed tough love, but she also needed someone there to cry on… Getting her help would wait until the next day, when she was sober, when she could think straight and know that it was the right thing for her to do. Because she knew Bella, and she knew that with enough evidence, she would agree. The drinking, Rose was certain, would be enough, at least, with what Bella had told her about her mother, she knew that it would scare her enough to seek help.

----------

"And how did you feel after you lost your child?"

Bella fiddled with the pillow that she was clutching to her body. She was uncomfortable and she knew that it showed but she wasn't sure really how to react to a situation like this. This was all new for her. Sure, she could remember going to therapy when she was younger, when her teachers had told her mother that she was exhibiting odd behavior, but this was different. At that time her issues stemmed from her parents, now, she knew she was there to talk about herself.

"I don't know."

"Were you scared?"

"I suppose." She watched as the woman scribbled a few notes down on the paper.

"Bella… If we are going to continue, you must agree to really open up… We can't figure things out unless you really want to."

"I just don't see how going into something that I shut off is going to fix anything."

"Did you ever see anyone when you lost the baby?"

"No… Jake said we could get through it together." Again, she watched as a few notes were scribbled and the woman's eyes brightened.

"How is your relationship with your husband?"

"Normal," she lied but she didn't feel comfortable confiding in a perfect stranger.

"And how do you classify a normal marriage?"

"He works… I stay at home. Normal."

"And the sex?"

"I don't see how that is relevant."

"How did Jake react to losing the baby?" she changed the subject.

"He was devastated… He wanted the baby just as much as I did," she replied quietly, playing with a piece of thread that was hanging off the edge of the decorative pillow.

"Did he cry? Did he show his feelings?"

"He was too busy making sure I was okay."

"Bella… for next week… I really want you to think about that night that you had the car crash and how you felt when you lost the baby… I want you to think about how Jake reacted as well…" Bella nodded as she stood up, picking her purse off the table in the process. "And Bella… If you really want to figure things out… You really have to open up to me."

She looked down to the ground for a moment before looking up and locking eyes with the doctor. "I'll do my best."

"That's all I ask."

----------

He reached into his pocket when he felt the phone vibrate. Her name lit up the screen and though he knew he shouldn't answer, he couldn't help it. She still called every so often, and though he had taken to not answering, it made him feel better that she was still thinking about it. Deep down, it almost gave him hope that she would leave Jake. Still, the only reason that he answered it this time was because it had been nearly seven months now, Jake would have had an answer on whether he was getting the promotion and the deepest part of his heart was hoping that she was calling to tell him she had left Jake.

"Hello?"

"Edward." His name rolling off her lips, even though he could hear it only from the phone, made his heart beat wildly. He hadn't realized that he had missed her voice so much.

"Bella…" he breathed as though his very life depended on it.

"Where are you?" She whispered into the phone as he was setting up his equipment on the stage for the performance they had.

"The Mean Fiddler… My band has a gig tonight." He sighed. So much had happened, so many changes in his life and it killed him not to share those experiences with her. When they had been signed, at least, when he learned that they had been signed and he had reentered the world because Jasper and Alice had forced him to, he wanted nothing more than to celebrate with her. He knew that she would have been so proud of him, but he knew that he couldn't call her so he had kept the news to himself. It was hard to do but he forced himself not to call her. He focused his energy elsewhere instead, writing music every day and drowning his emotions in whisky every night because it helped numb the pain. At least the writing was proactive and because he wasn't drunk twenty four-seven , it seemed to placate his sister.

"Oh." She sighed. "How have you been?"

"I've been okay." He balanced the phone against his shoulder as he fiddled with the microphone. It was a lie. He hadn't been okay, but he didn't want her to know that. Regardless of how things were between them, how much resentment he held for her inability to leave Jake, he didn't want her to feel guilty; he didn't want to trivialize what they had because he knew that they were in love. He loved her and he knew that she loved him; they just weren't meant to be. It had been a right situation but a wrong time kind of thing and he couldn't fault her for that. Maybe if they had met earlier or later things could have been different. He would never know.

"Did you meet someone else?" She asked. Her heart was beating wildly as she awaited his answer, afraid that he would say yes, though she knew she had no claim to him. Not when she couldn't leave her husband. She had wanted him to, she wanted him to be happy even if it wasn't happiness with her. She couldn't fault him for moving on or attempting to move on, even if she couldn't.

"Would it change things if I said I had? Would it make it easier for you?" He looked to the audience where the brunette was standing next to his sister. He didn't know what to tell Bella really, had he met someone, yes… Did she mean anything to him? No. Jane had come along a week after they had been signed and Alice had taken a liking to her and it was obvious that she was attracted to him. She helped the loneliness sometimes, but over the four weeks that he had known her now, he couldn't stop comparing her to Bella, and she didn't do much to help the pain that he felt every waking moment.

"No."

"I don't know what to tell you," he replied, sitting down on the stool that was next to his guitar.

"You have…"

"Bella…" he sighed. "I don't know what you want from me."

"I'm sorry…"

"Why did you call Bella?"

"I just…" she didn't know what to tell him, hell, she didn't really even know why she had called. The therapist had somehow managed to rattle her and he was the only one who really knew how she felt about the miscarriage, about her husband and part of her just needed him, even though she knew she couldn't have him. "Is she good to you?"

"She's a sweet girl." His fingers were gripping at his hair and he was surprised that he hadn't ripped any of it out with the strength that he was pulling it at.

"I'm…" He could hear her heavy breathing and he knew she was holding back the tears. "I'm happy for you."

"Why have you called Bella?" His eyes were back to the audience and he locked them with his sister who was looking at him curiously and he closed his eyes and shook his head as she started to advance towards him.

"I wanted to hear your voice." She knew it wasn't a complete lie, she knew that his voice would settle some of her nerves but mainly she wanted him back again but now she knew that she couldn't ask him that.

"Did you leave him?" He finally asked.

"No. But if you tell me to, I will…"

"I already told you I won't do that. But I think I'll be waiting if you ever do. I don't think I'll ever be able to love anyone as much as I love you… My heart won't allow it."

"What about Jane?"

"She's a sweet girl," he replied again. It was true, she was, but he also knew that if Bella ever did leave Jake that Jane wouldn't matter. Nothing would matter but her because his heart belonged to Bella, it always would, just as deep down, he knew that Bella's heart belonged to him.

"I've missed you." She breathed into the phone and he could feel his heart expand tortuously in his chest.

"I've missed you too." He said honestly. "My band was signed."

"That's fantastic Edward!" She said, maybe a little too loudly but when she peeked out the door she saw that Jacob was passed out on their couch. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I wanted to but that went against my plan to not talk to you."

"Oh."

"Listen Bella… I have to go… You have a husband and we can't keep doing this to each other. I have to let you go."

"Edward?" She asked as he was about press the end button, to try and silence her forever.

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too." He sighed and ended the call, shoving his phone into his back pocket and storming off the stage before Alice or Jasper had time to question him.

----------

Leah walked down First Avenue and held her coat tightly to her body. She had forgotten how cold New York winters were. Though London was cold, the rain kept it slightly warmer. She was reveling in the sounds of the city around her but deep down she could feel the guilt that she had left without telling Bella the truth about Jacob, especially as she knew that the relationship between her friend and her husband was not as perfect as she had once thought.

Though she would never admit to it, she had seen once, the dark bruise on her arm. A hand, and a large one at that. Bella dismissed it, laughing that Jake had been a little bit over enthusiastic one night in bed… But Leah had had that handprint on her own arm once and it wasn't from a romp in the bed.

"Leah!"

She stepped forward but when she heard her name again she stopped and spun on her heels. What she hadn't expected was to see the woman before her.

"Emily." Leah shifted her weight from her left foot to her right. She didn't know what to say to her ex-lovers wife but when she looked in her eyes, she saw no animosity, no sign of hatred or regret or secret plan to pull a knife from her purse and plunge it in her heart.

"You've moved back to New York?"

"Yes… AEG needed me here again."

Emily nodded her head, "I've been meaning to get in touch with you… I was going to call the company to ask for your contact information, you can imagine how surprised I am to run into you here… Though I'm quite happy about it."

"Emily… I haven't seen Sam in a long while now."

"I know…" she grinned. "Listen… Can we do coffee? Do you have some time?"

Leah looked down at her watch, it was just after eleven and she wasn't starting at the office until the middle of the week which did allot her plenty of time, still, she couldn't shake the fear of what Emily could possibly want to say. Still, part of her felt that she owed it to the woman to listen to her, to speak with her and hear her out. The last time they had spoken had not been much of a chat but rather Emily crying and Leah standing there, watching as the woman fell apart over her husband's infidelity.

"Sure." She offered her a weak smile and followed her down the street to the nearest Starbucks. She didn't know what she was in for, but she was bracing herself for the worst. Mostly, she just hoped that tucked in her purse wasn't a weapon of sorts and she wasn't harboring some plot to kill her.

After ordering their drinks they both took a seat facing each other. Leah was uncomfortable, but she noticed that Emily was quite at ease.

"I know you're surprised to see me… And, you're probably even more surprised to see me so happy to see you." Leah nodded. She had been surprised about that actually. And well, if she was being honest, she was frightened by it. "I spent so much time angry with you about what had happened and I said horrible things…"

"I deserved them."

"No…" Emily interjected, "you didn't." She paused for a moment and took a sip of her coffee. "I wanted to badly to blame you for what had happened that I failed to see what was happening in my own marriage. I blamed you… In my mind you were this woman sent to tempt my husband and make him cheat…" She watched as Emily smiled and chuckled slightly. "I never thought that you were the victim just as much as I was."

"What?"

"Sam is well… A very persuasive person… I knew that from the beginning. He was a charmer and always got his way… I've deduced it to the smile… I think that for a long time he was able to make me believe he was one person, while in reality, he was completely different than who he was making himself out to be…" She paused again, "Am I making sense?"

Leah nodded and fiddled with the top of her coffee.

"I let him manipulate me for years… I was blinded… I didn't see him as anything other than the family man, the man who loved me, or at least, claimed to love me… I let him change me… Did you know that before we met I was a curator at the Museum of Modern Art?" Leah shook her head. "I was… But he wanted a stay at home wife… And I loved him so I gave up my job…"

"I don't understand what this has to do with anything…"

"After I found out about you… I went to therapy. We were supposed to be in couples therapy but you can imagine that Sam never actually showed up… The more I talked about what I had wanted in life and what I actually had, the more I realized just how jaded I had been and just how wrong I was about my entire relationship with Sam… Sam didn't want me… He wanted my name… My father… He wanted a job at the firm and he could only get that through me… I let him treat me the way that he did." She closed her eyes for a moment. "Mostly though, this wasn't clear until after you left… You weren't the only one… I found out that he was carrying on a relationship with another woman… They'd been seeing each other for two years apparently…"

"Two years?" Emily nodded and Leah knew that meant that even when he had been her, he was also carrying on with another woman.

"As you can imagine, I filed for divorce as soon as I found out… Dad fired him… I now have custody of the children… And though I'm not working at MoMA, I do own a gallery uptown."

"You're happy?"

"Happier than I've ever been… And, I guess I have you to thank for that really…"

"I don't understand."

"If I hadn't found out about you… I never would have gotten the help that I needed to actually figure out what shit Sam was… I never would have found myself again." Leah studied the woman's face and watched as she smiled. "You helped me in ways that I'll never be able to thank you for…"

"I have to admit…" Leah smiled, knowing that the woman was truly being genuine, "I thought you were planning to kill me when I saw you on the street."

Both women laughed and carried on their conversation for another hour. Leah was fascinated by the way that Emily had turned her life around and it got her to thinking. For the first time she was beginning to realize that maybe she had been wrong in leaving and not telling Bella… If Emily had been able to change her life around upon learning of what her husband had done, maybe Bella would have the same success. She could only hope right?

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I know it ends on a slightly positive note but things still have to get worse for Bella before they can get better… She still cannot seem to open up… And the only way she can accept and move on is if she can truly be honest with her therapist.

As always, I'd love to hear from you…

And… Don't forget, I always post a teaser for the next chapter on the twilighted forum for this story!