Disclaimer- The characters belong to Stephenie Meyer, not me.

A/N- Even more dark stuff for Edward's knowledge of Bella's past. Sorry, it has a lot of medical discussion that would be awkward for most people who aren't in the medical profession, so bear with. Just look at it as being true to character.

EPOV

I watched as Bella and Charlie's car drove off.

"She's looking thinner," I heard Esme say softly in the other room. I saw Alice sigh, uncomfortably.

"You want a beer, Edward?" Alice asked.

"Sure."

"Alice and I were just going to sit out on the porch for a few hours, unwind," Jasper said. "Why don't you join us?"

I went out on the porch with Jasper and took a seat. The Cullens had a nice, screened-in porch and an outdoor fireplace. Jasper turned on the fireplace and Alice came out with three beers.

"Thanks," I said.

"So, it seems we owe you an explanation for a few things," Alice said darkly. "About Bella."

"I like her a lot," I said. "But, after Friday night…"

"I know," Alice said. "I don't think I'm really the person to talk to you about this."

She got up and left the room.

"I feel like we owe you an account of it before Bella tells you," Jasper said. "The shock might be too much. We'd rather you know about it and end it now if you can't handle it."

"I can handle anything," I replied.

"Are you sure?" Carlisle asked. "We wouldn't talk to you about this if we weren't serious. How serious are you?"

"I gave her a camera," I said, shrugging. "I'm serious about her."

"If you say so," Carlisle replied. "You know about her mother dying of cancer, suddenly, right?"

"Yes," I said.

"Look, I'm going to go to retire for the night," Jasper said, getting up. He was a bit uncomfortable, I could tell. This left Carlisle and me alone on the deck.

"She was about ten when it happened," Carlisle said. "She was living in Phoenix and she wanted to stay there. She was happy there, her friends were there. Renée found a lump in her breast, but no doctor paid attention to it because she was so young. They just told her to come back in a year and see what happened. She searched and searched for a doctor that would do a biopsy, especially with a school teacher's insurance, but by then, when one did take her serious, it was stage three. They knew it was bad. Her mother had two close family friends, Jim and Victoria Davis. They had some ulterior motives, they thought that Renée had some money somewhere, I guess. That's what they said, later. They waited on Renée and Bella, hand and foot. They trusted them with their lives. They offered to let Bella stay with them when Renée was going through the worst of the chemo treatments, which didn't work in the end. When Renée died, she said in her will that Bella had the choice of living with Charlie or living with Jim and Victoria. Jim and Victoria lived in Phoenix, which was familiar to Bella, so Bella said she wanted to stay with them. It all seemed nice, until Jim and Victoria found out that Bella had nothing. Literally. Then, their true colors came out."

"I sort of guessed as much. I spent my childhood volunteering at the battered women's shelter in downtown Chicago with my mother," I said. "Bella acts a lot like them. I figured somebody somewhere physically hurt her. A lot. I didn't know it happened when she was a child. How bad was it? Did it cross over into sexual abuse?"

"She's blocked a lot of it out," Carlisle said. "Maybe there was some. When they found her, they had doctors examined her, but they weren't sure. She can't remember those things. She was only there for about eighteen months, but they almost killed her."

"What does she remember?" I asked, personally dreading the response.

"She remembered that they suddenly started just spanking her for no reason whatsoever," Carlisle said. "They started using a studded belt on her. Sometimes, when she bends over, you see the scars on the small of her back, still. Then, they started punishing her by locking her in closets for hours at time or forbidding her to use the bathroom except once a day. They wouldn't feed her for days at a time. Stuff like that. One time, when she was crying from the pain of Jim hitting her, Victoria just came up behind her with sewing shears and cut off her hair."

I felt sick. Bella's hair was so beautiful. No wonder she had it so long, now.

"Renée made her promise before she died, that she'd never cut her hair off, too," Carlisle said. "I heard this from Alice, second-hand information, if you will. And other things Jim would put cigars and cigarettes out on Bella's back, sometimes, too, when wouldn't stop crying after spankings. Those are some of the scars on her back."

"She has them all over her body," Carlisle said. "They were sick people. They said that they were home-schooling Bella, so they got away with pulling her out of school, but their neighbors called when they repeatedly heard her crying. A probably take an unnatural preoccupation with her as a physican, but she's like a second daughter to me. And the gossip goes around a small town fast."

"Please tell me these people are still in jail."

"They are," Carlisle explained. "They were tried and found guilty for attempted child murder and multiple counts of child abuse and neglect. Every time their parole hearings come up, Bella and Charlie go to give their account. Jim and Victoria never get parole. Every time, she comes back an emotional wreck," Carlisle said, taking a sip. "She has flashbacks for weeks remembering all those things."

"Tell me she went through some kind of therapy," I said, pinching the bridge of my nose.

"Yes, she did," Carlisle said. "When she first got here, Charlie took off every Wednesday afternoon and took her to Port Angeles to a therapist, once she became better friends with Alice, Esme started taking her. She still has one."

"Good."

"Charlie sacrificed so much for her," he said. "Really, he did. Charlie loves her so much. He was so broken when he found out what had happened to her. He trusted Victoria and Jim to take care of her. When they showed the pictures of her, burned and bleeding and bruised in the court room, he broke down."

"Why does she rub her forearm all the time?"

"It's something she does for comfort," he said. "It's one of her OCD habits- it's a bone injury from when her arm was broken. It wasn't set correctly for two weeks, we think, and it calcified. I've checked it, examined the break a few times. She had a few operations to sand down the lump, but it's always going to be like that. She feels it when she's nervous or upset."

"How did they do it?"

"I think they slammed her arm in a door. Probably by accident, but they didn't take her for medical care immediately."

"But, she can't remember if she was sexually abused?" I asked.

"I don't think she wants to remember," Carlisle said. "I've never examined her this closely, but her medical reports say her hymen was broken."

"That can happen for multiple reasons," I said. "Normal things, like normal activity. Few girls have it left when they've started puberty."

"She didn't get her period until she was almost seventeen, and even then, it was abnormal. It still is. We all know that has to do with her eating problems."

"It's no surprise she's got them."

"Of course."

"What exactly has she been diagnosed with?"

"Off the top of my head, Severe Depression, post traumatic stress disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, eating disorder not otherwise specified since she's not quiet emaciated, but she's gotten so thin, lately, I won't be surprised if they label her with anorexia at her next appointment. There's been talk of Borderline Personality Disorder, Bipolar Disorder," Carlisle said, while Esme came out to the deck with a fresh round of beers. "Although she's never attempted suicide. Directly. I don't want her being labeled with anything else. She's going to have a hard enough time getting health insurance for the rest of her life, already."

"We love her like our own daughter," Esme said. "When Charlie couldn't be there to watch out for Bella, we'd invite her over. She was like a scared little rabbit or something."

"You were the one that took her to your stylist when the girls first became friends," Carlisle said.

"That Victoria woman did that awful hair hacking job, and Charlie didn't know what to do. He tried so hard, but he was dad, not mom."

"She was really the perfect daughter. Charlie won't tell you any differently," Carlisle continued. "The only trouble she ever caused was her own depression and not being able to deal with it."

"She really was perfect. The perfect student, the perfect dresser, involved in all the clubs, but she has a hard time, socially," Esme continued, taking a sip of beer.

"We didn't know she was going to have problems until subject came up one day when she was sixteen that she had her first period at our house and freaked out."

"We just thought she was genetically skinny, a picky eater," Esme said, "but when Carlisle and I sat down and discussed the situation, we realized how she had all these little habits. And how she wouldn't eat. She was always tired, and wouldn't go out to eat and had a whole list of things she wouldn't touch, but would cook for everybody. She can't ever admit to having to use the restroom. She was already showing classic signs of anorexia- Charlie couldn't see it, he didn't know what to look for. What single father does?"

"When we brought up the subject with him, he said, 'My daughter's too sensible for that! She's a perfect daughter! She doesn't have an eating disorder, she eats around me all the time!'" Carlisle said. "Then, when she'd come over to our house to hang out with Alice, and she'd want to take naps, but she'd refuse to eat at all when she spent the night, Charlie started listening to us. She'd fake eating around him pretty well. She still does it, sometimes. I saw her doing it tonight at dinner."

"Have you tried an inpatient program?" I asked.

"Twice," Carlisle said. "She'll do really well at first, until Charlie's meager insurance stopped paying."

"She's a perfectionist," Esme said. "Plain and simple. She can't stand it if things aren't neat and in perfect order. It's OCD."

"Exactly. She's failing at perfection. She's punishing herself for not being perfect," Carlisle said. "Her most vivid memories in life are punishment."

"She has a hard time remembering Renée, sometimes," Esme said. "We try to remember her on Renée's birthday every year."

"When is it?" I asked.

"In July," Esme said. "We have a very somber party, break out her pictures. She and Charlie get emotional. I cry some, too. Do you wish we weren't telling you these things?"

"No," I said. "It's easier to hear them from other people instead of her. She flipped out when I confronted her about her eating problems. She's not that experienced in relationships, is she?"

"She's never had a boyfriend before," Esme said. "I know her well enough that I can make a statement like that. I can honestly say that she's never been in a relationship."

"It's true," Carlisle said. "The flashbacks, the eating disorder. They've stolen her way from normal things in life."

"We were shocked when Alice said that she met you," Esme said. "I hope we didn't scare you away by telling you all this."

"She survived," I said. "When she's ready to tell me, I won't go into shock. Thank you."

"It's late- almost one in the morning," Carlisle said. "We need to go to bed, now. Feel free to stay downstairs and enjoy yourself as long as you'd like."

"Thank you," I said.

"Good night," Esme said, getting up.

I could go to bed, but I knew I wouldn't be able to get to sleep.