EPOV

Bella was lying in my arms. I was still trying to get used to the idea when the murmurs started. Bella talked in her sleep for about twenty minutes, mainly whispers of her daughter's name, or incoherent mumbles. But then, the words started to get clearer and louder.

"How could you…get…no…Charlie…Char…Charlie!" I shook her gently pulling her out of the dream as the sobs started and Beth began crying in the play pen. I quickly got up and soothed Beth before placing her back on the mattress and climbing into bed with Bella.

"Love, are you alright? It was just a dream." I pulled her to my chest and ran my hand down her hair.

"I was back in the woods fighting with Jake. Then Charlie showed up and yelled at Jake because he had his hand raised to me. Then my dad made the comment that sent him over the edge and he killed him." Bella started crying again and I tried desperately to soothe her.

"What had Charlie said to him?" I don't know why I asked that question, but I felt an odd curiosity about what would make Jake to lose it in front of someone who didn't know the secret.

"He told Jake that he wished I had chosen you, because you would never hit me." Bella looked up to try to read my expression. "In the last few months my dad spent a lot of time regretting how he treated you, and the way he had pushed for Jake. My dad started to see what a wonderful guy you were when Jake started showing his true colors more often."

I continued rocking Bella, humming until she fell asleep. She didn't have any more nightmares, and when she woke up at 6am, she quickly got ready for the day. Bella was downstairs getting Beth's breakfast ready when she woke up. I picked her up and immediately knew I was ill-equipped to handle the situation. I carried Beth down to the kitchen and handed her to Bella.

"Someone needs to be changed." Bella giggled and then carried Beth upstairs.

"Beth, we're going to have to teach mommy's friends how to take care of you, otherwise I'll never eat a meal uninterrupted again."

I turned to see the eggs Bella was making before I came down and quickly went to finish them so she could eat when she was done.

A few minutes later Bella came down with a changed Beth, and sat her in the high chair with a Sippy cup and a bowl of cereal. "Do you want me to feed her?"

Bella shook her head. "No, she'll be fine. I just give her the Sippy cup so it doesn't make a mess when she throws it." Bella sat in front of Beth and they both ate their breakfast. And just as she predicted, Beth threw her cup, but I caught it before it hit the floor, placing it back on her tray.

"Beth, don't throw this." I spoke with a quiet authority and Bella laughed again.

"I'll need that when she starts her terrible two's." I laughed with her and then my family came downstairs.

"Morning Bella. Hi Bethy." Alice picked up Beth and played with her on her hip as Bella smiled.

"Hey Alice, do you know what Beth's full name is?" I knew she didn't, but I wanted to see her reaction.

Alice turned to Bella and she blushed. "Elizabeth Alice Black."

Alice squealed and giggled as she ran to Bella and hugged both her and Beth. "Really, you named your daughter after me! Bella thank you."

Bella pulled back and looked around the room before her eyes rested on Alice again. "You're my best friend; of course I named my daughter after you."

Carlisle stepped forward and rested his hand on Alice's shoulder. "Bella we're going hunting. We won't be far and we'll be back before you know it."

Bella nodded and smirked. "Bag a moose for me." Everyone laughed as I walked over to Bella and ran my thumb across her cheek.

I gave her a quick peck on the forehead and then gave one to Beth as well. "See you soon."

We were hunting within fifteen minutes and Emmett quickly set off to get a moose. Jasper and I played along, while Carlisle and the girls laughed at us. It had been nearly an hour and we were on our way back when Alice stiffened and Jasper spun around having felt the change in her mood. Alice only said one word as her eyes locked with mine. "Tanya."

BPOV

I had just finished putting Beth in her play pen and turned on the baby monitor, bringing it down with me while I did some prep work for dinner until Edward came home. I wanted to talk to him, and I needed something to keep me busy until he returned. The steak was marinating when I heard the front door open and I walked into the living room to find myself face to face with someone I knew, even though I had never met her.

"Tanya?" The strawberry blonde curls and topaz eyes were all the confirmation I needed, and her sheer beauty made me feel a little sick that Edward had rejected her and years later chosen me.

"So, you're the great love of Edward's life? I honestly don't see the attraction." Her words hit home with my own insecurities and I desperately wished Leah wasn't here, because Alice was blind to this, which meant the cavalry wasn't coming.

"Everyone went out to hunt; they should be back soon if you'd like to wait."

Tanya stalked closer to me and I was truly scared of her. "I didn't come here to see my family; I came to talk to you. What are you doing here?" There was venom in her voice as she continued to come closer to me.

"I came to be with Edward."

"He wasn't good enough for you four years ago, why should he want a dog's sloppy seconds. You have no idea what you did to this family, and by showing back up when they finally began to heal, you will destroy them all over again."

I shrunk at her words, this was what I wanted to talk to Edward about, but it seems I'm about to get an unedited version of the events from Tanya. "It was really bad, wasn't it?"

"Bad doesn't begin to cover it. I've never seen Edward that depressed. Jasper blamed himself because of what happened at your birthday party, and how that had forced the Cullen's to leave in the first place. Alice felt bad for pushing too hard and Rosalie wished she had been nicer to you. Emmett tried to hold everyone together, but even he was subdued. And Carlisle and Esme had to sit by and watch their family suffer with no way of making them smile again. We didn't recognize them when they moved back here, and they barely talk to us as it is because we refused to fight alongside the wolves. We knew the wolves would be nothing but trouble, and you bring one of them among us. If you ever really loved Edward, leave and don't come back." Just then I heard Beth crying from upstairs and I went to her. I heard the door close as I picked up my daughter and soothed her, trying to calm myself at the same time.

I thought about what Tanya said, but I couldn't leave Edward. He was as happy to see me as I was to be with him and I knew there was jealousy mixed with the genuine concern in her words. I would only leave if Edward asked me to. After Beth went down for her nap I crawled onto the bed and pulled Edward's pillow to my chest and curled into a ball, bawling and breathing in his scent to calm me before he came back.

It was no use because a few minutes later the door opened and Edward scooped me up into his arms. "She didn't hurt you, did she?" His voice was low an urgent.

"No, she just talked to me." I tried to hide my terror.

"Talked. Bella we know what she said to you. Please don't let her jealousy-"

"Edward, she may have been jealous but there was some truth to her words. I'm a monster." I whispered the last part, but Edward heard.

He took my face in his hands and forced me to look into his eyes. "Don't say that. I won't let you talk that way about the woman I love."

I rolled my eyes before I continued. "Is everyone downstairs?"

Edward looked down at me. "All but Carlisle, he went to tell Tanya that she's no longer welcome here."

I pulled back from him. "Edward, no. I can't be the reason for this family to be anymore fractured than it already is. When Carlisle gets back I want to talk to all of you." I walked over to Beth and brought her down to Leah who was sitting on the couch near Emmett.

"No way! That's awesome; you can actually see it heal!" I shook my head as I walked over to her.

"Showing Emmett your trick?"

Leah laughed and nodded. "Hey, if I'm going to be here, I might as well find a way to co-exist. You ready for me to take Beth?"

"If you don't mind?"

Leah took Beth and tickled her. "Mind watching my goddaughter, never." Leah walked out the back door as Carlisle entered the front.

"Bella, I'm sorry you had to go through that. Tanya won't be a problem anymore."

I went to stand in front of the TV, effectively taking center stage in the large living room. "Thank you, but I'd like to talk to all of you, and I'd appreciate it if you were honest. Please don't edit for my sake, or to prevent Edward's wrath. I need the truth."

Seven sets of eyes found me and I was nervous, mainly because I knew this would be a slight replay of the vote we had taken so many years ago. "We'll tell you whatever you need to know Bella." Carlisle urged me to go on.

"I want to know what happened when I left; I want to know how you all coped for the last four years." Everyone was silent and Edward became a statue on the steps leading to the kitchen. "If you want to ask me anything about what my life was like, that's fine, but I need to know what you went through."

Jasper sent a wave of calm through the room and then he cleared his throat. "I won't lie to you, it was bad. Everyone felt partially responsible for something that wasn't our fault. We had accepted that you were our sister and then in a moment you weren't anymore, and we thought we'd never see you again. I blamed my lack of control, because maybe if I hadn't attacked you, then we wouldn't have left. Then Jake wouldn't have been such a central part of your life. And maybe he wouldn't have imprinted on you. It took a long time to let that go."

I took a deep breath. "Thank you Jasper."

Emmett shifted and jumped in next. "For me the hardest part was watching everyone go through it. I'm the clown of the family, so when I couldn't get rid of the funk everyone else was in, I felt like I had failed them." Rosalie reached out and took his hand and he squeezed it.

"I was horrible to you. There's no hiding that. I didn't understand how you could choose this, when you had the opportunity to have everything we want so badly. And then you chose the option I would have taken, and I respected you for that. But then I saw what your leaving did to everyone and I felt ashamed for being happy that you left. Because I hated seeing my family hurt like that. Seeing Edward hurt like that."

"Rose." Edward growled and she stopped.

Alice's quiet voice filled the silence as another wave of calm hit me. "I knew you were going to be one of us from the moment I had my first vision. I was so adamant that you would be my sister, and that day when your future disappeared and Edward came back and told us that you chose Jacob, I felt betrayed. I loved you almost as much as Edward did, and it wasn't enough. I tried calling you once two years ago, just to make sure you were still okay, but the number had been changed, and so had Charlie's, like you were trying to cut any connection to you we had left."

"That was Jake." I took a deep breath and started sharing some of my past. "When I got pregnant he became convinced that now that I had the one thing that Edward couldn't give me, I was going to run off to him and he'd never see his child. Any of the freedom I had pretty much ended around then. If you had called me and I had known, I would have answered."

Alice nodded and Carlisle stepped closer to his daughter. "In all my years, I had never met a young woman like you, so I understood everyone's devastation, but much like Emmett I felt powerless, and vampires rarely feel that way. You were my daughter and then you were torn away from all of us."

Esme walked over to me and embraced me. "I mourned you as if you had died, as if Edward had lost a wife, but if that was the path you had to take to stay with us now, I would gladly take that heartache." Tears began to fall from my eyes as I surveyed the room.

Everyone had talked but Edward, and I was not unaware of that fact. "Edward?"

"I can't do it. I won't make you feel bad for the choice you made." He shook his head violently.

"Edward, you have to have questions for me, how about we trade them off. I'll tell you anything."

"Why'd you leave Jacob?" Rosalie asked the question I had been expecting, so I answered it plainly.

"Jake imprinted on someone else."

Edward's head shot up, but it was Carlisle that asked the follow up question. "I thought they could only imprint on one person?"

"That's right, and Hilary was the person he imprinted on. He lied to me. He never imprinted, he just didn't want Edward to win."

Edward's fists clenched and his eyes were on fire. "What?"

"How did Sam allow that?" Carlisle had now officially hijacked the Q&A as Jasper tried to calm Edward, nearly putting me in a coma, his gift was being used so much.

"As soon as Sam found out, Jake used his rightful claim as Alpha to take over the pack and force all of them into silence about it. Jake destroyed the pack with this lie. When everything came out I had nine protectors against Jake because they were so happy to be free of the weight of carrying around his lie and the guilt it caused."

"How did Leah hurt her hand?" Emmett was trying to diffuse the situation in his own way.

"She got between Jake and me. She and Seth took a lot of hits for me. Seth loved Edward, and Leah knew what I would go through when he eventually imprinted because she had lived it. She has a lot of respect for you now, because you did what was best for me. And Leah siding with vampires over her own Alpha shows just how out of control Jake got."

"Did he ever hurt you?" Edward was officially livid and his voice was a low hiss.

"Never as a wolf, but he'd get upset over something and forget his strength. It was never anything major, but at the same time, I was terrified to leave." I looked down at the floor and Edward finally took a deep breath and began.

"I stopped playing music. I would go weeks without talking to anyone. I would just lie in bed praying for sleep, or death, or something. And then I saw that my family was feeling the same loss, so we would try to deal together, come up with things to do as a group. But we never spoke your name."

"You were a taboo too. It was too painful to think about you, and if your name ever got mentioned in front of Jake…it was just better not to think about it. But then he came to me with the divorce papers and I signed them. And from that moment all of you were like my godsend and I knew that I had to try to find a way for you to accept me again, no matter what it took."

"Bella, you're a part of this family, and your place will always be here with us, both you and Beth." Everyone turned to look at Rosalie with stunned expressions. She got off the couch and hugged me tight. "You have brought life back to this house like it hasn't seen since you left us."

I looked over to Edward who was still staring down at the floor. I felt so relieved that everything was out in the open and that my family, it still felt weird to call them that after all these years, was accepting me. I knew that it would still take some time before everything was back to the way it was, but we had our start. Now Edward and I needed ours. "Edward, can I talk to you in private?"

Edward's eyes met mine and he extended his hand to me. I walked over to him as he led me upstairs. When we got to his room, I locked the door behind me and when he spun around I met his eyes once more. "Bella?"

I walked over to him slowly, never breaking my gaze. "Edward, I'm going to kiss you in a moment. I'm telling you this because I want you to be prepared for it."

He looked at me bewildered. "But last night-"

I cut him off. "Last night we still had all of that baggage looming over us, but now it is out in the open and we've dealt with it. It has been four years since I've felt like this, please don't push me away."

EPOV

Bella pleading with me not to reject her broke my heart. I stood there for a half a moment before our lips touched. I wrapped my hands around Bella's waist and her hands were in my hair. Every memory of kissing her was so pathetic next to the reality of kissing her again. I broke the kiss so she could breathe and her lips went to my ear.

"I'm not going to push you too far right now, because I know this is hard for you, but I need you to trust me and let me have control of the pace of this."

I pulled back from her. "Bella, I-"

Bella placed a finger against my lips and then continued. "I'm not the horny teenager I was when I tried to undermine your resolve, and now I'm the one with experience on my side." I winced at her words and she recoiled a little. "I'm sorry, but the truth is you've only ever been with me, correct?"

I nodded. "You're the only one."

"Well then, I know more about this than you do, so I'm asking you to trust me. We'll work something out, a way for me to let you know if you're doing something wrong, and we'll take it slow. But you and I are going to get there."

I smirked at her and she automatically blushed. "I like you being in control, it's sexy."

Bella gasped and looked up at me. "Edward Cullen, I do believe that's the first time I've ever heard you use that word." We both laughed and then she looked down again.

"What is it love?"

Bella sighed and then met my gaze. "I was just thinking about the last time we talked about our physical relationship in your bedroom, and the deal that came out of it. It just makes me sad now."

I looked at her with what I'm sure was a confused expression. "Why are you sad?"

Bella's eyes were glued to the rug as she shifted from foot to foot. "Because I still want all of that, even more than I did back then, but now I can't have it."

I tried to wrap my head around what she was saying, but I couldn't make sense of it, what could possibly stop… "Because of Beth." I knew that was what she meant and I agreed with her, I wouldn't allow Bella to sacrifice her relationship with her daughter for me.

"Leah and I talked about her living nearby with her and me seeing her when I was able to control myself. We talked about waiting until she was older verses doing it right away so she'll have less memory of my absence, but I can't do it. And I won't let Jake have her."

I took Bella into my arms and rubbed my hand down her arm, trying to soothe her as she cried again. "You will never have to choose between your daughter and me. Why don't we talk to Carlisle, maybe he has an idea that will help. We will figure this out, I promise."

Bella chuckled to herself and then looked up at me. "Hopefully before I'm old enough to be your mother."

I laughed with her and then pulled her in for another kiss. It started out sweet enough, but then I felt Bella's breath on my lips as I realized she was giving the boundaries a shove. Afraid of what would happen, I kept my mouth closed until the sensation of her tongue running across my lower lip caused me to suck in a breath through my now open mouth and I felt the burn of her scent as she kissed me once more quickly and then pulled away.

"That was progress." Bella breathed out before kissing my jaw and stepping away. "I'm not going to go any further today, I just wanted to show you that you can do this, I won't move any faster than you can handle. But I know you can be with me more intimately than you would ever try on your own."

"Bella, I'm not sure-"

She cut me off quickly. "It'll be fine, now granted, I'll have to come up with something more forceful than smacking you, or maybe I should pick something vocal instead?"

I froze realizing what she was telling me. She had tried to give me a sign to stop and I hadn't even noticed it. "Bella, I didn't…did I hurt you?" My mind raced to try to remember anything that had happened in those last moments.

"No. I was just using the moment to see if you would react to it, and obviously it wasn't enough. We'll just have to work to find something that will get your attention. I promise we won't move forward until we have a signal that you respond to. I won't let you regret a single moment that we're together."

Bella looked around quickly and then went to the door. "Leah should be back by now, and Beth really needs a nap. Tanya threw off our sleep schedule this morning."

I followed Bella downstairs to see Rose holding Beth tentatively as Leah sat next to her. "That's it, just try not to jostle her too much, and she'll sleep fine."

Rosalie looked at Leah with a bright smile. "And you're sure she's comfortable?"

Bella came around the couch and sat on Rose's other side. "She's fine." Bella reached over and brushed some hair out of Beth's eyes and then smiled up at Rosalie. "You're a natural with her, and she's hard to please."

I smiled to myself, so pleased by the picture in front of me. Bella was back home, and a beloved member of the family along with her daughter and Leah, we all finally fit together.

Otay! I know this chapter is a little short, but so much happens in the next chapter that I had to end it here so that it would flow right. Bella's overly emotionality will be fading soon and Rosalie's softer side will be better explained next chapter as well. And her bitchy side isn't gone, just suppressed for the moment. Also please check out my other stories if you haven't already. Until next chapter…