A/N: A huge thank you to the reviewers. Each one, no matter the size, means a lot to me .All characters, scenes etc. are the property of their owners. No copyright infringement intended.
APOV
I stepped out, watching Eric head in to the room.
He didn't really need to be there.
I already had a pretty good idea of who Bella would be going to.
And with the pained look Eric entered with, it didn't really seem he would put up much of a fight.
I headed down the hallway, running my fingers along the rail as I came down the stairs.
I headed past the kitchen, through the formal living space and to the bedroom glancing through. I was hoping to catch Jasper to talk through my day and all the latest developments. Bella had given me quite a bit to think about.
I just saw Tanya leaving, baring her teeth at me.
I could not understand her twisted expression today.
Why was she smiling at me?
That didn't seem very logical. Our last conversation was not a pleasant one.
It was a day ago- I was sitting outside on a garden bench, admiring the garden and thinking to myself. She had come up to me and told me- sat next to me and let me know like it was a sure thing- that she and Edward would end up together.
And I told her, not like it was a sure thing, but because it was a sure thing-
Tanya would never be his girlfriend.
In typical Tanya fashion, she refused to listen to logic, even though I tried to explain to her kindly.
She shot up off of the bench- flailing her arms wildly and screaming, 'Do you know who I am! Do you know who the fuck I am? Have you seen me? Have you?' repeatedly.
Idiot.
Yeah she was faultless Tanya, who had almost gotten herself killed simply to remake her entire body.
Yeah, she was Tanya, rich Tanya- one hand was shoved up her father's ass- I mean into his pocket, the other picking up any shiny object that caught her eye.
Yeah she was Tanya- powerful Tanya- who knew almost everything that went on in between the lines and below the board and had an eye or ear in it all.
But that wasn't what mattered.
He was suffering, too long in limbo between hope and hopelessness.
He was distraught, a broken man who had lost his way.
He was unhappy; living in a fool's paradise.
He was my brother.
I knew I was right. I knew him long before all of this.
I knew him before college and the girls and the houses and the business.
I knew him before violence and the pain and the darkness and the crime.
I knew him back when he was Edward.
I had no doubt that he was there, waiting for some sort of breakthrough.
I told Tanya as much- that she was just a phase. She was nothing better than his cars – a possession he simply had to make himself happy.
Well, to convince himself he was happy.
I saw the flicker of self-doubt in her eyes and allowed her to salvage her pride and walk off angrily away from me.
So why had she been smiling at me?
I thought about it some more... was it really a smile? It looked kind of mischievous. It was hard to tell some of these more specific emotions because of all she'd done to her face. You could see happy and sad and the more general emotions, but when it came down to differentiating between constipated and confused, you could end up with a headache.
Smug! That was how she looked.
Why would she look smug? Her face was definitely in reaction to our conversation. I guessed that Edward had done something to reassure her that she would mean something more to him.
Or maybe she had just deluded herself into thinking that.
Being delusional was typical of Tanya.
Unsurprising.
"Edward?" I called, knocking on his door.
"Come," He called, his voice lacking its usual power.
When I walked in, he was sitting against the bed head, wearing only loose pants and a deep frown.
His hands were on his head, holding it, rubbing his face, pulling his hair and pressing against the bridge of his nose.
"What's wrong?" Something was definitely wrong.
"A lot of things, apparently." He shook his head swiftly.
"Anyway," he continued, "Is anyone upstairs to see the new girl?"
"Bella? No one's up to her, you can go."
"Bella," He repeated, finally looking up to meet my eyes.
What I saw in his features really surprised me.
As I headed off hesitantly, I analysed his expression.
When Edward had looked up at me, he looked confused. He looked unsure and frustrated.
He looked... vulnerable.
He looked like he had his breakthrough.
This was a pleasing realisation, especially with all I still had to digest and understand.
I decided that tonight when Jasper and I watched the news, we would spend some time talking about the headlines going on in our own life.
A/N: Shorter, 800 word chapters and 3 days between updates? RL is going to be kicking me hard and I don't want to keep you waiting. I'd really appreciate some feedback.
There are some tiny salutes in the past chapters and in this chapter to some legendary fanfics. They are hard to find, so if you caught any I'd love to know. If you catch any in future chapters, do tell.
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Next we'll have EPOV, and see what went on. My inner Bella says to review- she'll keep taking and ill keep typing.