EDITED 30/05/16.

Chapter 4-

Edward sits on the floor with his head in his hands. It was going so well and then, well, he has no idea.

Meanwhile Bella has put Charlie down in her cot and has gotten changed in a blur. She slides down the wall with her hands over her face and starts to rock. "Fuck! I'm so messed up. I miss you mum, I'm sorry I didn't help you. I am so so sorry." Bella has no idea how long she was sat there before she hears a knock on the door.

"Bella, I'm sorry for what happened. Can I come in please?" Edward calls through the door, still confused about what happened.

Bella looks up. "Yes." She answers in a voice so soft Edward would have missed it if he hadn't been listening so hard.

He opens the door and walks in. Seeing Bella sat on the floor broke his heart. Setting the tray on the sideboard, he takes 3 long strides across the room and sits down next to Bella.

"Hey, do you want to tell me what's going through that head of yours?" He asks.

Bella looks up at him with her big chocolate brown eyes and sniffs. "I'm sorry. You must think I'm pathetic." She scoffs. "I am pathetic" Fresh tears fall down her face.

Edward leans over towards her and wraps an arm around her just like earlier. "Stop apologising, it's not your fault and you're not pathetic, you're a remarkably strong young woman who has been through a lot. You are one of the strongest people I've ever met." Edward replies, wiping the tears off of Bella's pillowy cheeks. "Now, since you haven't eaten much and I am starving, what do you say we finish breakfast off up here?" Edward asks her.

She looks up at him and then towards the tray Edward had placed down earlier. Smiling, she says, "Yeah, but not on the floor. My bum is going numb."

Edward laughs, quietly repeats "bum" in an English accent thinking how cute she is and elegantly glides to his feet. He, yet again, holds out his hand for Bella to take. She is pulled to her feet, wincing due to her injuries, and they both walk over towards the bed, sit down and eat together with Charlie asleep across the room. Bella is amazed at how comfortable Edward makes her but still, deep down, she's a broken little girl.

Edward gently closes the door to Bella's room. They had sat talking to each other for over an hour before Bella's head fell against Edward's shoulder and her soft breaths fanned over his neck. He sat there, cuddled up to Bella, just watching her sleep for a few minutes before he got up. He knows he feels attracted to Bella, drawn to her but he's not good for her, he will make her feel better about herself, he'll make it his life's mission to make Bella realise what a gorgeous and sweet girl she is. He won't destroy her innocence but he will eliminate the problem, he's going to sort James out once and for all.

As he reaches the door, Bella's soft voice floats across the room, so clear and coherent that he thinks she's woken up.

"Edward" She sighs.

He turns towards her, "Yes Bella?" Before noticing that she's still asleep.

"Don't kill him, I don't want another life on my hands." She whimpers.

"I won't, don't worry." He replies, not meaning it, he's going to make it the worst death possible after what he did to Bella, her family and all those other women before her.

Walking down the stairs, he sees Jacob at the kitchen table doing his homework. "Hey Kangaroo." Edward says to him affectionately while ruffling his hair.

Jacob looks up at his uncle, adoration shining in his eyes. "Hey, Uncle Edward."

"What are you doing?" Edward asks him while sitting down in the chair next to him and leaning over him to take a look at the paper Jacob's brow is furrowed over.

"Fractions, but I can't work it out." He says, sadness seeping into his tone at not being as good as his uncle.

"Hey little man, it's okay, fractions are hard. Let me take a look." Edward consoles his nephew, hating the hurt tone in his voice. He has been through so much, not having a father and being teased about it at school. Edward would die for that boy. Pushing those thoughts out of his mind for the minute, he looks down at the sheet of fractions in front of him. He furrows his brow to make Jacob believe that these fractions were stumping him as well, even though Jacob knows what he's doing; his Uncle has a degree in mathematics. "Hmm, well... Let me think… Um… Wait… No… Oh! I see." He leans down to Jake and points at the first question which read 'Find ½ of 10'. "Count to 10 for me, but use your fingers."

Jake looks down at his hands and counts up to 10, just as his uncle has told him to and then looks up at him when he's done. "Now what?"

"How many fingers do you have on each hand?"

Jake looks down and then up at Edward again before replying "5."

"Now, look at this, if you take 5 fingers away," he reaches over and pushes one hand of Jakes fingers down, "You're still left with 5, aren't you?" He looks down at his nephew's thinking face. He watches as his eyes light up with realisation before he looks unsure with himself. Edward looks at him and says with encouragement, "Go on, you know it."

"5?" He says unsure of himself.

"Is it? I don't know. Are you sure? You know I don't take questions, it either is or it isn't." Edward says.

Jacob looks unsure but then says, "No, it is 5." With confidence.

Edward looks at him expressionless for a moment and Jacob's face crumbles with sadness at getting the wrong answer before he saw Edward's face break out in a giant smile. "Well done! That's right!"

Jacob looks up at his uncle before playfully hitting him on the shoulder. "You made me think I got it wrong!" Jacob shouts laughing.

Edward looks at him and then shouts "TICKLE MONSTER!" And then watches as Jacob goes running off into the living room screaming. Edward laughs and follows after him making a roaring sound before catching his nephew around his waist, picking him up and laying him on the sofa. He then proceeds to tickle Jake until he has tears streaming down his face in laughter and Carlisle enters the room laughing at his son and grandson. He walks over to Jake and saves him from the clutches of the tickle monster. Edward stands up and walks over to where his dad is cradling Jacob in his arms before grabbing him back and carrying on where he left off.

Esme walks into the house in search of Edward and Carlisle. She walks around the corner and sees her son tickling her grandson and her husband pretending to try and save him while her son was staving off the attack. Shaking her head with a smile on her face, she clears her throat. Three heads turn and see Esme standing in front of Marcus and Alec. Edward recovers quickly and begins, yet again, the tickle attack and Carlisle resumes his previous role, yet this time, Alec helps. They manage to get a laughing Jake free and he grabs hold of Alec in a tight hug.

"I missed you too, little man." Alec says to him.

"What? No love for your great Grandfather?" Marcus inquires faking sadness. Jake runs across the room to him and wraps his arms around Marcus. He leans in and appears to whisper something in Marcus's ear. "I love you too, Jakey boy."

Rose chooses this moment to come up from the basement and sees the little congregation in the living room. "Jake, I thought you were doing homework?" She asks him in her 'mother voice'.

The whole room looks at her and Jake replies in a rush, "I was but then I couldn't do it so Uncle Edward helped me but then I was unsure when giving my answer and so the tickle monster came out, then grandad saved me, but Uncle Edward got me back. Grandad tried to save me again, but this time he couldn't. Then Uncle Alec and Grandpa Marcus came in with Nanny and Uncle Alec helped and finally got me free and then I said hello to them and then you walked in."

Rose looks at her son in amusement, "Okay baby, well go and finish your homework and then you can watch some TV." She says kindly.

"Okay mommy." He replies running off in the direction of the kitchen.

Edward looks around the room and says, "One minute." Before following Jake into the kitchen. He's at the kitchen table again, with the same look on his face as he had the first time Edward found him. He sits down next to Jacob again and puts his arm around his shoulders. "You've got this. I believe in you, you just have to believe in you."

Jacob looks up at his uncle and nods his head. As Edward is standing up, he hears a noise coming from outside the back door. With one last look at Jake to make sure he's okay, he walks out of the backdoor and looks around as it closes gently behind him. He sees Bella sitting on the bench underneath the window with Charlie in a pram and a book in her lap. She isn't reading it though, she has her face turned up to the sun, and with it shining on her face, Edward can't help but think how much she looks like and angel. He begins to walk towards her and at hearing his footsteps she quickly turns her head, but calms when she realises that it's Edward.

"Hey." She says in her soft British accent, not posh, but not common.

"Hey." Edward replies while sitting down next to her. "What are you reading?"

He frowns as she moves her body away from him but he doesn't say anything. "Pride and Prejudice. The only thing I took with me from Britain, the only thing to survive the fire. I don't know how." She says the last part softly.

"'I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of any thing than of a book! - When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.' It's never really appealed to me."

Bella looks at him in shock.

"What? I know a quote or two." Edward chuckled at her surprised face.

"Sorry, I'm just not used to having conversations about books. My parents never liked Pride and Prejudice and Em had never read it. With James, well, there was no hope there was there?" Bella laughed in irony. "I feel really stupid now, he's won, he got under my skin and he knows it."

"Hey, he has not won, Isabella, you've only just got away, you are safe now and we will help you put him and keep him in the past. I will tell you as often as I need to until it sinks in. You are safe and you have won." Edward tells her softly but with conviction.

Bella again laughs with irony. "I was just sat her basking in my freedom. This is the first time, really, where I finally feel free. First it was my parents, then it was him. Different ways admittedly, but still."

Edward looks down at her, with her hair blowing in the breeze and puts his arm around her. She looks up at him and leans back, relaxing against him. She feels safe for the first time since her parents died. Sure of her future, that everything is going to be alright.

I know I'm a bitch for stopping it here, but if I reach 8 reviews in the next 7 days, I will post the next chapter. ~Megan xxx