Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, I only own season four of House since Christmas :) Woo!
A/N: There has been a small bit of confusion that I want to clean up, Edward and Bella only kissed in the end of the last chapter! Just making that clear for a couple people who were wondering what the heck was going on.
Moving on, at the end of the last chapter: Edward pulled me over the back of the couch so I was laying on him. "Edward, what the-" I didn't get another word out before he pulled me into a heated kiss.
BPOV—Trial Day 1 (setting bail and such…)
I wasn't sure I was ready for this. Everyone said they'd be there for me and I knew they wouldn't let anything happen to me, but that didn't mean I still wasn't scared half-to-death. Charlie looked at the rear view mirror to see Edward, Alice, and I sharing the backseat. Emmett had called shotgun before anybody else could. Charlie was leading our procession of three cars in his cruiser. Carlisle and Esme were behind us in Carlisle's Mercedes and Mr. Hale was with Rose in her BMW M3 behind them. Mrs. Hale had stayed behind with Jasper who was asleep when we left.
We were all wearing nice clothes to look good in court. Edward squeezed my hand and smiled down at me, making my small little world seem right without even knowing it. "Bella are you going to be okay?" Charlie's eyes were still watching me from the mirror. I glanced at Edward once before I answered him.
"Yeah, I'm fine, Dad." He nodded and returned his attention to the road to Seattle.
"Are we there yet?" Emmett whined jokingly. Charlie rolled his eyes and nodded.
"We'll be there in about five minutes." It was a completely silent for those five minutes too, except for the thrum of the engine no one said anything. Emmett was staring out the windshield drumming his fingers on his legs and I was leaning against Edward while Alice just stared out the car window. I leaned over Edward and patted Alice on the leg, when she looked at me, I smiled reassuringly. Someone needed to comfort her when the person she loved was hurt. She smiled back weakly before looking back out the window.
"We're here." Charlie muttered as he pulled into a parking space. Everyone except for me got out quickly but I felt like my joints were frozen so I moved slower then usual, stumbling more. As Edward and I walked hand-in-hand toward the court house, Charlie slowed his pace and put an arm around my shoulders. Suddenly Edward became interested in a football game from last night and asked Emmett about it. "You know I love you, Bells." Charlie murmured in my ear, smiling appreciatively at Edward and then looking at me again. That would explain Edward's sudden interest…
I smiled at him "Thanks, Dad, I know." He nodded, and then walked a little faster to catch up with the others and hold open the door; he could only deal with showing so much emotion at a time.
Half an hour later we were all sitting in a court room. I was sitting at a table with Mr. Hale in front of a small gate that everyone else was behind, sitting in chairs. Edward had slipped his hand through the bars and was holding my hand tightly.
Riley and his lawyer weren't here yet. I was thankful for that, I still wasn't sure how I'd react to him being twenty feet away from me. I resolved not to even look in his direction the entire time. I refused to relive my memories.
EPOV (I haven't done EPOV as much lately so here you go.)
When Riley entered the room Bella didn't look up from the table top but everyone in our party turned to glare at him with hard, hate-filled eyes. There were only six people sitting in the chairs behind his seat. Two looked like they could be his parents and I expected the rest were neighbors or friends.
I heard Emmett mutter a few cuss words under is breath and my thoughts were somewhere along the lines of his: wanting to pull his intestines out through his freakin' nostrils. I hoped we'd all be able to keep ourselves under control during the proceedings, no need to complicate things. I smiled with a grim pleasure to see him walk with a slight limp and a bruise just visible under the cuff of his shirt sleeve.
When the judge entered we all stood and then sat when she did. Judge Grayson took a long look at Bella who was squeezing my hand so hard I almost couldn't feel it, and then Riley who was quietly conversing with his lawyer.
Judge Grayson cleared her throat "Riley Ray Johnson, the defendant, has been charged with the rape of Isabella Marie Swan, the plaintiff, and the attempted murders of an Officer Austin Mills (remember him? from the hospital.) and Jasper Hale, who are both in the hospital with gunshot wounds." She told the court and jury who was sitting to the right of the room near Bella's table. It was made up of six women and six men, I wondered idly if they had the same number of gender for a reason or if it was coincidence. "Where would you like to set bail at, Mr. Hale?" (Ok, now keep in mind, I'm not a lawyer and I don't even know a lawyer so not everything is going to be perfect in the next chapter or two.)
Mr. Hale stood and kept his eyes on the judge "Due to the extent of his crimes, we are trying Riley Ray Johnson as an adult."Mr. Hale said, looking at the clues that showed what he'd told us was true. Juveniles were not allowed to have bail or juries (It's true believe it or not.) "We'd like to set bail at two million dollars, for an attempted murder on an officer and a civilian and the rape of another civilian." He continued and the judge nodded but I could hear grumbles and objections from Riley's side.
"Your Honor, I believe that is an unreasonable amount." Riley's lawyer piped up.
"Mr. Rhoton," She said, looking at some papers on her desk "Mr. Johnson is alleged to have attempted to kill two people, one was a badge, and to have raped Ms. Swan." She was almost openly glaring at both Riley and his lawyer and I was hoping that meant we had a slightly better chance of winning, not that I had much doubt.
I didn't pay much attention to the next while; I just stared at Bella who was watching the jury sometimes meeting the eyes of certain members. She was practically trembling and I squeezed her hand, ignoring whatever the two lawyers were saying, I think it was their opening statements. Mr. Hale had told us that we'd get to hear the testaments of the witnesses on the next trial day. I was only snapped out of my thoughts when Judge Grayson spoke: "How does the defendant plea?"
"Not guilty, your honor."Mr. Rhoton answered. Riley, that filthy scumbag; if I could only beat the crap out of him one more time… (OK that just meant that Riley said he was not guilty, it was not the jury.)
Judge Grayson pounded her grovel "Everyone is expected back in this court room two days from now at the same time." We all stood as she left and the bailiff took Riley back to the holding cell until either the next court day or until his family paid his bail. Mr. Hale patted Bella on the shoulder and led her past the gate to us. I wrapped my arms and pulled her small body into mine. We fit just like puzzle pieces and I kissed her on top of the head. "You did great." I whispered in her ear.
She rose an eyebrow at me "I haven't even spoken yet."
Before I could answer, Emmett pulled Bella into a hug of his own and Charlie gave her a one armed hug and smiled reassuringly at her. We each said something to try and make her feel better and were about to walk out when someone, who I thought must be Riley's father, walked up to Carlisle and Charlie.
"You can't win, I have influences in Seattle. My son will not be put in prison." He glared at them and then Bella, I wrapped a protective arm around her and glared back at him darkly. Without another word, he turned and strode out of the room with his wife. Bella was shaking again and I kissed her cheek.
"I won't let anything happen to you, Love, none of us will. You're safe."I whispered.
She smiled "I know you won't and I know I am." I smiled back and we all left the courthouse together. Charlie had to go back to work so Emmett went with the Hales and Bella, Alice, and I went with Carlisle and Esme. We decided that we were going to go meet at my house later tonight and Esme would make dinner for us with Alice, Rose, and Bella. Nothing could soothe quite like a mother's cooking. Then we'd all watch movies and critique them and laugh and have a good time, like we did when we had a free weekend or during the day of a break or something.
Before we met though, we were going to check up on Jasper real fast and ask if Mrs. Hale would like to join us, since Mr. Hale had decided that he was already going to be with Jasper. Jasper was asleep but we told him about our day anyways, it was comforting to treat him like that. When we said our goodbyes again, Alice kissed Jasper on the cheek and Mr. Hale stayed with his son and wife.
BPOV
An hour and a half later we were home and all the guys: Carlisle; Charlie, who'd gotten off work early; Edward; and Emmett, were all watching ESPN (sports) with a bag of chips they were sharing between themselves. It seems all men do have a weakness… I laughed softly at my own thought and shared my views with Rose who'd heard me because she was working next to me, chopping peppers. She laughed as well and we thought of more weaknesses men had, for fun: motorcycles or cars, sports, super models, video games. All men were doomed at the clutches of at least one of these things, we decided.
When we finished chopping the peppers for the home made pizzas, Alice came over. "Hey, Bella, can I talk to you alone?" She motioned to the dining room.
"Sure." We walked into the other room and I wondered what to expect from her.
She grabbed my shoulders and looked into my face for half a minute. "What?" I finally asked, raising both my eyebrows at her. "Are you looking for something?"
"What happened with Edward?"
Oh. "Umm… nothing, nothing is going on with Edward." I hesitated. I didn't know if I wanted to share that with anyone yet. It was still my little piece of blissful heaven and I didn't want to give it up.
"I know something is. Everyone knows that you've gotten romantic: First, Emmett can't keep a secret to save his life and second, you're kissing in public and obviously not trying to keep much hidden. But it was different today and yesterday… I don't know how to explain it." She looked at me curiously.
"Is this why you pretty much jumped me yesterday?"
"Oh, yeah… about that. I was kind of freaking out, and I was morbidly curious. I am morbidly curious."She pouted at me and I looked away.
"I'll tell you when I'm ready." She sighed, she knew I was serious. When I wanted to be, I could be beyond stubborn, I wasn't telling anyone anything yet.
"Fine." She grumbled. When we walked back into the kitchen, Esme asked us to set the table so we got dishes and silverware and did as she asked.
"Bella, can you tell the boys that dinner is in one hour? We're going to finish this one pizza and stick the three of them in the oven, so you can go hang out with them." Esme added a few more pepperoni's to a pizza as she spoke,
"Yeah sure, thanks Esme."
"Thank you for helping, dear." She returned as I walked out into the living room where all the guys stared intently at the screen.
"Dinner's in an hour." I told them and they just nodded absently, only Carlisle and Edward looked at me. Carlisle just smiled and looked back at the screen but Edward kept his eyes on me. As I sat down next to him cheers went up through the others as one of the Baltimore Ravens broke away and made a charge down the field for a touchdown. They were playing the Dallas Cowboys so the boys were rooting for the Ravens; we weren't Cowboys fans in this house.
"So how are you feeling? It's been a long day." Edward whispered in my ear.
"Better than I thought, I'm actually kind of proud of myself." I smiled and Edward looked at me quizzically. "I didn't freak out." I stated simply.
"You have a reason to be proud." He kissed my forehead and we watched the last half of the game. The other girls came in halfway through the third quarter and we all watched as a family, a kind of dysfunctional family, but whose family isn't at times? Some of them weren't related to me by blood but in all the other ways they were.
Dinner tasted awesome, I swear Esme could be a cook for a restaurant. We had three different pizzas in the center of the table, one cheese, one meat lovers (pepperoni, sausage, bacon and ham bits, that kind of thing), and the last was vegetarian. We all had a good time but at moments it could be a little strained when we noticed Jasper's empty seat or someone said something about him. It wasn't quite the same without him.
Later, everyone was teasingly bickering over what movie we should watch first. Whether it be a comedy, horror, romance,action, no one could make up their mind. I didn't notice Edward was gone for almost a minute and then I looked around. Where was he? "Have you seen Edward?" I asked Alice.
"Umm, I think I saw him go upstairs." Then she went back to yelling at Emmett about how they weren't watching horror first and if he kept pushing it, she'd make sure Jasper beat the crap out of him in their next wresting match. I chuckled as I heard her threats while walking up to the third floor.
In front of Edward's bedroom door, I could barely hear quiet piano playing. I knocked softly and heard Edward say "Come in." Inside, Edward was playing with the dials on his huge stereo system. I closed the door behind me and walked over to him. He didn't look at me but continued changing settings on the stereo. I placed my arms around his waist and rested my cheek on his back. He set one of his hands over mine and used the other to continue fiddling. "Who's this?"
"Jim Brickman's "Lake Erie Rainfall."" He answered. (I have that on my iPod)
When everything was the way he wanted it to be, he turned in my arms. He moved his hands to my lower back and laid his cheek on top of my head. We just stood there completely silent except for the soft piano and kind of swayed where we stood. It was nice, I couldn't help just smiling. "You're beautiful." He murmured and I sighed happily.
"I love you."
He pulled away and took one of my hands in his and positioned his other on my waist as the song changed into my lullaby. "I love you, too. May I have this dance?" He smiled crookedly at me and I laughed.
"I'd love to dance with you." He held a foot out to me and I rolled my eyes. We both knew what would happen if I danced without help so I placed my bare feet on his. When I put my hand on his shoulder, he started moving. At first just swaying a little and then he started slowly twirling. Sometimes he sent me off his feet so he could spin me and then he pulled me back in again. I was starting to believe he was a total romantic by nature like he didn't have to even think about it.
Of course, there had to be a knock on the door that interrupted us. Edward slowed until we were just swaying again and invited whoever it was in. I kept my head on his chest. "Hey, are you guys coming in to watch the movie?" Alice paused halfway in the room. "Aww, how sweet…" She smiled at us and we both laughed.
"Yeah, we'll be there in a minute." Edward answered and after watching us a second she nodded and left. We swayed for the last half minute of the song and then I got off his feet. He groaned "Do we have to go down?" He pouted at me. I quickly touched my lips to his and then took his hand.
"Yes we do. They're expecting us." I pulled him out into the hall and he sighed.
"Fine." He muttered and I smiled, as I started to turn around he pulled me up into his arms bridal style.
"Edward, what are you doing?" I smiled and raised an eyebrow at him.
He chuckled "What's it look like I'm doing? I'm carrying my love down the stairs." I just rested my head on his shoulder and let him bring me down to out waiting dysfunctional family.
A/N: Ok, I'm back from break and here's the result!! I hope you liked it :) It's the longest chapter so far. It's definitely one of my favorites :D Before I update again I would like you guys to take a look at and review my story on Fiction Press, Daughter of the Moon, Sister to the Sun, it's only one chapter and will literally only take two minutes to read. It's like two paragraphs, kind of like a preface but not. Please, you guys! There's a link to my Fiction Press profile on my FanFic profile at the top. I would also like you guys to review this story. So, go ahead and press that little "review chapter" button under here. I promise, that if you distract it with cake it won't bite, I know from experience. Hope you enjoyed!