SM owns all of these characters.

Chapter 6

BPOV

It was 9:00 am and Edward, Carlisle, Emmett and I were standing in front of the police department. I was really nervous. I was scared to face Phil again and Carlisle told me I would most likely be a main witness if this went to trial. That was the scary part. I didn't think I could ever face him again after I knew what he was capable of. Edward snapped me out of my trance by grabbing my hand. He knew I was freaking out on the inside.

"Ready?" he asked. I nodded and we all walked through the small double doors of the police department. We were met by a larger lady sitting at the front desk. Edward and I approached first while Carlisle and Emmett kind of stayed behind. They were here to validate my story.

"Can I help you?" the lady at the desk asked.

"I'm here to report a crime," I explained.

"Ok…" she said, telling me to continue.

"I need to report prostitution, domestic violence, and murder," I explained. She looked up at me, raising an eyebrow.

"What's your name?"

"Isabella Swan, and the man that did all of this is Phil Landers," I explained.

"Ok, let's start with the prostitution," she said to me.

"Ok, well basically he made me be a prostitute my whole life. And then when I tried to leave he beat the crap out of me and also told me that he had murdered my parents," I explained.

"So you were a prostitute?" she asked me. I nodded slowly, wondering why that was all she picked up out of that conversation. "You do know that prostitution is illegal in the state of Washington, correct?" she asked. I stood there, baffled that she was seriously taking it to that level. I nodded again. "So, potentially I could arrest you," she explained. My eyes became wide as I internally started to panic.

"Are you being serious right now?" Edward said in a tone of disbelief.

"Absolutely. She engaged in a crime, knowingly. You can be arrested," she said. This time Carlisle stepped in.

"This is very inappropriate. She's trying to report crimes and do the right thing. She's reporting a beating and a murder. The murder of a former officer! And you're threatening to arrest her?" he asked in disbelief. The lady almost completely ignored him and looked back at me.

"I knew your father when he was an officer. When he was killed it took all of us by surprise. I think he would be very disappointed in your decisions, Isabella."

My breathing hitched as she talked about my father. I felt Edward tense up and Carlisle opened his mouth to start yelling. I placed my hand on his shoulder; to let him know I would do the talking. Emmett looked about as mad as Edward did.

"You say you knew my father. If you did, you know that he loved his family. When him and my mother died, I died a little with them. I was thirteen. I was thirteen and the man I'm telling you about took me and made me a hooker. That's all I knew. I was a kid and I didn't know it was bad until I grew up. I figured out what it meant and I tried to get out. When I tried to get out, he beat me and told me that he'd murdered my parents. And I'm scared. I'm scared he's going to come for me next. If you knew and cared about my father, please, please help me put away his killer," I finished, tears rolling down my face. The lady looked at Carlisle.

"You can vouch for the beating, Dr. Cullen?" she asked. He nodded and explained that Emmett and Edward had actually pulled me out of the violence the night that everything happened. She nodded and shifted in her seat. "Ok, Isabella. It's a lot of paperwork. And you're going to be in questioning for a long time, but we'll arrest him. I'm going to need you to come to a questioning room with me to make an official statement and then we'll go arrest him." She started to take me to the back and I followed with Edward in tow. "He has to stay out here until we bring him in for questioning," she explained. I looked up at him, scared. I couldn't do this without him.

"Hey, it'll be ok. I'll be right here when you get out, babe. I'm not going anywhere without you," he promised. I nodded and he leaned down to kiss me quickly. I followed the officer back to the interrogation room. They brought me coffee and as I told them about my awful life, I could feel the horrible weight I'd carried on my shoulders for so long lift off.

6 HOURS LATER

I'd been in here for God knows how long. I'd had four cups of coffee and they'd brought me a ham sandwich earlier for lunch. I was emotionally drained and all I wanted was to go home and sleep. Detective Black, the man working my case, came in to ask me to sign a few more papers and tell me he would get me out of here soon. Within fifteen minutes I was being escorted by Detective Black back out into the lobby.

On the way out they were bringing someone in and I didn't even realize until it all happened that he was my worst nightmare. It all happened in slow motion for me. I could see an officer bringing in a handcuffed man and walking towards the detective and I. When the criminal looked up, I about pissed my pants. It was Phil and he's seen me as soon as he looked up. He made a move to charge at me and Detective Black pushed me against the wall, standing in front of me to try and protect me.

"You bitch! I'll kill you, I swear on my life! I'll kill you and I'll make it ten times worse than anything I ever did to my whore of a sister and her husband!" he yelled, trying to get away from the officer. A couple other officers went to go help and Detective Black got me over to Edward as quickly as possible. I was crying out of fear and Edward wrapped his arms around me tightly.

"Mr. Landers will be in lock up until a trial date is set. His lawyer is going to try and get him out on bail, but after that little performance it's going to be very difficult. Now that he's threatened your life there's not a chance he'll be let out," Detective Black explained. I nodded at his statement. "The best thing for you to do is go home. Go be with your family. You did the right thing by coming to us. Your father was a very good man. He did a lot for my father and I when I was a kid and I'll never forget it," he told me. "I will make sure this monster is put away. You're going to be safe."

We left the station at four in the afternoon and headed back to the house. When we got there I explained that I was going to go upstairs and take a nap for a while. Edward was going to stay downstairs and help Esme with dinner preparations. As soon as my head hit the pillow I was out.

EPOV

Bella had gone up to our room to take a nap. I couldn't blame her. I knew she had to be emotionally drained from everything that happened today. Especially when Phil tried to attack her. I'd seen a fear in her eyes that I'd only seen one other time before and I never wanted to see it again.

They'd taken me in to question me earlier in the day. I'd explained the beating that Phil had bestowed upon Bella and how Emmett and I had heard her screaming and run in. It was a hard topic to have to deal with and I just prayed that all of this would be over soon. If not for my sake, for Bella's. I couldn't imagine how much harder this was for her. She was having to relive her parent's murder over and over again.

"I'm going to go wake Bella up and let her know that dinner is ready," Alice said, breaking my thought process. I shook my head.

"No, let her sleep. When she wakes up I'll warm something up for her," I told her. We all sat down at the table, quietly at first and then Emmett broke the silence.

"We're all going to have to help her get through this. This is going to be hard for her, not only because she's going to have to replay it over and over, but because this is all she's ever known. She's a part of the family now and we need to do everything possible we can to help that sweet girl in there," Emmett finished. I smiled at my brother's sentiment and everyone nodded in agreement.

"I just want all of you to know that Bella is still getting used to having people around that care about her. She's never known love before," I explained.

"Until you showed her," Alice chimed in. I looked at her and she continued. "Edward, I've grown up with that girl and she changed when she met you. You helped her realize exactly what love is. She thought selling herself was what everything was about until she met you. You cared enough about her to get her out of r messed life and into a new one. And I thank God every day, because without you she may be dead at the hands of that monster."

Alice started crying and Jasper put a hand on her back to calm her down. I heard padding on the stairs and looked up to see Bella making her way down. Emmett stood up and went over to give her a hug. She smiled and hugged him back politely. We still had a lot to learn about Bella and she about us, but we were determined to make it work.

BPOV

After dinner Edward and I had made our way back upstairs to his room. I was reading a book and he was watching the news. I heard the reporter talking about the arrest they had made on Phil today, but I didn't want to think about it. Being a part of it was hard enough without having to listen to it on the news. Edward sensed my tension and turned the television off before slipping behind me. He started to rub my shoulders and I melted into him a little bit.

"Baby, you're stressed. This is all going to be fine, I promise. The police saw him threaten you in the station today and they're going to put him away for life. This trial will be over and done before you know it," he explained, rubbing the knots out of my back and shoulders. I was so glad that I had him in my life. I didn't know where I'd be without this man. I put my book down and turned towards him, sitting on my knees. His hands fell to my hips and rested there.

"I love you. And I could come up with this whole sappy 'thanks for being there for me' way to say it, but I don't want to. Because the truth of the matter is I just love you. Plain and simple," I told him. His smile grew wide before he kissed me passionately.

"I love you, too, Bella."

I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him to me close. His arms went around my waist, just as tight and he started moving his thumb up and down my spine. I had never actually loved anyone before. It was the most amazing feeling and I didn't want anything to make it go away. I felt safe with Edward. I felt like nothing could harm me and even if it tried he would be right there to protect me. And the fact that he loved me back made everything in the world seem balanced.

That night we didn't have sex, we made love. It felt too good to be true. Or maybe it just felt good. Because things were about to take a spin. And I didn't even see it coming.

Okie doke. Drop me a review and we'll see you next chapter! Thanks again for reading. (:

-TFW