A/N: General author's note - I maybe, kinda, sorta bit off more than I can chew with the number of fics I have up in the air (Between fanfics and ofics). Even my May to December Romance contest entry got out of hand (I KNOW. WE'RE ALL SHOCKED) and it will be expanded after the contst. So I'm going to ask your patience with updates. I'm going to make it a goal to update three of my fanfics every week with an emphasis on Nightmare, Angel, and Trouble since they are all closer to being done than any of my other fics.

Just a general FYI since a lot of questions I get are in regards to updates. :)

She was having the dream again. That dream where she couldn't seem to do anything right. Mike was lurking around edges of her subconscious. She saw his sneer. His fists curled at his sides. His ice blue eyes glinting with anger.

"Shhh. Shh. It's okay. I'm here."

The words didn't really make sense to her, but she longed for them. Normally in this dream, danger surrounded her. There was no escape. Every choice she made only led her deeper. The voice was a promise if she could only reach it, she could be pulled onto steady ground. Safety was there for her to grab. Close.

"Open your eyes."

Bella obeyed. She had just enough presence of mind to process that Edward was kneeling so they were face to face before she lunged, throwing her arms around his neck in relief. Her relief was short-lived. Bella yelped as she fell out of her bed into Edward's arms.

"Whoa. Hey." He pushed her hair back, his eyebrows knitted in concern as he looked her over. "Are you okay?"

They were on the floor between their beds. Edward settled with his back against the nightstand. She probably should have been embarrassed, but to hell with that. She tightened her arms around Edward's neck, readjusting herself on his lap. "I'm okay. I've been dreaming more since I ran into...you know."

Edward said nothing, but he was brushing his fingers through her hair in such a soothing way. "This isn't bothering you, is it?"

Bella tilted her head, studying him for few moments.

He'd triggered her before, but she'd reached for him this time. "You don't bother me," she said.

Shy but wanting, she closed the distance between them and kissed him. They were soft kisses. Like the kisses they'd shared a few hours before, they weren't leading anywhere. She liked what he'd said-that there was a connection between them-and they'd expressed it physically. Even in a mess as tangled as this one, there were a few simple answers. This was one. This pull she felt toward him existed, and she liked kissing him. That's all she needed to know for the time being.

When they pulled apart, the look in Edward's eyes was tender but conflicted. For a few seconds, Bella tensed, waiting for him to say they needed to talk. Instead, he brushed the backs of his knuckles down her cheek. "Can you sleep? It's early yet."

Sleep. She'd fallen into a deep sleep embarrassingly early that evening. But God, she hadn't slept well since she'd been back in Forks and not at all since running into Mike's dad. She was still very tired. "I'll sleep, but will you stay with me?"

The dream had left her a little shaken, and she didn't want to give up the safety of his arms. Not yet. She could stand on her own feet and fight her own battles in the morning-just not tonight.

Warm in his arms in the hotel's queen-sized bed, Bella could admit to herself she'd been lonely. It was the kind of loneliness that made everyone a stranger, or worse, a demon, to her. They moved until her back was tucked up against his chest, and the disquieting feeling beneath her skin faded away. Bella sighed, her eyelids getting heavy again as Edward touched her. They were comforting touches, idle and lacking heat. He traced her hairline around her ear, down her neck. He traced the line of her shoulder, down her arm.

There he hesitated, but after a moment, he rested his arm at her waist and put his hand to her belly, fingers spread wide.

Bella put her hand on his and slept.

~0~

"Oh, hell."

Bella glared at her phone, not looking up as Edward came in the door with bits and pieces of a continental breakfast for both of them. "Everything okay?" he asked as he set down his bounty on the room's table.

"Yeah." Bella got up and sat at the table opposite him. "You remember I told you about Jacob?"

"Jacob, the best friend."

"Right. Well, his dad is my dad's best friend. Charlie must have gone over to vent to Billy because now Jake's blowing up my phone." She showed Edward the missed calls and text messages. Pulling her feet up onto the seat, she rubbed at her temple. "Everyone's going to know soon."

"How will that go?"

Bella gave him a weary smile and picked at a muffin. "Pretty much the same as usual, I guess. They think they know me. You know the ones I hate the most? The ones who have such pity for me. I hate the way they look at me. Poor little girl. She doesn't know any better."

She rested her head on her knee and rocked, staring at nothing. "When I got out of the hospital after everything happened, my dad told me to hold my head up high. He said I'd survived something, and there wasn't anything to be ashamed of." She blew out a breath through her nose. "But give me a break. Even when the bruises faded, I was still limping around on crutches, and everyone knew why. You don't hold your head up high when someone's made you a victim. You can't help but feel shame when people are either looking at you with pity or like you must have done something to deserve it."

"Is that how you feel now?" Edward asked the tabletop.

Bella's head snapped up. "No." She reached across the table, leaving her hand palm up near him. He looked at it and then at her, putting his hand in hers. "What you said about us having a connection-that was true, but you and I both know that I was the one who initiated it." She blushed, ducking her head, but smiled. "I told you. You were my choice. It was my choice to keep the baby. It's not easy, but I'm no one's victim."

Edward moved his thumb over her wrist. "But the good people of Forks will all make their own assumptions," he concluded.

"Yeah." Bella sighed and tore the top off the muffin she'd been picking at. "But it doesn't really matter. The way people looked at me was one of the million reasons why I wanted to get far away from here, when I finally had my head on straight. Forks is just small enough that Dad is a celebrity, and that means I'm branded."

"Bella…"

Bella looked up to see indecision on Edward's face. "It's okay," she said. "I'm venting. That's all. Summer will be over eventually."

~0~

It was too bad Bella had rushed out of the house so quickly the day before. She could have used her platform boots. She could have used the whole costume that made her look like a girl who was ten feet tall and could kick some ass. Like a tough-as-nails, punk-rock princess who could own a stage and punch a guy in the balls for looking at her the wrong way.

She wished she could be that girl instead of just dressing like her.

"Are you sure you don't want me to come in with you?" Edward asked as they pulled up in front of her dad's house.

Bella took a deep breath and tried to smile with confidence when she looked over at him. "Yeah. It'll be good to talk to him alone first." She huffed. "Hopefully he's ready to talk instead of lecture."

He hummed. "You know the good thing about this tiny town of yours?"

"Mine?" She snorted. "What's good?"

"I can be back here in five minutes no matter where I go."

She smiled. "I'll see you in an hour or so. Hopefully. "

When she got out of the car, the front door opened. Charlie stood at the top of the stairs, leaning on the jamb. Bella was irritated when her father didn't look at her but glared at Edward instead. He didn't raised his eyes until Bella was standing right In front of him.

"Is he not leaving?" Charlie asked, finally looking at her.

Bella took a breath. Here goes nothing. "He'll leave when I'm sure you're actually going to listen to me. Because if you're just going to rant at me again, I might as well get back in the car with him."

Charlie's eyes flashed. "But he's not man enough to come face me."

"That's not what's going on." Bella narrowed her eyes and forced herself to stand up straight, looking her father in the eyes even though her heart was pounding out of control. "I want to talk to you alone. That's my choice, and Edward is honoring my decisions. I gave him a grocery list. He's going to the store for me to give us a chance to talk."

For a few moments, they stared at each other. Then Charlie's expression softened. He ducked his head and nodded, clearing his throat. "I'm ready to listen," he said.

Bella studied him another moment and nodded. Looking over her shoulder, she waved at Edward, smiling when he grinned reassuringly at her.

When she turned back, all the anger had drained from Charlie's features. He looked, as he often had, like a heartbroken father, clueless about what to do. Bella, still painfully uncertain herself, threw them both a bone, taking a page from Edward's playbook. "How about a hug?"

Charlie hadn't ever been great at the emotional stuff, but he seemed relieved as he pulled her to him. His hug was tight, and Bella was soothed. She knew it wasn't the resolution to their problems, but she'd always known that her parents loved her. Maybe they weren't great with words or assessing how their actions impacted her, but they did love her. There had been a small voice in her head that worried this would be the thing that finally made them give up on her. That voice went silent when Charlie rocked her.

"I'm sorry," Charlie said, ushering her inside. "I said a lot of things I shouldn't have, but I don't know how you expected a good reaction. I come home to find a man I've never seen before in my house with you." They both sat down at opposite ends of the couch. "Not only that, but...how old is this guy?"

Bella grimaced. "He's thirty-seven."

"Dammit, Bella." Charlie rubbed at his temples.

"It's not whatever you're thinking, okay? What you said about Edward yesterday isn't true."

"I'm sure that's what he's led you to believe."

Bella leveled a glare at her father. "You don't know him. I do."

"Like you knew Mike."

Bella flinched. "Okay, look. Here's the truth. Edward wasn't on the campus trolling for college coeds. He had a class that night."

"He hasn't graduated?"

"Ugh. Stop trying to twist things, okay? Edward is a very successful engineer. He takes college classes sometimes for fun."

"Or because they're full of college girls."

"Dad."

Charlie held his hands up and sat back, waving that she should continue.

"You're not reading him right at all. The professor who runs the poetry club is his brother-in-law. Edward thought he needed a ride. He stayed because he liked the poem I was performing."

Charlie raised an eyebrow. "You performed a poem? In front of an audience?"

Bella had always been shy, and she couldn't help the small smile of pride that tugged at her lips. "Yeah. First time, actually." She sighed. It had been months since she'd thought of poetry, and she missed it. She missed the release. "Anyway. The point is, he wasn't there trying to pick up chicks. He didn't try to seduce me. We talked." She rubbed the back of her neck. "Then I...Whatever. What I'm trying to say is, Edward isn't some predator, and I'm not a little girl. He's a good man, and he's been through a lot."

"Do you hear yourself at all? You said almost the exact same thing about Mike. Mike is a good guy. Mike is under a lot of pressure. Mike-"

"Stop saying his name!" Bella got up, pacing a small circle as she tried to get a grip on her emotions again. "What is it you think you're trying to do? You're trying to convince me I'm still the same stupid kid who fell for his bullshit, now I'm just falling for Edward's? You think I'm forgetting everything that asshole did to me? You think by saying his name I'll remember and suddenly understand that Edward is the same brand of monster? You think I don't know I can be manipulated and controlled?"

"Bella, calm down. Sit down."

"I don't think you understand how hard it is for me to trust myself. There isn't any nasty thing you can say that's worse than what I told myself when I figured out I was pregnant." Bella's voice cracked, and to her horror, her vision blurred with tears that spilled over. "Dad, I need to believe I can do this. I need to believe Edward isn't lying to me. He's worked so hard to earn my trust, and I need to trust myself, or I'll go crazy."

"Bells." Charlie scooted over to her side of the couch and grabbed her hand as she paced, pulling her to a stop. He looked up at her. "I'm sorry. I'm not trying to make this hard for you."

"Yeah, not for nothing, Dad, but you suck at not making things harder for me."

The look of genuine hurt that went across Charlie's face made Bella regret her words instantly. She opened her mouth to apologize but thought better. Fuck that. They were true even if they did hurt. She gently pulled her hand from his and sat in the armchair he usually occupied, wiping away tears. "I almost had an abortion. I made the appointment."

"Why didn't you?" Charlie's words weren't accusatory but curious.

Bella picked at the threads of the couch. "You know when I got into NAU, you kept saying that I'd gotten my life back together. I never understood that. After Mike, after all the therapy, after everything, I've had this feeling like I'm just drifting. Just surviving. My future is one big generalization. I want a meaningful job, the respect of my peers. Maybe a partner to come home to, to share my life with. I want kids. You see how all those things are so general as to be practically meaningless?

"The baby is this defined thing. I've known for a long time I want to be a mother someday. This is my someday. And I'm not stupid. I know this choice doesn't work out well for everyone. I know it's not planned or ideal, but neither was I, right?"

"That's different," Charlie said. "Your mother and I might have been young, but we were in love. We wanted a life together."

"And look at you now. Maybe Edward and I were total strangers when this happened, but you and Mom are total strangers now. Friendly strangers, but do you think you know anything about who she really is now? And did that matter? I was a happy kid, and even though you were far away most of my childhood, I knew I had a dad out there who cared about me."

Charlie grunted. "Obviously, it couldn't have worked out too well. How else did you end up with that creep when you were sixteen?"

Bella got up and sat beside him on the couch again. She bumped his shoulder. "You haven't done everything right. Obviously, neither have I."

He rubbed at his eyes. "It's not that I don't believe you can do it, Bells. You're a lot smarter...just better than your mother and I were. It's everything else I want for you. I hear what you're saying about your future being such a general thing right now, but that would change. No matter what you do, having a degree opens doors for you."

"I'm not trying to drop out of school. You think maybe you're ready to talk about Edward now and actually listen? I think if you get to know him a little bit, you'll see I'm not alone in this. I'm not being naive or starry-eyed. There's nothing easy about-" she scoffed "-anything in my life, but Edward is good to me."

Charlie grumbled, but he nodded. "Yeah, I can listen." He cleared his throat. "So...I'm going to be a grandpa then?"

"December 20th," Bella said, suddenly shy and embarrassed. "That's when I'm due."

"Wow. So you've known for a while."

"I'm sorry. It's been a lot to deal with, and I didn't want to face you and mom until I had to."

Charlie was quiet for a minute. "Bella...I'm your father. I don't want to be something you have to deal with. I should be someone you come to to help you deal."

That was something Bella had wanted more than anything. All the time she was recovering from what Mike had done, talking to therapists and trying to deal with her guilt, her shame, her anger, and the voice in her head that whispered it had all been her fault, she'd desperately needed her parents to be people she could confide in.

One of her therapists had told her that she couldn't expect people to be exactly what she needed. What she could expect was for people who cared about her to want to learn. It was an idea she had been petulant about even a year before. They were her parents, and they should just know how to be supportive.

Now, though, she understood that had been an immature thought.

She bumped her dad's shoulder again. "We can work on it. Starting with this."

"Play nice with my grandkid's dad." He didn't sound pleased, but he nodded. "Okay. I can do that." He pointed at Bella. "But if he messes with either of you. If I even begin to think he's treating you or the kid badly, I'm kicking his ass first and asking questions later. That's what I should have done the first time. Is that fair?"

Bella's lip twitched. She didn't tell him he didn't need to worry. Bella had already proven she could kick Edward's ass if she needed to. "Fair enough. Just know that he's not Mike, and I'm not the same person I was."

"I'll try to keep that in mind."

A/N: Do you know, I think I have the best friends in the entire fandom. Packy 2.0, Capricorn75, songster, jessypt, and barburella make my docs such a wonderful place to be with their insight and general loveliness. I'm a lucky gal.

SO. Hi.