A/N: Heh. I got this out as quickly as I could because 1) Yeah, I felt bad about the cliffie. And 2) There were a few uh… not so nice questions, so I felt like I should clear up something.

FAQ: Wait. I thought James was the father of the baby. Wtf?

A: No, you assumed he was the father of the baby. ;) In chapter 2, I purposely wrote the scene so it wasn't clear. The intention was to invoke confusion - because that was the state of mind Bella was in. It was a means of trying to elicit an emotion, a mindset, so you might understand her turmoil. Problem is, this is fanfic. People naturally assume that James is the abusive ex (so to speak).

And no, it wasn't a mistake I'm trying to cover up. In chapter 2, Bella also mentions that the baby's father had a talent for blinding people to his true nature. Sound like someone we know? Alec. Yes.

Alec was always the father. Sorry for any confusion.

Much love!

For a moment, the fear was blinding. Then that fierce protectiveness she felt for the life inside her, for her daughter, kicked in, and she was ready to fight, claw... do whatever it took to keep her baby safe.

She moved to knee him in the groin, but James was ready for that. He jumped backward, keeping one hand pressed hard against her mouth. Bella struggled, trying to wrest her head from under his hand - he was pressing down so hard, it felt like her jaw might crack - but she stopped cold when he pulled a gun free from his waist, waving it in front of her face.

Glaring, James pressed the barrel of the gun to her forehead, right between her eyes. Bella whimpered, her body rigid with fear. The only movement she made was the heaving of her chest as she breathed hard.

"Make a noise and I'll kill you, understand?" he growled.

Her eyes stung with tears she was trying desperately to keep at bay. She nodded, as much of a motion as his hand and the gun allowed.

James kept the gun pressed to her temple but dropped his other hand to his side. He was breathing hard, his nostrils flaring. The anger she saw on his face even in the relative darkness sent fear, cold as ice, down her spine, closing like an iron fist around her lungs. She was wise enough to be completely silent, knowing by the look in the eye he was pissed off and close to violence.

After a moment, he snickered. "What Alec sees in a pathetic little bitch like you, I will never understand. My girl, my Victoria? Now that's a woman worth fighting for. Sometimes she takes off on me, but I track her down. That's what you whores like - to be chased. Fucking drama queens.

"But Vick makes it worth my while." His eyes wandered over her, down her body. Bella shuddered in revulsion. James scoffed. "You're an ugly little thing, aren't you? Don't even have tits."

As he spoke, he groped her chest. Forgetting the gun for the moment, Bella shoved him hard enough he faltered a step backward. "Get away from me," she hissed, keeping her voice low. When she realized what she'd done, her eyes widened, and she waited breathlessly for retaliation.

If anything, he looked amused. "Aww," he said tauntingly. "Little kitten thinks she has claws." He used the gun to turn her head to the side, pressing it roughly against her cheek. "You think you're being cute, pretending you're not a shameless whore?" He leaned in closer, his body pinning hers to the wall. Bella pressed her palms flat against the brick, willing herself not to move as he whispered in her ear. "We know everything, bitch."

Bella's throat felt so tight and dry, she doubted she could have spoken even if she wanted to.

James pushed back, keeping the gun trained on her though he stepped away. His tone was light now, almost conversational.

"See, Alec figured you just had to have your little tantrum. And you're a particularly crazy little bitch, or so he tells me. But not talking to your mommy?" James tisked, shaking his head. "You should respect your family.

"But once Alec knew you were talking to that little boy on the reservation, he started pulling his phone bills." James shrugged easily. "Personally, I never thought you were worth the effort, but there's no accounting for taste, right?"

Without waiting for her to answer, he continued. "It's all pretty usual stuff on the kid's phone bill, until he gets to this cell number from Chicago. You know cops have access to all sorts of handy resources, so he finds out the phone belongs to one Edward Cullen of Chicago. Then it occurs to him to run your social through the system, and what do you know."

The glint in his eyes turned dangerous again as he stepped toward her. She tried to look down, intimidated, but he pressed the gun beneath her chin, tilting her head back up. He stared at her, and Bella tried not to betray how completely terrified she was, clenching her hands into fists at her side and biting the inside of her cheek so hard she tasted blood. "No. I don't get it," he said finally, as if disgusted. "Alec is an otherwise smart guy, and then your asshole husband is filthy rich." He snickered. "You must give a hell of a blow job to make you worth all this trouble.

"I told Alec you weren't worth it to begin with and all the attention a cheating whore deserves is a good ass kicking, but he wants what he wants. So here's the deal. You cooperate like a good little girl, and I won't hurt you. Or..." He reached forward, the move so lightning quick Bella hardly had time to process it before he'd grabbed her hair in his fist, yanking her head back hard. She stifled a yelp of pain.

"Or," James continued calmly, "you can make this as hard on yourself as you want it to be. I got lots of rope, plenty of trunk space, and like I said, unfaithful, ungrateful little bitches deserve what they have coming to them."

He let her go with a hard shove, leveling the gun at her once again. "So what's it going to be, Princess?"

It felt like hours had passed since he'd grabbed her, but in reality, it had been scant minutes. Terror was threatening to send her into a panic. She knew she couldn't afford to panic. He would hurt her, he would hurt the baby. She needed to think, and she needed to stall. The longer she could keep him in this alley, the more likely someone would find them.

"I-I... I don't understand why you're doing this, what you get out of this," she said, her voice tripping and stumbling as she spoke quickly. "I know you, James. You don't do things like this. I mean, at the very least, I know you're breaking your parole." She swallowed hard. "This is kidnapping, or if... if things go wrong, you could go down for murder. That's not you. That's not what you want."

James grimaced. "Not my call. Lucky for Alec, since he's got other responsibilities and, unlike you, he won't abandon his family, his sister called in a favor for him. I owed her one of those debts you can't say no to, and believe me, I'm eager to wipe the slate clean. And don't be such a melodramatic bitch. I'm not going to kill you." His grin was slow, threatening. "But if you don't behave, well... bruises heal."

Apparently growing impatient, he grabbed her by the arm again, yanking her forward. "Lets go," he demanded, beginning to drag her toward the back of the buildings, away from the parking lot.

Instantly, Bella dug her heels into the ground, tugging back against his pull. She couldn't let him drag her further away. She couldn't.

"Stupid fucking bitch," he muttered, trying to get a better hold as she struggled.

In the distance, Bella thought she heard something. Voices. Voices!

If someone was coming out of the store, he wouldn't shoot her. They would hear. He would be caught.

At the thought, adrenaline coursed through her. She didn't think, but drove the palm of her hand hard against his nose.

With a cry of pain, James stumbled backward. Bella didn't stop to see if he fell. She pivoted and ran, breathing hard. In her terror, her throat had closed to a painful point, and it was as if she couldn't remember how to scream, though she was trying to desperately as she ran.

She could almost taste freedom, could see the well lit parking lot, when the quick footfalls that had been following her caught up. James grabbed her, wrenching her arm backward so hard, her immediate thought was that he might have dislocated it as he threw her to the ground.

He stood between her and the light of the parking lot, between her and salvation. His hand - the one not still holding the gun - was a fist at his side. His eyes absolutely promised, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he was about to hurt her. Bad.

Beg.

Not for herself. For the baby.

"Please," she cried, holding her hand up. "Please, I'm pregnant. If you hurt me, you hurt the baby."

His step faltered.

But only for a heartbeat for his expression, if anything, got more livid.

Bella skittered backward like a crab as he stalked forward. She wrapped an arm protectively around her belly, her eyes frozen, locked like a deer in headlights as he came forward.

Headlights...

~0~

Edward ran his hands through his hair, his anxiety reaching full on terror now.

Bella was not in the restaurant.

She was also not answering her phone.

"Fuck. Fuck."

Pivoting, Edward sprinted away from the annoyed manager he'd been harassing out to his car. He raced back round the corner, ignoring traffic lights and honking horns.

A tiny part of him tried to tell him he was overreacting. There had to be a logical, completely rational explanation for all this.

But no. He didn't believe that. Something was wrong. Very, very wrong.

He pulled into the Home Depot parking lot. There were a few cars dotted throughout, but it was deserted save for someone walking to their car at the end of the lot. She'd just gotten in when Edward recognized her as the night supervisor. He pressed the gas, ready to stop her before she took off, when a movement out of the corner of his eye stopped him cold.

For just a moment, he thought he saw a flash of brown.

Bella's brown hair flying.

Before it was swallowed by the darkness next to the building.

He was terrified.

He was furious.

If someone was hurting her, he was going to rip them apart with his bare hands.

With his headlights illuminating the alley, Edward could see clearly what was going on. The car screeched to a stop, and he barely had the presence of mind to throw it into park before he was out, running into the alley.

A man with dirty blond hair and blood streaming out of his nose was bending over Bella, trying to haul her to her feet as she fought. He was screaming at her, something about how fucked up she was.

When he saw Edward running at them he let her go, pushing her back at the ground.

Edward stopped cold when the man pointed a gun at Bella's head. "Get. Away. From my wife," he growled between clenched teeth.

The man's eyebrows arched, and his grin grew wide, mocking. "Oh, so you're the pussy-whipped Mr. Cullen, eh? I gotta hand it to you - if you were trying to keep this slut in one place, you sure knew how to do it. I guess a metric shit ton of money helps with that. You got your place locked down tighter than Fort Knox; you drive her everywhere. At least you got a tight leash on your little bitch.

"You in the habit of picking through someone else's garbage, though? And she's carrying his baby... pathetic whore."

During the man's diatribe, Edward's eyes had strayed to Bella. He looked her up and down. She was obviously scared, disheveled, but otherwise intact. At the man's mention of the baby, though, Edward's attention was diverted by his renewed fury.

Clenching his fists, he took a threatening step forward. "It's my baby, asshole. My baby, my wife."

James - it must have been James if it wasn't Alec - glared down at Bella. "You fucking slut. You're one fucked up piece of work, aren't you?"

"She's not the one who's tossing a pregnant woman around like a rag doll," Edward snapped loudly, trying to get James's attention back on him. "But you keep talking. I called the police, so you talk as long as you want, because you're not going anywhere with her."

This was a bluff. Edward had hurled himself out of the car without thought, before he could dial 9-1-1.

But the look on James's face showed how torn he was.

Carefully, Bella got to her feet. "Go back to your girlfriend, your Victoria," she said, her voice still shaky. "If the police catch you, if you do anything to us, you're going to end up back in jail. You can still get out of here. Fuck what Alec wants from you."

Edward's eyes narrowed slightly - he had no intention of letting James get out of here before he ripped him limb from limb - but he kept his silence. Anything to get him away from Bella.

"Fuck this shit," James muttered under his breath. "He wants to chase after pathetic whores, he can do it on his own."

He swung his gun around to point at Edward, lunging back to grab Bella. He swung her hard, hurling her in Edward's direction, and ran.

How desperately Edward wanted to run after him. He was going to get away.

But the woman in his arms was far more important.

"Bella," he said quickly, watching as the blond man sped away in the car he'd parked behind the building. "Look at me. Are you hurt?" He cradled her head in his hands, looking her over. His headlights had chased away the darkness so he could see her plainly. Mostly, she looked panicked, her eyes wild. She was clutching his arms. "Bella?" he said again, urgent.

"I'm fine. I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine." Her rambling turned into tremors and broke into sobs as she shook in his arms.

Leaning against the wall, Edward held her, his relief beginning to seep into the bubble of fear and anger. He sagged, tightening his arms around her, stroking her hair, murmuring over and over that she was safe, and he was sorry.

"I should have been here. You should never have been alone."

She sucked in a deep, shuddering breath, trying to calm down. "Shut up," she said, sniffling. "It's not your fault." She twisted her fingers in his jacket, pulling herself closer.

Now that she was calm and in one piece in his arms, the panic of the situation faded into other worries, and Edward felt urgency stir in his blood. "Come on. We have to get to the hospital. We can call the police on the way there."

"What? No!"

He held onto her shoulders, trying to get her to look at him.

She continued to babble. "I'm fine. I promise, I'm fine. He just pushed me around a little. We don't need to go anywhere, or tell anyone."

He shook her gently, just barely enough to get her attention. "Bella, there's a reason it's called a delicate condition," he said softly. "Sometimes, being pushed around is all you need for trouble. Please. Humor me. Let a doctor look at you."

She looked down, swallowing hard, her hand cupping her belly protectively. "I don't want to tell anyone," she whispered.

"Why? Alec has no sway over the Chicago police. He's small potatoes here. If there's an official report-"

"If there's an official report, I'll have to tell them why James came for me," she interrupted, her voice gaining an edge of franticness. "And they'll tell Alec. They'll tell him the baby is his." She took another breath, obviously trying not to start crying again. "Edward, he can't know she's his. I know the law. Alec will take her from me. James will tell Alec its yours. It'll be different if it's yours."

Edward gathered her close to him, stroking her hair and shushing her gently. "Okay. Okay." He sucked in a breath, still scared for her and the baby. "This is what we're going to do. I'm going to take you to the hospital, and you tell them what happened. Just leave out that you knew who he was. Okay?" He cupped her face. "Can you do that? Can you tell them that?"

She nodded. Lying was not normally something she was good at, but she felt like she could do anything if it meant her daughter would be safe.

~0~

Edward had read a little too much for his own sanity.

Bella looked so much smaller to him, hooked up to monitors, but they both felt better when they could hear the baby's heartbeat, strong and steady. She'd patiently endured nurses drawing blood, an ultrasound, and lying to the cops.

After putting up with a thousand of Edward's anxious questions, the doctor informed them that while he was sure Bella could rest comfortably at home, they could keep her overnight just in case. Edward answered for her that of course she'd be staying overnight.

She hated hospitals, hated the idea of staying overnight in one, but she agreed to it for his sake.

"Perhaps you should get a good night's sleep, Mr. Cullen," the doctor suggested. "It seems like Mrs. Cullen will want to be sprung as early as possible tomorrow morning, and the chairs here aren't what you'd call comfortable."

"I'm not leaving," Edward said flatly.

The doctor nodded. "I figured that. I'll have the nurses scare up a pillow and blanket for you."

"You don't have to stay," Bella said quietly, looking over at him with sad eyes when the doctor was gone.

"I'm not leaving," Edward repeated, more gently this time. He stroked her hand and then tilted his head, realizing she was crying. "Bella, what's wrong? Are you hurt?"

Really, he shouldn't have been surprised. She'd been emotional off and on all night - understandably so. She'd been through hell that day.

"No," she said, the sound watery. She laughed. "No, I'm fine. I'm really fine, and you... you just keep on taking care of me." She pressed her palm hard against her forehead. "It's not fair, what I'm doing to you. I've been so selfish."

"Shh, sweet girl. None of that is true," he said quickly, taking her other hand in his.

"It is true," she argued. "Tonight, I didn't even ask you. I didn't ask you if it was okay to not tell the..." she trailed off, looking around furtively. When she spoke again, her tone was quieter. "She's not your daughter. James could have hurt you today as much as he could have hurt us." She sniffled. "It's not fair."

For a long minute, Edward didn't talk, though he continued to stroke his fingers over her knuckles. He was warring with himself, not sure if what was on his mind would help or hurt her.

He didn't want to scare her away. Her mind had to be all over the place, and he didn't want to make that worse.

But he couldn't not tell her anymore.

"Please look at me," he said in a hushed voice.

She hesitated, but she did. Her eyes were so full of guilt and a wariness, his heart twisted.

"I love you," he said finally. It was a statement as simple and true as he could make it.

Her eyes widened. "You shouldn't," she whispered. "God, Edward. You shouldn't. I'm such a mess, and I can't... I don't..."

"None of that matters." He let her hands go so he could cup her face. "I love you. The only thing you could say to dissuade me is if you don't..."

He looked in her eyes. The way she winced and seemed to steel herself.

"No," he amended. "I won't believe you don't love me."

She looked down, two tears overflowing, spilling down her cheeks, over his fingers. She raised her hands, pressing her palms to his knuckles. "I do love you." The words were so quiet they could have been a breath. "So much."

Edward felt a wide grin spread across his face, joy beginning to fill his heart.

"But it's not right. It's not fair." She shook her head, winding her fingers through his, bringing their hands down. "I have nothing to give you. I have nothing... and another man's baby."

He shook his head. "Look at me," he entreated again. She squeezed her eyes shut briefly but looked up. "I don't want to pretend anymore." He spoke each word carefully, with intent. "I want to be your husband, period." He moved one hand to her belly. "I want to be Bean's father."

Her eyes were wide and another tear slipped from the corner of each of them.

"And I know what I'm saying," he continued. "I know what it means to be a father. I know what I'm asking for. No matter what comes, I will love her unconditionally. She will be my daughter. My daughter."

"Oh God." Bella closed her eyes again.

She was smiling. Crying and smiling. When she opened her eyes again, she looked happy. So happy.

"Say you'll be my wife. Really. Truly. Say you'll marry me in your heart, not just on paper."

"You're insane," she whispered.

"Perhaps. But I'm serious."

"This is crazy."

"Which part?" He was amazed he could keep his voice so steady. His heart was pounding wildly, almost painfully.

"All of it! I mean... we... we hardly know each other."

He looked up at her from under his eyelashes. "That is not true. I know you. And better than anyone else in my life, you know me."

She laughed, a giddy sound, and looked him in the eye. "Yes," she said simply.

It was the most beautiful word Edward had heard in his entire life.

A/N: Thanks to Ginny, shug, and barburella.

Well? Feel better? Worse?