All Twilight characters belong to Stephenie Meyer

Dollybigmomma is the rock to how I roll.

Chapter 43 – Salvation and Damnation

EDWARD

Bella emerged a few minutes later, and my eyes couldn't leave her. This was it. She said we'd be together, but I wanted to savor every moment, just in case that wasn't true. I didn't know what would happen when we made it back to the states. If the authorities found out I was alive, I'd be locked up again, and I didn't want to live like a fugitive for the rest of my life. I didn't know how this would work, but I wanted to be with Bella. I knew it was selfish of me, but I wanted her more than anything.

I wrapped my arm around her and introduced her to my brother, who promptly snatched her from my arms, giving her a bone-crunching hug. I knew it was bone crunching, because I heard her back cracking. I scolded Emmett and started to pull her back to me, when Alice grabbed her. What was this, Snatch Bella from Edward day? I wanted my girl back. Alice hugged her and gushed about how excited she was to finally meet her. I was finally able to pry Bella from Alice's arms, when Captain Sockhead bowed deeply, introducing himself as a pirate king. This was the guy saving us? We would've been safer with Captain Tagger and the pirates! His mind was all over the place, but frequently flashed to a dark-haired woman named Maria. He couldn't decide if he loved her or hated her, but one thing was for sure, he was in some serious pain over her. I got a flash of the image of Maria and a couple of guys engaged in a depraved act, and I knew why he was so upset. He wanted to sail away from it all, and that was what he was doing.

I was starting to get a headache. I wasn't used to having so many minds so close to me anymore, thinking all at once. The pirates were all very guarded around me and kept their distance, making it easy to block them out. They honestly didn't think much about me. When someone thought about me, it was hard not to be drawn in by their thoughts. Here, I had three people openly thinking directly at me. Alice and Emmett were both trying to hold silent conversations with me at the same time, and it was getting to be too much. Emmett was making jokes. Alice was trying to see when it was safe to leave and where to go. She wanted me to look through her visions with her and help come up with a game plan. I'd already covered Jasper, thank god he wasn't thinking directly at me.

I felt warm hands rub my temples. I opened my eyes to see a concerned looking Bella. "You okay?" she whispered.

"I'll be fine once someone," I looked at Emmett, "stops yelling at me."

He shrugged. "Sorry, Bro, I just missed you. We have a lot of catching up to do, and you told me to be quiet."

I let out a sigh. It was true, Emmett only knew how to talk loud or louder, and his thoughts were the same way. I caught Jake's mind waking up and excused myself to get him. My son, my boy, that was what he had been for the past several months, and I didn't want to give him up. I knew he had family waiting for him, a grieving grandfather somewhere, who needed the comfort of having a grandson. God, I was never going to see him again. Once he found out I had been in a mental facility serving a sentence for child rape, he would snatch him away from me, and I'd never see him again.

I didn't realize I was crying, until I felt Bella's arms wrap around me. "I don't want to lose him, either," she spoke softly. "I don't know what we're going to do without him, but we're going to do it together." She kissed me softly and then kissed Jake's head. "We'll figure it out, Edward. Let's get home first."

"I can't go home, Bella, I don't even have a house anymore," I complained. Maybe I could convince her to stay with me here.

"Edward," she said my name sternly, "You're coming home with me. Remember, we discussed this…you, chained in my basement, as my sex slave."

I raised an eyebrow at her.

"Okay, maybe that last part was my own musings, but you are coming to Washington with me. No one will be looking for you there. Forks is a small town, okay? You'll be safe. Now let's go talk to Alice about what to do with Jake. I don't want to give him up, but I can't keep him in my basement until he's eighteen."

I felt silly for never asking, but we had been on a flight from Chicago, Illinois going to Orlando, Florida. It was just now sinking in that she wasn't returning to Chicago. "Why, Forks, Washington?"

"I went to Chicago for school. I wanted to escape the small-town drama of Forks and get away from my parents, and now, after being here, I want to see them again, my dad more precisely. I've always been closer to him than my mom."

"Yes, he was the one you missed, the one you wrote the letter to."

She nodded smiling. "He always has a place for me, and I know he'll have a place for you, too. He's going to love you, Edward. Everything is going to be fine."

We got up and walked out to the main room, where the sock-eyed pirate was trying to pry the parrots apart. I didn't know what they were doing, but they didn't seem happy about it. Polly kept yelling, "Little bastard!" and the other parrot was yelling, "Whoa, Sailor!"

Jake laughed and yelled, "Bathsard!" at the birds. Yeah, that was a great way to convince them we're good parents. To my surprise, Oliver joined in the mess, throwing something at the bird and knocking him away from Polly, who then flew up to sit on my shoulder.

Emmett narrowed his eyes at Polly.

Oliver surprised us all by perching on Alice's shoulder. Well, he didn't surprise Alice, I didn't think anyone could. He sat quietly, picking at her hair, and Sam made his way out and plopped down lazily, joining the crowd.

"What's this guy's name?" Alice asked.

"Oliver, as in Oliver Twist, he has a knack for taking things and throwing them as well, so watch yourself." I motioned to Polly on my shoulder, "This is Polly, Polly this is Emmett, Alice and Captain Whitlock." I was surprised I remembered the pitiful fool's name.

"Ohhh, Edward," Polly moaned, mimicking Bella's voice.

Emmett just started laughing. The Captain didn't seem to care or notice, and Alice, well, her thoughts were all-knowing, and she was sure more would happen for Bella and me soon. The basement Alice was seeing in her mind was very nice, and the way Bella was shoving me down on the couch and kissing me made me like it even more. I had to change my focus, before I embarrassed myself.

"'AM!" Jake shouted, saying Sam's name. He couldn't quite get the "S" sound yet, but I suspected that was normal for his age. It was cute he was reminding me about Sam.

"This is our dog, Sam," I said putting Jake down, and he curled up next to him. Sam just let out a huff. I reached down, scratching behind his ears. "And of course, last, but not least, Jake."

He looked up at me when I said his name and jumped up into my arms again. "Da-Da!" he giggled. Emmett looked at me confused and Alice looked sad. That wasn't a good thing.

Bella broke the awkwardness by offering everyone drinks and apologizing for not having anything but water at the moment. She went on to explain the goat fiasco. It was a good thing I had grabbed some food before the storm hit, because by the sounds of what was going on outside, it wasn't good. I suddenly worried about the boat.

"Hey, what about your ship, is it going to survive that?" I asked, pointing to the exit, suddenly worried we all were going to get stuck here.

"It'll be fine," Alice said nibbling a piece of plantain.

I hoped she was right, but I had never known Alice to be wrong, either. I let out a sigh of relief and nodded in agreement.

Bella pulled out the half-stuffed mattress she was going to add to our bed and got to work on it. "We don't have a lot, but lucky for you guys, I planned on stuffing this thing anyways." She put the last couple of stitches in it and passed it to my brother.

"There's a room over here you boys can stay in. I hope you don't mind sharing a bed. There are just not a lot of bed stores around here."

The men both eyed each other warily, and I caught an image of Emmett waking up with the Captain and snickered. "I think they'll be fine."

Emmett shot me a dirty look, and I took Alice to Jake's room. "His bed is a little smaller and usually occupied by Sam and Oliver, but…"

"Don't worry, Edward," she cut me off. "We'll all be fine, besides, it is only for a couple of nights."

"A couple?"

"Yup, we have to wait for the weather to clear before we head out to grandpa's house. We can sail around the southern tip of South America or drive cross country. It'll take about the same length of time, but one will be on land. I vote for land, everyone will be just miserable on the ship."

"Grandpa's?" I saw flashes of an older man, and by the tone of Alice's thoughts, I knew just who it was.

"Yup, we need to take Jake to see his grandpa first, Edward. It's the only way," she answered my unasked question, and then she quickly blocked me from the rest of her vision. I hugged Jake tighter.

"Look, I know you don't want to give him up, but it has to happen like this if it's all going to work out for you and Bella in the end."

I looked down at my son. He was my son. I couldn't think of him as anything else. I kissed his head softly. Would I be able to give him up? Would Bella be able to handle losing him? I didn't know. I really didn't want to find out, but I didn't have a choice.

ROSE

I was just about to park at our meeting place, when I received a call from Judge Caius. "I've been held up at work. I want to meet in the law library at the court house."

I was ready to tell him to go to hell, but the truth of the matter was that we needed him to give us more leads, so we could take down the Volturi law group. I called Charlie and Officer Newton to let them know of the change.

Officer Newton quickly formed a new plan. "I should probably hang back. If I'm there in my uniform, he might get suspicious and not talk. Charlie, on the other hand, can go in without suspicion. He's in plain clothes, so no one would wonder why he's strolling into the law library. I'm afraid the wire isn't going to get through security. Your best bet is to use the recording app on your cell phone to capture the conversation. That along with Charlie being within earshot should be enough to convict."

I removed my wires and carefully set my phone to record. I tucked it into the side pocket of my purse and headed in. I usually didn't have any trouble getting my cane through security. It was made of what looked like a solid piece of wood, but it was actually a steel rod encased in wood. Either way, it came out looking completely solid. The stunning mechanism was in the handle itself. The ornate design camouflaged the weapon part of it, even in the x-rays. I would not be going in empty-handed for this.

I wasn't a stranger to this courthouse. It was where Margaret's courtroom was. I'd passed the library on the way to her office on several occasions.

I heard Charlie's deep voice behind me, asking where the library was, doing an excellent job at playing a stranger. Judge Caius must have known who I was, because once I stepped through the door, he stood up from where he sat at a table and waved me over. He pulled out a chair for me, but I took the one next to it. "Please excuse my rude behavior, but you've already proven you can't be trusted."

"Ms. Hale, let's not get ahead of ourselves."

"I don't think I'm ahead of myself, though I am worried you're a little behind. You seem to believe brushing me off disrespectfully is a good way to get rid of me. I assure you, Caius, I don't brush off."

"Ms. Hale, I thought you agreed to meet with me so we could settle our differences, am I correct?" he hinted at me telling him what I wanted.

"I agreed to meet with you because there is something I want from you."

"Yes?" he said, way too eager.

"I need you to help me take down the Volturi group."

"Why would I want to be involved in your personal vendetta?" he scoffed.

"You know as well as I do they're crooked."

He laughed nervously, "Now you're just being ridiculous. You've obviously misunderstood…"

"I understand that you don't want to give up a good thing, because you're in balls deep with them."

His shoulders slumped, and he sighed heavily. "No, you do misunderstand, Ms. Hale. The Volturi law group is not someone I can go against. Their 'special' cases are specifically tailored for the court system. They always draw my room, and only once have I ever judged unfavorably against one of their clients. It wasn't pretty, and I've been trying to make it up to my wife ever since. I do what I must."

"What do you mean by tailored?"

"Take the case you brought to my attention. Their young client was most likely handpicked and groomed. The evidence was damning because it involved DNA. I still don't see how you deduced that the case was misjudged."

"The evidence was collected from a condom that had been lying discarded in a hotel trashcan for hours. The DNA evidence from contents of the condom had degraded badly because of that. Forensics should've found all manner of latex traces in the trashcan as well, not to mention traces of the DNA from the female with whom the condom was actually used. She testified to as much, yet that evidence was not in the discovery. Also, it was proven that the brother who was convicted wasn't even in town at the time of the alleged assault. So explain to me, judge, how an innocent man was framed."

"Juries tend to believe forensic evidence infallible, regardless of its inconclusiveness. At least he didn't go to jail, and like I said before, he's dead..."

I lifted my cane up across the table and pressed it into his chest. "He's not dead, just lost in a plane crash. Clear his name and work with us to nail the Volturi law group, or you will be sorry."

"Now, Ms. Hale…"

"I'm sorry, I believe you misunderstood. It wasn't a request, it was a demand. You will go to jail. Our investigation has turned up all manner of damning evidence, and our case against you is airtight at this point. Your cooperation is the only thing that'll save your ass to any degree. Now, once again, overturn your decision on the Cullen case. I'll be in contact."

"If they find out…"

"You're the only one in contact with them. Do you plan on ratting yourself out?"

"No, but they already know you're snooping around."

"Yes, I know. I've had the pleasure of meeting one of the dirty cops they employ. Don't worry about me, Caius, I can handle myself. You, on the other hand, will need to start recording damning evidence. Tell them you appeased me by overturning the Cullen verdict to get me to back off my snooping, and then keep records of every interaction with them afterwards. We'll hang back and let you do the collecting."

He stared at me stunned. I gave him a gracious smile. "Thank you for meeting with me. I'll be in touch." I walked out, passing a smirking Charlie, who had been standing on the other side of the bookcase listening. With the judge's help, we might actually have a chance to take down the Volturi law group, exonerating some innocent people in the process. He really was our only hope.

A/N: Thanks for reading and please review!