Authors note:
Thank you so much to everyone who read/reviewed/favourite/alerted that last chapter, and I hope you all enjoy this next one. A word of warning, if you cry easily, it might be a good idea to keep some tissues by you, just in case.

Disowner:
Everything recognisable in this story all has their own respected owners. If you are unfamiliar with anything the chances are that it's mine. Savvy?

Chapter Two.

The five year old held her dolls arm in one hand and brushed the tangled curls with a plastic brush, held in the other. She loves to play dollies with her auntie, but recently she's noticed a change in behaviour. Emma Whitlock may only be little, but she is far from stupid and she knows when something isn't right. And Auntie Bella's behaviour isn't right.

She smiles, but it isn't a pretty smile which makes other people smile – it makes other people feel sad, especially Emma. There is a man in a picture that Emma has seen, but she can't ever remember meeting him. In one of the pictures Auntie Bella is with the man and now she isn't. Is that why she's not happy anymore?

Dropping the brush and the dolly, Emma starts to feel hungry and so leaves the room to find one of her parents. Daddy is watching TV in the living room, making a loud noise and pointing at whatever it is he's watching. On the screen there are lots of different people, all wearing the same clothes, running up and down a grassy area. Daddy's programmes are confusing.

Daddy lifts Emma onto his lap and snuggles them in together. "Daddy?" She asks, hoping to break him away from the TV.

"Yes, Munchkin?"

"I'm hungry and who dat man?" She points a finger to the fire place, searching out the frame that held the mysterious person. But Daddy didn't answer straight away. Maybe he didn't know either.

"Um, that's Mommy's brother."

"Oh. And where is he?"

Emma couldn't quite understand why Daddy looked sad as well. Maybe this man is a bad man and it's scary to think about him.

"We don't know – we haven't seen him in a long time."

"Is he a bad man?"

Daddy cuddles Emma to his chest and kisses the back of his head. He sighs and sniffs like Emma does when she has a runny nose. "No, he's a very good man. We just don't know where he went."

"Is that why Auntie Bella is not happy no more?"

"How do you know that Auntie Bella isn't happy?"

Emma looks away from the picture and turns towards her father. She notices that he doesn't look happy now, but still can't understand why.

"'Cause she doesn't laugh when I tickle her and her smile isn't a good smile. Mommy isn't happy either."

"That's because we all love him very much, and so Mommy and Auntie Bella are very upset because he isn't here anymore. But you want to know something? You are amazing at making people happy again, so maybe you could try?"

"Okay. What's his name?"

"His name was, er, is Edward. That is your Uncle Edward."

That afternoon Mommy and Auntie Bella came home from shopping and Emma instantly asked if Bella would like to play with her dollies. She agreed straight away. Emma went back to brushing her doll's hair and tried to go along with what Daddy said earlier.

"My dolly is happy 'cause I brush her hair." Her pronunciation made the word sound more like 'hay-or'. Auntie Bella smiled – it still wasn't the 'right smile' that Emma wanted to see. "Can I brush your hair?"

"Um, yeah, sure you can." Bella takes her hair out of the ponytail it was sitting in and fluffed it a bit so that her locks hung over her shoulders.

Gently, gently, Emma slides the dolly brush from root to tip, hoping that it would make Auntie Bella's right smile appear again. But it didn't.

"Are you sad 'cause…" for the life of her, Emma couldn't remember the name Daddy had said this morning, "…'cause Mommy's brother isn't here."

Bella gasped, she hadn't heard Emma mention Edward before and it shocked her more than anything. Rubbing the ring on her finger, Bella tried to hide the tears in her eyes, but Emma noticed them.

Dropping the brush, Emma jumped into her Auntie's arms. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to make you cry! I wanted to make you happy again."

Bella rubbed her nieces' back soothingly. "It's not your fault, Emma; I just get quite emotional sometimes. You do make me happy – very, very happy in fact. I am sad that Uncle Edward isn't here, but I'm getting better and if I didn't have you here to look after me I would cry a lot more. Please, don't be upset, sweetie."

0-0

That evening, Bella poured herself a large glass of red wine and sat down to the simple meal she had prepared for herself. The evenings are always the worst – no longer having anyone enjoying the meal with her, no body there to discuss the day with and, when she finally goes to sleep, no-one to say goodnight to and share the bed with.

Even though it had been three years, the pain in her chest is still as strong as it always had been. In two months' time it would have been their three year wedding anniversary and she still doesn't know how she's going to cope. She still wears her engagement ring and, even if she's sixty years old and still alone, the ring will be there. A constant reminder of the life she was meant to live and the one she lives now.

Bella refuses to believe that Edward died. She can feel, deep in her chest that he's out there, alive and well somewhere. Alice and Jasper, however, don't have the same feeling. They believe that he would have made some sort of contact, to reassure his family that he's safe, and because he hasn't done and the police have given up the search, then they're fighting a losing battle.

Bella thinks back to when his disappearance was new and fresh. They investigated every piece of detail they could – Edward's flight arrived safely in Amsterdam, they even found footage of Edward leaving the airport with another work colleague, but then…nothing. They contacted the Dutch police, and they said that no crimes were committed, no murder reports found and the company Edward worked for even assured them that he showed up when he was meant to.

And so what happened? Someone must have been lying, because if Edward was alive and well during his trip, he would have called like he had promised. So why, after he left for his flight, have they not heard a word since?

Again, Bella refuses to think the worst.

Anger, pain and depression roll through her. She stares at one of the many pictures she has of him and without control, starts to speak her mind.

"You promised!" She cried, tears stung in her eyes, but she didn't brush them away. "You promised that you would call me, but you didn't! How could you do this to me?! How could you do this to your family?!" Without thinking, Bella picked up her wine glass and lobbed it at the picture. The two made impact and the force of the throw made the frame topple off the stand it was on and smashed to the ground just like the glass did. Red wine now soaked the picture and the carpet.

"Oh, my goodness." Bella stood on shaking legs, covering her sobs with a hand. "I'm sorry." Carefully brushing off the broken glass, she slipped out the photo and did her best to wipe away some of the wine, but it was already marking his beautiful, smiling face like a birth mark making its way up his face. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to!" Bella hugged the picture and dropped to her knees, crying loudly but no-one could hear her.

"Please forgive me, I didn't mean to, I love you. I promise. I love you so much and I just want you home. I just want you to hold me like you used to, I want to marry you like we had planned and I want to start a family – little versions of ourselves causing havoc around our home. Please, Edward. Please come home. I want all of this and more, but most of all I want to hear that you're okay. I want to know that you're still alive and that you still love me. Please, I can't do this without you anymore. All I want is to hear your voice one more time."

0-0

Authors note:
Jesus Lord, I'm going to go through a whole box of Kleenex at this rate. Reviews really do make me write a lot quicker, even if that means staying up till 2 am to finish a chapter, so please, leave your thoughts and perhaps pass over a Kleenex or two ;) The next chapter is when we see 'The Letter…'

Thank you for reading.

RosieRathbone.