A/N: Thank you to my pre-reader, EternallyCullen, for her support on this story, and thank you to Jenny Cullen, aka Jenrar, for betaing for me. I know I keep repeating myself but you are both the best!

And thank you to everyone who is reading, reviewing, and alerting. I'm just overwhelmed at the response I've received on this story.

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Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. Stephenie Meyer created it, I'm just playing with it.

Edward smiled at her. "Well, I think you're doing a great job. I mean, Bella, you're trying. Many people in your situation wouldn't even try."

"I don't have a choice," she replied quietly.

"You did have a choice," Edward replied. "You could have chosen several different options. So this guy just up and left you alone? With no contact information?"

She nodded, sipping her drink. "Yeah. He was a couple of years older than me, and so he just up and left. I never heard from him again. The Medicaid office and the child support office have tried to find him, but no luck."

He sat back in the booth, looking at her.

"What?"

Edward shook his head. "I was just thinking that I've never met anyone like you before."

Bella chewed on her lower lip. "And is that a compliment, or an insult?"

He gave her that crooked grin again. "Do you honestly think I'd insult you?"

"You already have plenty of times," she said, her arms crossed over her chest.

At that moment, Matthew came back to the table. "I won!"

Edward replied, "You did?"

"Well, until I lost, and I needed another quarter."

Bella smiled at him. "We need to go, anyway. You have homework to do."

"Awww, Mom!" Matt groaned.

"Awww, Mom," Bella mimicked, smiling at him. "Remember what I've told you."

He nodded his head and rolled his eyes. "School comes first."

"That's right."

They stood by the doors while Edward paid the check, and then accompanied him to his car. Before she knew it, they were back at her apartment complex. She was not as surprised this time when Edward opened her door for her, along with the door to the building. She should have known he would walk them inside.

"Matt, what do you tell Edward for dinner?" she prompted when they arrived at her door.

"Thanks, Edward," he said enthusiastically.

Bella sent him on inside to start on his math homework, and then turned to face Edward. "Thanks for dinner," she said, looking up into those same startling green eyes. They reminded her of emeralds – not that she had ever had any, or seen any, for that matter.

He continued to look deeply into her own brown eyes. "You're welcome."

She shifted, pulling her eyes away from his. You're just a school project to him… that's all. "I'd better go help Matt," she said, inching away from him. "Thanks again."

Edward nodded and stepped back. "We didn't get any work done on the project today."

She laughed lightly. "No, we didn't."

"Do you mind if I come back tomorrow? I have classes, so it'll be around six."

She nodded. "Yeah, that would be fine. I'm not sure what time I'll be done at my job, but I should be home by then."

Edward yelled through the door to Matthew that he was leaving and bid Bella good-bye. He walked slowly to his car, looking around the lot that he was parked in. Most of the vehicles were old, some were rusty, and one looked as if it had been sitting there a long time without being started. There were two that were newer cars – his, and a new Buick. He wondered which one was Bella's. He assumed she had a car; that thought had not crossed his mind, but he assumed she did not walk everywhere.

He drove swiftly through the streets of Forks and hit the 101 to head home. He was surprised to see Emmett's Jeep in the driveway. Emmett typically stayed off campus with his girlfriend, Rosalie, in her apartment.

He parked and walked into the sprawling house. He could not help but compare it to where he had just left. Isabella Swan had certainly been dealt a difficult hand, while he had been born with the proverbial silver spoon in his mouth.

He wandered into the spacious family room, where he found Emmett playing Call of Duty on the Xbox.

"Yo, dude," he greeted. "You wanna play me? It's not as much fun by myself. Jasper isn't here for me to kick his ass."

Edward flopped onto the white leather couch. "No, thanks. I need to get upstairs and get some work done on this Ethics project."

"So, has Bitchy the Ice Queen thawed any?"

Edward scowled. "Don't call her that. She's been through a lot."

"Oh, ho, ho! I get it. You're getting sweet on her," he teased, making kissing noises at Edward.

Edward laughed and threw a pillow, hitting his brother in the face. "Don't be stupid. Of course not. It's just that she hasn't had it easy like us."

"Dude, we don't have it easy! College is fucking hard!"

"Yeah, but at least we've got both parents, a nice home, nice cars, and plenty of money. Plus, we're able to go to college. We don't have to struggle for everything. We don't even have to work while we're in school."

Emmett hit the pause button and looked at Edward seriously. "She's actually gotten to you. Amazing."

Edward stood up, heading toward the stairs. "Don't be ridiculous. I just feel sorry for her, that's all."

Emmett continued making kissing noises at him, and Edward flipped him off, before leaving the room. He's so full of shit. 'Gotten to me?' Please… Although, he could not stop thinking of Bella's face when she truly smiled – all those walls down. He had seen that look earlier in the evening as she looked at her son, and for some reason, he wanted her to look at him like that.

Stop it! She's a school project, and that's it. Nothing more.

He shut the door to his room and turned the stereo on. Soft sounds of Chopin filled the room, and he grabbed his backpack, pulling stacks of books and a few notebooks out. He needed to study for the Pharmacology test he had coming up the next week.

But he found himself going back to the few notes he had taken for his Ethics project. He decided to make a few more, and then study for his test, as Isabella Swan's face would not leave him alone.

Ms. Swan and Matthew live in a clean, government subsidized housing complex. The building is showssigns of wear, but the apartment in which they live is clean and welcoming. It is apparent that Ms. Swan is trying to create a betterlife for her son and herself. Met with them this evening to work on the project, and Ms. Swan was adamant about Matthew doing his homework, stressing to him how important his education was. They interacted together in a loving way. Matthew's father is not in the picture, asthe man – and I use the term lightly – hashad no contact with Ms. Swan or Matthew since he was told she was expecting.Ms. Swan was offered a job today in a medical practice, where she will receive insurance benefits. Will continue to work with Ms. Swan once her benefits have started, regarding a specialist for Matthew.

He looked at his notes, his eyes focusing on the section regarding James, Matthew's father. Asshole was more appropriate, but he did not think his professor would be impressed. He would need to ensure he wrote his paper from as much of an objective point of view as possible.

He tossed that notebook aside and pulled out his Pharmacology book. He attempted to study about beta-blockers, but his mind kept returning to the notebook he had just discarded.

'Yeah, I was sixteen. I'd never had a boyfriend, and James actually showed interest in me. I was young and stupid, and willing to do whatever to keep him. Didn't work.'

Edward could not stop thinking of Bella's words, or how nonchalant she was about the whole thing. But he assumed that at the time, she was most likely a wreck and had now basically come to terms with it.

He was now twenty-three years old, and the thought of having a child when he had been a teenager was a terrifying notion. He had always been mature for his age, but the thought of being responsible for an entire human being, other than himself, was a very humbling notion. He could only imagine what she had been through during that time – fear, anger, desperation.

And where did the asshole go? 'He's somewhere where the child support division can't find him.' Her ability to just accept that fact was what was driving him insane and keeping him from learning about calcium-channel blockers. The fact that the country even needed a child support enforcement division spoke to the breakdown of the family unit. James was a deadbeat dad, and Edward wished he could make him pay for what he had done to her and Matthew. He wondered if Bella would allow him to hire a private detective to find the bastard.

Whoa! Hold on there! What the fuck are you thinking about? She's a school project. That's it.

Yeah, but you're going to be taking the Hippocratic Oath. You can't just leave someone to suffer. It's unethical.

But you won't be seeing her anymore after your Ethics project is done, so just let it go. Do what you're assigned to do, and be done with it.

But what if she needs more help after that? Who does she have to turn to?

Edward let out a growl at the internal monologue he was having. Why was he so concerned with Isabella Swan's future well-being? She was a school project. Nothing else.

She was a school project who was alone with a young son. She was a school project with deep brown eyes and an open, loving smile – at times.

What the fuck is wrong with you? he screamed at himself. He was unwilling to admit that possibly Emmett had been right.

xXx

Bella tucked Matthew into bed that night after his homework was done and he'd had his bath. "I love you," she told him.

"Love you, too. Mom?"

"What is it, baby?"

"Edward sure is nice, ain't he?" he asked, before turning over and closing his eyes.

She smoothed his hair back and kissed his head. "Isn't he, and yeah, he is."

He rolled his eyes at the correction and yawned, his mouth opening wide. "Wish he was my daddy," he said with a sigh, before dozing off to sleep.

Bella felt as if she had been slapped. Matt had never asked particularly about his father, and she had yet to be forthcoming with the information. He had never mentioned even wanting a father figure around, and she had assumed that the time he spent with Charlie had been enough for him. Her best friend, Jacob Black, had also spent some male bonding time with him, but she figured that he had not been missing that aspect of his life.

But Edward? He was nowhere near her league. He was a college graduate, in medical school. His station in life was much higher than hers.

She was a single mother, who lived on minimum wage and relied on Medicaid. Why in the world Matt would even say that, she had no idea, but she felt the hotness spread over her face and neck.

She turned his lamp off and shut the door, preparing to get her household chores done before bed. She had a busy day coming up, and she did not want to be up too late.

She washed the few dishes that were in the sink – since Edward had taken care of dinner – and straightened up the apartment after ensuring the locks were in place. She then hopped in the shower, luxuriating in the feeling of the hot water running over her tense muscles.

She washed her hair with her favorite strawberry shampoo, inhaling deeply.

She thought again of Matt and his thoughts on Edward. What is he thinking? Does he need a father figure? she wondered. But it wouldn't be Edward… that would be ridiculous. Like Edward would be interested in me. I just need to talk to Jake and Dad and see if they can spend more time with Matt.

She quickly finished her shower and toweled off roughly. She was angry at herself for even thinking of Edward. She was just a school project to him, and then he would be out of their lives – drifting in, before drifting out.

She did not want Matt to get too attached – it would hurt him too much when the time came for Edward to leave – but how was she to stop it? He had to spend time with them, and he had even set her up with a job in his father's medical practice. She did owe him, but she was afraid of how Matthew would handle the separation when the time came, if he was already so attached.

Aloof. That was it. She would just need to remain distant when she was around Edward, and hopefully, Matt would pick up on that. She did not need to be hurt again, and she certainly did not want her son to go through that.

She would not get hurt again. She did not think she could handle it twice.