All normal disclaimers still apply.

Chapter 18

"We have an appointment with Tanya Denali," I say as Emmett takes a seat.

"Mr. and Mr. Cullen are here," the woman says giving me a smile. "Please, take a seat and she'll be with you shortly."

Giving her a nod, I move to sit next to Emmett.

"Dad, I really don't think we need a lawyer. The baby isn't going to be here for months," Emmett whines out a little. "Besides this is Bella we're talking about, she'd never keep him or her away."

"I know that, Em, but with her father being here, twisting her arm it may not be that easy. He has already went to the school and demanded that you be kept away from each other."

Letting out a big sigh, both Emmett and I tried to call Bella the whole day on Saturday, but it went to voicemail.

On Sunday an automated voice told us the number was no longer in use.

Monday arrived and I went to the school with Emmett only Bella never showed. After I left Emmett at school, I went to her home only to find a sold sign up in the front yard and she was not around. At a loss of what to do or how to find her, I was still in shock when Emmett called saying that Newton was trying to throw him out of school.

Driving straight to the school, I'm told by a cheerful fucking asshole – Newton, that Mr. Swan and made a complaint about Emmett harassing Bella. He claimed that Bella didn't feel safe coming to school. Quickly I provided Newton with a copy of the police report showing Charlie was the aggressor. Newton's bright idea was to call Charlie and Bella in for a meeting.

Charlie arrived without Bella which saddens me, as I still have no clue how she is or if Charlie hurt her more than what he did. By the end of the meeting it was agreed, with hardship, that Bella and Emmett would stay away from each other. Mike promptly made sure that they no longer share any classes.

After the meeting I approach Charlie with the desire to talk through what was going to happen about the baby. However, before I could open my mouth, Charlie threatened that if Emmett and I kept trying to contact Bella he was getting a restraining order against us. As we were still at school and other kids were starting to slow down to see what was going down, I left it alone.

As soon as I was home, I called my old friend Tanya who just happens to be lawyer in the family court, so here we are.

"Edward," Tanya calls out.

Looking up, I smile, get up and walk into her office.

"Hi," I say hugging her as Emmett closes the door.

"So, what is this about?" she asks.

"Emmett got his girlfriend," Emmett quickly glared at me as he interrupts.

"She's not my girlfriend!"

Rolling my eyes, I continue. "His ex-girlfriend, pregnant and her father is making a racket."

Tanya gives me a slight nod. "Okay, let's get all this down," she says as she gets her note pad ready.

"Her name?"

"Isabella Marie Swan."

"Date of birth?"

"September the thirteenth, nineteen-ninety-seven, she's eighteen." Tanya keeps writing as I give her the details.

"How far along is she?"

"Must be only just, as she never said anything and I don't think she would have kept it from us."

"There's not much I can do at the moment, but I will get a court order. It will demand Miss Swan to inform you of all her appointments relating to the baby until a DNA test can establish paternity. As Emmett is a potential father, the court should grant the order without any problems."

"DNA?" Emmett stutters out.

"Yes, this is something we will need to do, in order to establish rights," Tanya says and Emmett just shakes his head.

"Em, her father can easily say that you are not the father. If he did that, it leaves you out of things. Doing this and making this part of the order gives you your rights."

Emmett just starts to pull at his hair again. Tanya and I go through everything as Emmett sits quietly.

"I'll get everything sorted and get back to you," Tanya says as she hugs me.

"Come on, I'll take you for lunch," I tell Emmett, knowing he's still stressing over all this.

We end up at a small diner. After being seated, I decide to try and talk to Emmett.

"So what has your new girlfriend said about all this?" I ask as I pick at my lunch.

"Nothing, I haven't told her yet," he says looking down.

"Em, you can't keep this from her, the sooner you tell her, the better it will be."

"I know, but I can't yet. Can't we just keep this between us for the time being, Dad? I still need to get my head wrapped around this first, before Alice starts making shopping plans."

There's a loud noise and we look up to see a group of teens walking in. Clearly a few of them are in Emmett's grade, but the one who stands out the most is Kate Newton.

They're all busy chatting and Emmett seems to sink down in his seat.

They all giggle and laugh taking a booth not far from us.

"So, what's the great news you have?" one of the girls say giggling.

"Bellyflop is like totes preggo. And get this, she doesn't even know who the baby daddy is! She's so gonna be on Murray once the bastard child is born. There are five possible fathers so far! She's such a stupid slut!" Kate says her voice is filled with so much hate that I begin to wonder if this is who Emmett's now dating.

Looking at Emmett, I silently will him to stand up and say something but he just drops his head.

"No way, you mean like five guys have actually had sex with her?"

"Oh yeah, but only because she is a part time prostitute. You so know she gets paid to sleep with yucks. I meant they'd have to be yucky, can you imagine anyone else touching her? I bet she tries to blame the baby on Em."

"Really, maybe we should kick her ass again?" the other girl giggles.

"We can't, she could lose the baby," another one says.

"We'd be helping America get rid of another low life that will sponge off of us," Kate says. "I say, we get her soon, we could even record it and put it on YouTube."

Leaping up, I move to their table. "You girls lay one fucking hand on Bella Swan, I'll make sure you get life in prison," I grit out at them.

"It's not a life if it's still inside of her," Kate argues. "And as for Bellyflop she is a stuck up bitch and will only get what's coming to her."

Glaring harshly at Kate, I growl and she finally moves backing away from me.

Before I can talk Emmett is standing beside me.

"Kate if you touch her, I'll not only be telling the police but your dad about you doing drugs and the parties you throw. Irina, I'll make sure I put that nice video of you sucking my cock in the boy's bathroom all over YouTube, but only after I send a copy to your parents and grandparents."

One of the boys I know as Ben stands up and Emmett turns to him.

"Sit down, Ben, and stay out of this or I'll send the video of you getting fucked by your boyfriend to your parents. Since they fought against the legalization of gay marriage, I'm guessing they won't be happy. As for the rest of you, don't think about it because you all know I have shit on each of you. If you touch Bella, spread any of these lies about her, I will end each of your lives."

Emmett turns from them and looks at me. "Can we get out of here?"

Bobbing my head, I walk away as the kids glare at my back.

"I'm going to call the board of education tomorrow, I have a feeling Mike will side with his daughter and her minions if anything happens to Bella!" I say loudly enough to be heard.

Emmett swallows and looks shocked, worried and a little afraid of me.

Taking a deep breath, I try to control my anger. "It's not you just them," I say waving at the diner. "They are stupid and fucked up. To laugh about hurting someone, to talk about ending an innocent life is wrong. Their parents really need to give them the spankings they needed when they were younger."

"Dad," Emmett says looking at the ground. "I need to tell you something." He's still looking at the ground and I frown at him, but my eyes drift to the side and I see Charlie. "It's about Bella," he says.

"Em, not now," I say moving away from him.

"Hey," I yell running toward his truck. "We need to talk."

Charlie just looks at me as if I was a piece of dirt. His eyes shift to my side and he glares at Emmett.

"What is it? What do we have to talk about?"

"Your daughter, the baby," I yell at him, because he's still being a fucking asshole.

"There is no baby!" Charlie states and I pull my brows together.

Remembering the sickly way Bella looked, and I was hoping it was just because of morning sickness.

"So she wasn't pregnant, was it a false positive?" Emmett asks sounding a little too cheerful about it.

"No, you idiot, I took her to the clinic," he says, like he dropped her off at the shopping mall.

"You what?" I manage to stammer out as my heart races.

"What do you mean, I what? It was bad enough being a dad at nineteen, there's no fucking way I'm going to be a grandfather at thirty-eight!"

"You selfish, fucking, asshole!" I yell at him.

"I did her a favor, she's not thinking clearly. Her mother and I have been there and did all that. We deserve these next years to be ours. If she had the baby it would be too hard for her to go to college and raise it. That means her mother and I would have been stuck helping her, forever lost in this sucky hell hole of a town."

Moving forward I stop before touching him. "You are a disgusting piece of shit, where is she?"

"At the fucking clinic," he says looking at his watch. "You're too late. They'll be done dealing with it anytime now."

"You left her on her own?" I say so fucking shocked about the heartless choices this man has made.

"Yes, I have to pick up Renee we have a plane to catch."

Standing there I'm in shock, as he gets in his car and drives away.

Shaking myself out of my stupor, I run to the car. "Dad," Emmett says as I drive away.

"We still have time, and if she's ..." I trail off.

As much as it pains me for her to have a baby with another man, I still would've helped her and Emmett out. A baby's' life is precious, and should always be welcome. He or she would have been my grandchild, and I would love them. To find that it's being erased like it was nothing, is killing me. Knowing she was forced to do this by her asshole, sperm donor, also kills me. She'll really needs us now, more than ever before. Despite my hurt and anger over the situation, I'm certain she needs us.

We arrive in record time across town at the only clinic I know of that handles abortions.

Running inside, I head for the desk. "Isabella Swan," I say and she looks at me. "Where is she?"

"I can't give out those kind of details," she tells me and I pull my hair.

"Dad, her truck's not here," Emmett says sounding out of breath.

"Please, tell me if she's here or not?" I beg the woman, who just shakes her head at me.

"Yes, ma'am." I move as another woman moves forward. "Just sign in here and write down the time you arrive," the woman behind the desk says handing over a sign in book.

"You'll need to sign and time out too," she carries on, but her eyes flash to mine.

Looking over the shoulder of the other woman, I see Bella has signed out just before we arrived. She was only here for fifteen minutes, I would think it would take longer than that to have a procedure like this done.

"Fuck," I say running out of the clinic.

Driving to Bella's home, I hope she's there or there is at least something that will tell me where she has gone. Emmett and I arrive to find some men cleaning out the place.

"Hi, do you know where the girl that lived here is?"

He shakes his head. "She was here for a little while this morning. She was cleaning out her room. The poor thing spent a lot of time being sick so we helped her load her stuff into her truck. She left here when her dad came and yelled at her."

Nodding at him, not that they were any help. "She's okay, right? You're not with Social services are you?"

Frowning, I turn to the guy. "Why would you ask that?"

"He—the guy, her dad—seemed really angry. I mean, heck I have a thirteen year old, and I'd be pissed if she got pregnant but he seemed ... I don't know just angry at the girl. She was taking all his abuse without even raising her voice back at him."

"Thanks for your help," I say moving away.

"Hey, I hope you find her and she's okay. You could always try and locate her truck?"

The guy gives me a simple idea, as to look to find where her truck is registered too. Hopefully she's put in a change of address with the DOT. It may take a little time, but at least I can find her.

"Thanks," I yell getting in my car and turning to Emmett.

"Does she have any friends?" I ask Emmett, and he shakes his head at me.

"There was only me." Emmett stops and looks me in the eyes and I'm taken back that his eyes are red and look as if he's been crying.

"Can we go home? We need to talk," he asks getting choked up.

"Sure," I say knowing that I need to move on from my own hurt and deal with Emmett's.

Driving us straight home, I lead Emmett into the living room.

"I need to get some stuff, I'll be right back," he says.

Nodding at him, I sit down on the sofa. Reaching in my pocket, I pull out the photo of the three of us with the slime-ball Santa. "Where are you, Bella?" I say out loud as I look at her in the photo.

"Hey," Emmett says looking at me and then to the photo.

"Dad, I know you're gonna be pissed at me and I'll take any punishment you see fit. I won't even complain. Just I need you to know I'm sorry and that I am such a selfish fuck up." Emmett was only able to look at me at the start, by the end he was looking at the ground.

"Emmett, you're not—"

"Yes, I am," he interrupts me. "Okay just promise to let me get this out, all out before you hit me?"

"What! I would never hit you," I say with a mix of shock that he would think that, and worry over how bad this is going to be.

"I was ... I am a bully. I use to pick on kids all the time," Emmett says. "I would never hit them, it was just name calling. I've found out that the name calling can be just as bad, some times worse. Bella was one of the people I picked on. She ... she was well known at school because of her inability to walk without tripping.

"It was the beginning of my junior year. We were doing swimming and her year and mine were mixed together in the class. She slipped and belly flopped into the pool. Being the smartass I am, I yelled out belly-flop, loudly. By the next day, everyone was calling her Bellyflop.

"Everyone loved it and loved me more for coming up with it. It went to my head, and I started making up names for all the kids that I thought were geeks or below my friends and I. But then I took it beyond name calling, by letting others abuse people and not stop it.

"I was coming out of school one day and came across Kate. She was pissed off that Bella won some writing contest. So after school she jumped Bella, I was stunned when Bella dropped her to the ground easily."

Without saying anything, I give him a surprised look.

"Bella may be clumsy, but the girl can fight," Emmett chuckles but then gets a glum look on his face. "The next thing I know another five girls are on her. I was loving it, you know a chick fight, but then two guys joined in as well. I felt it was wrong that they did and knew they shouldn't be hitting a girl. But the fact is, I didn't do anything.

"Even when they stopped and she was laying there with blood all over her looking broke, I didn't help her. The next day at school they were all worried knowing she was too badly beaten for her parents not to do anything. But nothing happened, not one thing. They all took it as a free pass to hurt her. Not as bad as the first time, but Kate and the others would trip her and stuff. It only lasted for a few months. Finally Bella reported it and Kate got suspended for a few days. Mike was not happy about it. They all seemed to be leaving her alone but it only lasted a few weeks before starting again. Only it was twice as bad after that. I even went with it. I bullied her and others for two years.

"When I had to do my senior year again, she was my partner in Bio and English. We had to work together and I told her that I was making a new start, and that I would help. So we studied, but I made sure none of my friends knew."

Emmett lets out a breath.

"I broke off a study date with her to go out with Kate. Well, I never helped out on the project and went to school the next day. I expected my name to be down on the project, but it wasn't and she outright laid into me. She really laid into me. She said a bunch of stuff, but the thing that stuck with me most was, in ten years from now, no one would remember me. I'd more than likely be some drunken guy that spends his time reminiscing about his younger years. I'd probably work at McDonalds as a trainee, because I am too fucked up to do my own work.

"Then she just looked at me and asked me if there was a woman out there that had my heart and I told her yes. She then asked me to imagine some guy doing to her what I and everyone else do to her and how would I feel. I did and I was mad. It began to fucking eat me up. So then she asked me why is it okay for you to do it to me.

"The entire day I couldn't get what she said out of my head. I wanted to shape up. So I broke off my next date with Kate. In the classes we shared I couldn't understand what my teacher was wanting, but Bella offered to help me. She explained it differently, and I got it and it seemed easier. Then you said it was my best work, and I knew it was her doing. So I asked her if we could do our homework together.

"The weeks passed and I found her to be a smart, funny and really loving person. We became friends, but she was still getting bullied. Finally I saw Kate for what she is, a nasty bitch. But I had a reputation for being a ladies man."

Raising my brow at him, because as far as I know Bella was only his fourth girlfriend and that's not really a ladies man.

"I have slept with over twenty girls, Dad."

There's no missing the shame in Emmett's voice.

"I think that's why everyone was surprised when I just stood up in the cafeteria one day and said that Bella was my girlfriend. When we got to her place that night, I told her that I needed her to pretend to be my girl. That way other girls would leave me alone and I could change my ways. Also as my girlfriend, most everyone would stop picking on Bella, for fear I'd cream them."

Feeling my heart beat erratically, I take a deep breath. Pretend? He was pretending?

"Bella knew my reputation, and agreed to help me. I agreed to help her with gym and keep the others away from her. I tried to get her into my group of friends. I even made her change her clothes."

"What?" I ask finding my voice.

"Her clothes dad, this is how she used to look." Emmett hands me a photo of Bella. She looks sad in it, but her clothes are old, loose and baggy.

"I took her shopping and bought all her clothes. I told her what to wear each day when we went to school, and came here."

Rubbing my face, I can't help but feel angry. "Emmett!"

He holds up his hand. "I know, she hated it. She started to blossom though, as our friendship grew and slowly she went in between my clothes and her own, as you know."

Bobbing my head, I know her clothing has been getting much better. I thought it was me, that I was changing her that is until your first date with Tia."

Swallowing, I'm unsure of the road this is now going down.

"Bella, as you know, has nightmares about being left alone."

Nodding, I agree with him.

"She had one that night and I took her to my room. Before you say anything, I had already started to see her as my baby sister, even if she looked after me more than I did her."

Feeling myself panic, all I can think is if he sees her as a sister then why sleep with her?

"In her sleep that night, she said your name, more than once. The next day I talked to her about it and she told me she had a crush on you."

Feeling my whole body go pale, I sit back.

"I was winding her up about it. I thought it was all one sided. That's why I said she preferred the left side on Thanksgiving. I didn't want her embarrassed, but I started to watch you more closely too. I was shocked and still am to find out it wasn't just her who felt something, you did too. That's why I stopped winding you up that Bella and I were doing anything but working out or studying. I wouldn't have started in the first place, if I knew you were in love with her."

He was winding me up. But she's pregnant.

"Then at Christmas, she said she thought that you felt something for her too. She asked me to come clean, so she could talk to you about it. But the girl I like just started making a move on me, and well ..." Emmett trails off.

"New Year's Eve Bella called me crying saying she fucked up and ruined everything. When I got home, she told me you were in the guest room when she came back from the bathroom."

Shaking my head, I'm confused because she came to me.

"She said that you and she had sex. She figured that she took advantage of you, because you were clearly drunker than her. I talked her into moving you back to your room. I told her if you found out you had sex with her and still believed her to be mine you would freak out. There was also the fact that she was a virgin."

My eyes about pop out of my head with those words from my son's mouth. Fuck, please, God, no, I must have been so rough with her.

"She again begged me to tell you, but I needed and wanted more time with this girl. I love her dad and I knew you wouldn't allow us to be together. Then there is the fact I was so ashamed of what I had done. So I kept putting it off, and now it's too late. She's alone and hurting and she had to get rid of your baby, my brother or sister."

"She ... it was mine?" I stutter out.

Emmett just nods without looking at me and I feel my anger explode.

"How could you do that to her, you said you loved her?"

"I do, she's my sister," Emmett says pleading to me.

"Really and you treated her like one, huh?"

Emmett shakes his head.

"Fuck!" I yell. "I could have been with her. I could have told her that I loved—love—her and want her to be mine!"

"I didn't know ... it was a bit of a shock to find your dad pining for your younger friend. Why didn't you tell me or come to me?" Emmett asks.

"Because I thought you were in love with her," I say throwing my hands up.

"You could've talked to me too, I know I've screwed this up."

"Screwed up, that's an understatement. This ... what she's just been through, it will be with her for the rest of her life. She was going to have a baby – going to have my baby," I say dropping back to the couch.

"But you don't want any more children. Bella told me, that was the only thing holding her back from saying fuck you Em and telling you. She said she wants children. She wants to be a mom."

Looking at him, I feel everything come pouring out of me. Fuck I have no idea where she is.

"Dad?" I shake him off as I walk out of the living room.

~MSG~

My cell rings and I look, seeing Tia's calling. She has called me a lot over the past few days, but I just haven't wanted to talk to anyone. The hurt about what Emmett said is still too strong and I'm still fucking mad at him. We really haven't spoken since he told me, but I know we'll have to talk soon. As his father I need to know who he's with and despite it all, he's my son and I still fucking love him. My cell stops ringing and I get a text message.

~Answer the fucking phone! It's important, it's about Bella.~

Frowning as it rings again, but this time I pick it up.

"Oh, so you're still alive then?" Tia snaps before I can say hello.

"Yeah, what's wrong with Bella? Have you talked to her?" I blurt out.

"She wanted you to know she's staying with me."

Before Tia can say another word I am heading out the door of my house. "I'll be there in thirty minutes," I say hitting end call.

It's not that I mean to be rude to Tia, but I want to talk about all this with only one person – Bella.

A/N: So a few of you were right, she went to stay with Tia. See we told you Tia would be a good person in this story. I'm guessing that Edward and Bella have a WHOLE lot to discuss. How long do you suppose it will take for Edward to outright admit his feelings and tell Bella the truth about how he feels for her? How do you feel about Emmett finally coming clean with Edward? Did you notice Emmett still didn't provide the information of who exactly he's been seeing? Do you wonder how Edward will take that news? You'll get your answer soon, like Wednesday, see ya then.