"Start at the beginning. Tell me everything, don't leave anything out"

I bit my finger nails nervously. What the fuck happened? Why couldn't I remember? Bella was shot? My Bella, I gasped and lunched forward grabbing the inspectors arm, "Emmett, where is Emmett?" The sudden motion caused the pounding in my head to increase tenfold but I ignored it, if something happened to Emmett I would never forgive myself.

He twisted his arm out of my death grip. "Emmett is with someone called…" He flipped a couple of pages back in his book, "Emily?"

I relaxed and sagged back in the hard cold chair. Good. Emily will look after him. Good. Inspector Cullen brushed his hair out of his eyes. "Please can we focus back on Bella, this is important."

I still didn't trust him, but if telling him our sordid tale was what was going the get me out of here sooner… "It's seems so long ago…"

"It's okay, just try to remember as much as you can." He interrupted, his pen at the ready.

I scoffed, "Do you want me to tell you everything or not Inspector Cullen?"

He gave me a dignified look, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly. "Apologies, please continue."

"It seems so long ago yet it's as if we met only yesterday. It was a cold rainy day. I was in a particularly foul mood and in a sad dark place." I pause, my fists clenching in remembrance of that day. "Ironic that the best thing to ever happen to me actually happened on that day of all days…."

Some time ago…

I shoved my hands further into my pockets as I sauntered from room to room, not really paying attention. It's been a week since my best friend passed away. I've felt empty ever since. Not sad. Not depressed. Not erratic. Not angry. Just… empty. I should be feeling something right? Who the fuck cares in anyway? No one cares. No one ever cared. Except me. I cared.

A ruffling noise brought me out of my stupor. I found myself in the dining room, my mother was bussing reading a newspaper. The headline blazing of the dull grey paper.

Local girl lost in house fire!

"Do the police have any leads yet?" I asked quietly, my mother shook her head, barely looking up from the newspaper. She didn't care either. She never liked Bree in anyway. Always looked down on her when she was here. Always greeted her with a "take your shoes off" and always checked her purse and jewelry boxes when Bree left.

Fuck this place and fuck everybody. There was a small shrine at school, made by the chastity club. Fucking two faced neanderthals. Not one of them ever spoke one word to her and now they make a fucking shrine for her. Fucking lying assholes.

"You better take those to the church" My mother jutted her chin towards the flowers on the table. "Your father will be starting the memorial service soon."

I made a disgusted sound in my throat. "Another opportunity for the people of Forks to show they care, right?" She gave me the look. A warning that I should act the preacher's daughter and do what she says. Fuck that shit. "Where were they when Bree was eating dry stale bread because her mother spent her child support on drugs and alcohol? Where were they when Bree wore the same set of washed out clothes for weeks because her mother sold her clothes to support her junkie habits? Where were they when Bree was half beaten to death because one of her mother's boyfriends was on a trip and he thought she was some alien send to turn him into a pod person? Where were they, huh?"

"Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what….."

"Spare me mother," I grabbed the flowers. "He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone at her." I said walking out the door, slamming it behind me. My holier than thou mother is not the only one that can quote the bible. I stomped my way over to the church. It rained softly outside. Always with the fucking rain. Home shit home, I hated this hell hole.

I was still raging in my head when I placed the now slightly damp flowers next to a portrait of Bree. A school photo, really? Her fucking low life mother didn't even have a decent photo that she could use? I glanced at the coffin a little ways away. The church was empty, creepy and cold, the empty pewters creaking. Maybe I just imagined the creaking. Shouldn't a church be warm and comfortable? Welcoming people, not creeping them out. I ignored the chill that ran down my back and made my way towards the coffin. The lid was completely closed. What little remained of her charred body will not be on display. I was thankful for that. I placed my hand on the lid, the wood warm to my touch. The warmth comforted my somehow. "I'm so fucking sorry Bree." Tears welled up in my eyes, "For everything."

"Get away from there!" I jumped, the shrill voice scaring the fucking shit out of me. Mrs. Tanner was making her way down the aisle unsteadily. Motherfucker. She wore a moth eaten dress that engulfed her gaunt frame. I could hear faint clinking sounds coming from the pockets of the dress, as she made her way towards me unsteadily. Pathetic, it took all my self-control not to say anything about how obviously drunk she was. "What are you doing here? Did you come to scream at me again?" She screeched, reminding me of a banshee in those old grey and white horror movies.

"Not today." I commented, looking to the coffin next to me. "Today is not about you."

She grabbed onto my shoulder with her bony hand. "Get out. You're not welcome here." The alcohol on her breath almost knocked me out.

I shrugged off her hand. "Whatever, I said my goodbye. Not even you can take that away from me." Not waiting for her to reply, I stalked out of the church and started coughing as I walked straight into a cloud of cigarette smoke. A hooded figure sat on the bottom of the church steps. "This is a smoke free area." I said waving my hand in front of me, trying to get the cloud of smoke to dissipate.

The figure took a long dramatic pull of the cigarette. Blowing the smoke out slowly. "Not anymore it is not." The reply was soft, distinctively female. I walked down the steps and turned, ready to give this asshole a piece of my mind and just stared. The woman in front of me ignored me completely. She had dark hair, dark sad eyes with dark rings underneath and a nose that looked like it was broken once or twice, maybe more. She wore black skinny jeans with a hole over her left knee, whatever was hiding under her black hoodie I would wager was also black. She definitely did not belong here. She took another drag of the cigarette, and her eyes swiveled to me, looking me up and down slowly. Goosebumps spread over my skin and I suppressed a chill. "Get lost little girl." How could a voice so soft sound so menacing?

"No." I said defiant, folding my arms. She quirked her eyebrow at me, seeming almost surprised but didn't say anything. "Put out the fucking cigarette."

She blew the smoke towards me and then tauntingly said, "No."

I shifted my weight from the one foot to the other, this was going nowhere slowly. "What are you doing here in anyway?" I asked gesturing to the church. "You don't strike me as the church going type."

She laughed but stopped short, as if the sound surprised her. "I'm not." She said with a frown.

"So?" I prodded.

Her eyes bore into mine, "So, mind your own fucking business."

"The church is kind of my business." I scoffed kicking the ground with the toe of my shoe. "My father is the preacher."

"Where you adopted?"

My head snapped up. "The fuck?"

"No offence," She said mockingly. "You don't look or act like a preacher's daughter." She dropped the cigarette bud on the ground and crushed it with her shoe.

"As if you know what a preacher's daughter must act like?" I countered.

She smiled. A half smile, almost like she knew something that I didn't. "Not like you. I bet you and your mother have fights about just this subject on a daily basis. Your father would stay out of it because he doesn't want to choose sides. But you would find self-help pamphlets, stuff like "Walking the path towards God." Or "Do God love sinners?" in your schoolbag or stuffed under your room door. Maybe your father even gave a sermon or two about how children should listen and respect their parents." I visibly shudder as a chill crawled down my back. How could she possibly know all of that? I never spoke about my troubles at home to anyone, not even Bree. She shrugged, "Or I could just be making up random fucking shit to blow smoke up your ass." She casually lit another cigarette, completely aware just how badly she shook me at my core.

"Fuck you, who the hell do you think you are?"

She smiled mischievously "I'm the monster that your parents warned you about."

I watched as the coal of the cigarette lit up her face as she breathed in the toxic chemicals. "My parents only ever warned me about the devil. And unless you're about to sprout a tail and horns I highly doubt that you are the devil."

She shrugged, "The devil has many faces and many forms. You do not want to go knocking on that door."

"Speaking out of experience are you?" I asked rubbing the back of my calf with my foot.

"Yes." She simply answered.

I frowned. "Care to elaborate on that?"

"No." She glanced at her watch. A simple sports watch. Cheap. Old. "Did you know her?"

"Who?" I asked confused.

"Bree."

She just said her name, not her surname as well like all the other people. Bree hated her surname. "Yes. We're friends…" I paused as that empty feeling filled me again. "We were friends." I thought about what I said. "Sort of."

"You can't be sort of friends. You are either friends or you're not." She said studying me again.

I hugged myself suddenly feeling cold. "Yeah well, it's fucking complicated."

"Things with Bree were always complicated."

"You knew Bree?" Somehow I could not imagine the two to them together.

"I did." She paused for a brief moment, "Sort of"

We looked at each other. Both of us caught off balance by this queer memory of Bree. It felt peculiar. Feeling a sense of comfort with a total stranger, yet at the same time you feel violated. Stripped of all deceptions and realizing with a start that the only thing that is left is the bareness of your soul. The feeling scared the shit out of me.

"Such a brutal end, don't you think?"

"Huh," I asked confused. "You've lost me again."

She looked at me mockingly. "It doesn't take much apparently."

"And now you're insulting me."

"Well done," She clapped mockingly, almost dropping her cigarette. "Glad you recognize an insult when it is thrown in your face."

"Fuck you." I cussed.

"Careful preacher girl, you're on holy ground. You don't want God to strike you with lightning or something." She mocked me further.

I folded my arms. "I would like to believe that God has better things to do than to wait for someone to cuss so that he could smite them."

"Does brutally dying in a fire count as smiting?"

Why would she think Bree did something to deserve smiting? "It counts as murder. And I don't think God had anything to do with that."

She stared at me, momentarily shocked. "Who said anything about a murder?"

"Unless God likes to play with turpentine and matches, I'm pretty sure someone lit up that house and made sure that Bree could not get out." Fuck, I was so stupid. For weeks Bree told me she didn't feel safe at her house. And I did nothing. If God didn't smite me for forsaking Bree then he sure as hell was not going to smite me for cussing.

She stared at me, like really stare, like those stares that make you want to cover yourself because you feel like someone is looking at your soul. "What makes you think that?"

"Bree always said that she had an escape route out of that dump for when things…" I caught myself before revealing too much of Bree's life to a total stranger.

"Got really ruff?" She said asked. I frowned and she took that as confirmation. "Yeah, I know a thing or two about what went on in that shit hole." She touched her nose absentmindedly, as if she was nursing an old bruise.

"How could you possibly know?"

She opened her mouth to say something but closed it again. She took a drag of her cigarette holding the smoke in for a long time, finally she blew it out and whispered. "I am… no, I was… her sister."

"What!"

"You heard me."

"Wait just a fucking moment." I pointed at her. "Where were you all this fucking time? She had to endure your mother and all…" I tried to find the right word.

"The crazy?" She suggest taking an exceptionally long drag from the cigarette, her hand shaking.

"Yes! Where the fuck were you for all of that?"

"Taking care of my son."

"Wait…" My anger dissolved as I was caught off guard. "What?"

She stomped out the cigarette and got up. "Whatever, I'm out of here. You watch yourself preacher girl."

"You're leaving?" I asked as she walked passed me. "You're not going to the funeral?"

"No." She replied not even bothering to look back.

"Some sister you are!" I accused. She paused, seconds past and then she just continued on to an old rusted truck, got in and started the engine with a big thundering roar. She sat there in the truck looking at me and I looked at her, then she flipped me off and drove away.

"Who was that?" Jasper asked suddenly appearing next to me out of nowhere. Possibly not out of nowhere, I just didn't see him cause all my attention was focused on that woman. That infuriating woman.

"I'm not sure actually, I didn't get her name." He slipped his arms around me and hugged me to his chest. "She said that she was Bree's sister."

"Isabella."

I pulled back to look up at him. "Who?"

"Troublemaker. Home wrecker. Satan's spawn. Slut" He kissed the top of my head. "Lots of people had different names for her. Mostly she just went around as Bella." I chuckled at his own joke. "Until the murder in anyway."

"Hold up, what murder?"

"Oh, yeah your family only moved here a year ago so you wouldn't know" He took my hand and started walking back to the house. "I keep forgetting. It feels like you've been here forever."

Usually I liked it when he was all mushy, not today. "So what happened?"

"Well, long story short, she killed her father."

I stopped walking. "No way!"

"Yes way" He shrugged. "All we really know is that the neighbors called in a domestic disturbance and by the time that the police turned up, they found her father stabbed to death in Bree's room and a bloody knife in Bella's hand."

Poor Bree, the things she had to endure before she even graduated high school. "But, if she murdered him shouldn't she be in jail?"

"She was never sentenced. Something about a justifiable homicide."

"Oh." I replied.

"It's when someone is killed to prevent greater harm to innocents, or something like that." He explained clearly seeing that I had no idea what he was talking about.

"Like self-defense?"

He shrugged. "Anyways, what do you want to do tonight?"

I followed him into my house. "Netflix and chill?"

He stiffened. "How about just Netflix?"

I rolled my eyes, "Sure, whatever you want Jazz." My boyfriend the fucking prune, still n virgin and still clinging to this idea that you should wait for marriage. Love him, hate that about him.

Present time:

"Laurent pull Miss Swan's record for me please." The inspector ordered. "And a pot of strong coffee and some lunch. Miss Cullen has rights after all." He gave me a closer look. "And some aspirin." Laurent moved out of the corner and exited the small room without saying a word.

"Did you know that Bella was Bree's sister?" I asked messaging my temples, my head still banging away. Fucking hangover, fucking headache.

He wrote something down in his notebook, "Yes, half-sister actually. Different father." He leaned back in his chair. "So when did you see her again?"

"Not for three months, it was by chance actually, I was at the right place at the right time and Bella, well, she had her hands full…."

Past time:

I was at the local diner, it was early. Too early. My eyes burned from dryness and my head was groggy. I was trying to sober up before going home, I felt like shit. No sleep in 24 hours will do that to you. But the diner was bustling, early morning rush. I was seated in the booth next to the door, the booth no one wanted. But it was the only booth left and I needed coffee and something oily to eat, preferably something with bacon.

"Mommy, come on, hurry up." I child's voice made me groan, way too loud for my sensitive state. Just had to drink the whole bottle of Vodka and finish off the Jack Daniels for good measure, didn't you? The fuck was I thinking?

"Slow down Emmett, we need to find a booth first." That voice, I knew that voice. I looked up and saw a tiny human pulling excitedly on the arm of none other than Isabella. She wore faded blue jeans and a paper thin jacket. Her boots was so worn it was a miracle it wasn't tearing at the seams yet.

"Hurry Mommy, before there is no ice cream left." The small boy pulled on her arm again. He had curly black hair and was dressed in jeans, a warm long sleeved shirt and a Ben Ten body warmer. His clothes looked brand new. Isabella looked down at him with such kindness and love I could almost not believe that it was the same person that I met at the church all those months ago.

"Calm down you little monster." She ruffled his hair and he scowled at her. She pulled a face at him and looked around the dinner, searching. Her eyes skimmed over me, not even recognizing me. I saw her face fall a little. She looked around the dinner one more time and her shoulders sagged, she knelt down. "Buddy, we will have to come back later, all the booths here are full."

"But mommy, you promised I can have ice-cream for breakfast. You promised." I saw his little lower lip began to tremble.

"I know buddy, but we'll come back in an hour okay?" I looked around the dinner, almost no one was even looking at them, too caught up in their own business and the people in the booths closest to them were looking at them with such disdain, as if they might have a disease. Fucking judgmental hypocrites. They don't even know her. I didn't even know her, why should I help her? She didn't even stay for her own sister's funeral.

"Okay." Came from the boy, followed by a very soft sniff. Oh for fucks sake.

"Hey, Isabella." I said softly, and she looked up frowning. "You guys can join me, this booth is more than big enough." I said indicating to the six seater.

Slowly the frown disappeared as she recognized me. "Yay, did you hear that mommy, she said we can join her." He bolted from her and ran to my booth, she reached for him as if to stop him but she was to slow. "Oomph" He breathed as he collided against the seat. He was all legs and arms as he maneuvered onto the seat and then suddenly he was sitting across from me. "Hi." He said all smiles and dimples.

My heart melted. "Hello." I smiled, ignoring the pounding in my head.

"Hello." Isabella suddenly said next to me, I didn't even hear or see her approach the booth. I was so focused on the small ball of energy across from me. "Uhm, thank you but we will come back later."

I rolled my eyes, "Sit your ass down, you made a promise. One should always keep their promises." I slid across the booth and patted the seat next to me. "Come on."

"Yes, mommy you promised." Emmett pulled such an adorable puppy dog face that I was ready to give him whatever the fuck he wanted and I wasn't even the one who promised him anything.

I sipped my coffee, watching the two of them interact. I heard her sigh softly before she slid in the booth. "Behave young man, or I'll order you brussels sprouts instead."

"But I didn't do anything." He complained, standing on his knees on the seat so that he could see over the table more comfortably. "Friendly lady, tell her I didn't do anything." I choked on my coffee.

"Fuck" I cursed as warm liquid dripped of my chin. "Language!" Bella scolded her eyes darting to Emmett as she handed me a serviette.

"You said a bad word." Emmett looked at his mother, "Mommy are you going to wash her mouth out with soap?"

I cleaned my face blushing so hard I'm sure I invented a new shade of pink. "Sorry, no soap required. I'm all good." I said quickly, crumbling the serviette into a wet ball, or rather wad.

Emmett frowned, "How good can you be? You said a bad word."

"What can I get you?" A waitress asked out of breath suddenly. Must have finally made her rounds to us, fucking took her time too.

"Ice-cream!" Emmett shouted excitedly. I cringed as the pounding in my head changed to a jack hammer. "With sprinkles and everything! Right mommy?" The look he was giving his mother was so adorable, dimples like that shouldn't be legal.

Bella glanced down at the menu and I saw her pulling at the hem of her shirt. "Maybe just some sprinkles buddy, don't want to spoil you too much." I could almost see her doing sums in her head, how much extra she could afford.

"No, spoil me, spoil me." Emmett pleaded dramatically, blowing kisses and making that puppy dog face again.

Motherfucking cute kid. "Get him the whole Sunday. And we will take two bacon and tomato omelets with cheese, lots and lots of cheese."

"No!" Bella objected.

"Stop being such a bit…" I glanced over at Emmett "worry wort, it's my treat." I PG rated my response, giving her a look that said to stop arguing because she will fucking lose. "And some more coffee please."

"Ice-cream for breakfast? That isn't very healthy." The waitress commented.

"Do we look like we are trying to be healthy?" I asked pissed off immediately. "The kid can have whatever he wants." The waitress shrugged and scribbled on her note pad before stalking away.

"So, what is your name?" Emmett asked suddenly, now that his ice-cream is on the way all of his attention was on me. Fuck.

"Alice."

"I'm Emmett, it is nice to meet you." He stood up and leaned over half the table holding his hand out for me to shake.

"Emmett get down." Bella scolded.

"I'm just trying to be nice to Alice, I want her to be my friend."

No child should be this cute. "It's okay Isabella, hello Emmett, it is nice to meet you to buddy." I shook his hand. He shifted back to his side of the table after I let go of his small hand.

Bella glared at me, "Do not encourage him. He wasn't raised in a cave."

I scoffed and pointed to him, "No he clearly wasn't," then I pointed at her, "Looks like you were." She glared at me, I glared back. She looked away first. "I'm have a splitting headache, am more than just a little hungover and am not in the mood for your shit. Sorry, shenanigans." I corrected as Emmett was pointed an accusing finger at me. "I'm trying to do something nice for you. A little civilized conversation would be nice."

She opened her mouth but was interrupted by Emmett, "What is hungover?"

Her eyes widened and her mouth opened and closed a few times. "It's when…. Well you see….hungover is…." I giggled and she glared at me. Then her look softened and she smiled at Emmett, "Ask Alice, she will explain it to you."

"What? I…well… " Emmett looked at me expectantly. The fuck is it with his dimples? "It's just when you stayed up for a really, really, really, long time and you haven't eaten much. So you feel a little sick."

Right then the waitress brought over our order and I sighed in relief. "You really, really, really suck at explanations." Bella said with a smile, her eyes shining brightly.

"Shut up." I said bumping her shoulder, watching as Emmett almost inhaled the ice-cream. "Hey slow down buddy, the ice-cream is not going to run away."

He just smiled at me, ice-cream covering his chin and nose and some of his right cheek. "It's delicious."

I smiled and started eating my omelet. "Coffee?" Bella asked.

"Yuf, pwies" I mumbled my mouth still full of food.

"Swallow before you speak you savage." She scolded, as she pushed a cup of coffee towards me. As she pulled her hand away she brushed my arm by accident and tingles like and electric current erupted over my skin. My fork clanged on my plate as I dropped it in shock. The fuck was that? "Jeez, you really are a savage." She commented. She didn't indicate that she had felt anything and began eating her own food, slowly, delicately, as if savoring every bite. I shook my head and continued eating my food. It was silent around the table, just the noise of cutlery on porcelain could be heard.

When I was done I pushed my plate forward and sighed rubbing my stomach contently. "That hit the spot." Bella was still eating, seemingly a bit more relaxed. I glanced over at Emmett and instantly smiled. The little dork was licking his fingers clean. "Wow I can't believe you ate all that ice-cream by yourself. Did you enjoy that buddy?" He nodded his little head and smiled, ice-cream still almost covering his whole face. "Come here, I'll help you clean your face." He stood and walked on the seat all the way around the booth, his sticky hands getting ice-cream all over the upholstery. Fuck it, he was a kid. Cleaners get paid for a reason I guess. I grabbed some serviettes and waited patiently until he was finally next to me.

"I'm the ice-cream king, I can eat loads more." He said as I started cleaning his hands.

"I bet you can." I said, "But that is probably not a good idea. You might be sick."

He thought about that as I cleaned his cheek. "I might be hungover."

I burst out laughing and almost knocked him over in the process. I could hear Bella snickering next to me and could feel the entire diner's eyes on us but I didn't care. I haven't felt like this since…. Since before Bree died. My laugh faded as I started feeling empty again. I finished cleaning his face. "There all done, now you are the cleanest ice-cream king in all of diner land." I exclaimed. Suddenly his arms was around me and his face nuzzling into my neck, "Thank you Alice. You are the best ever." Slowly I hugged his tiny body to me, his warmth comforting somehow, in a way that I never felt before.

"Anytime buddy. That is what friends do, they look out for each other."

A coffee cup banged next to me on the table. I frowned looking at Bella's furious face. "Is that what you did for Bree? Looked out for her? Whole lot of good you did her." Emmett stiffened in my arms, I let go of him and turned my body toward Bella, shielding him from her anger.

"Fuck you, don't you think I blame myself enough?" I forced out the words in a whisper, all the while aware of Emmett still trembling behind me.

"Mommy, why are you mad, Alice didn't do anything wrong." Emmett asked, his voice trembling.

And just like that Bella whole demeanor changed. "No, you're right, she didn't do anything." Ouch, that hurt like a knife stab in the gut. "Come on you little monster, we have taken up enough of Alice's time." She stood up out of the booth and waited for him to join her.

"Thank you for the delicious ice-cream Alice." Emmett said giving me a chaste kiss on the cheek and climbed over me to join his mother, before I even could react. What is he? Part monkey?

Bella took his small hand in hers. "Thank you." She gritted out before exiting the diner, almost towing Emmett behind her who was still trying to give me one last wave goodbye. How the fuck did she manage to have such an adorable kid?

"Do you need anything else?" Our waitress asked eyeing the ice cream marks on the upholstery.

Good luck cleaning that, you bitch, "Bill" I grunted before finishing the last of my coffee.

Present time:

Laurent returned with rations. I ignored the grilled cheese sandwich and gulped down the aspirin with the worst coffee I have ever tasted. Scorching my throat but I didn't care, anything to take care of the pounding in my head. Detective Cullen was going over a rather thick file? "Is that Bella's file?"

"It is." He commented flipping the page.

"It looks thick."

"It is." He confirmed again, not looking up.

"I guess that is not a good thing?"

He sighed and looked up at me. "Any file on record is not a good thing, now eat your sandwich and continue your story please."

Detective douche, I thought as I flipped him off and ate my sandwich. Yes, most definitely detective douche, paper pushing fucking bureaucrat.