Nessie's POV

I didn't know who the man was that grabbed my arm, or why he said what he did. But I knew that I was scared of him and I wished I hadn't gone so far from Momma and Edward.

When he kind of started to pull my arm like he was going to try to drag me away… I knew I couldn't let him do that so I leaned down and bit him as hard as I could. His skin was dirty and it tasted really bad. My teeth didn't make him bleed but he pulled his arm back from me and so I ran as fast as I could, spitting out the gross taste while I did. And then I called out for Momma.

For two days after that happened Momma didn't go to work, and everybody was really nervous. Nobody really told me a lot, but I knew that the man that they thought it was, was the same man who helped that lady take Momma when she was ten.

Even though Momma didn't go to work, Edward did. He and Grandpa were at work longer than they usually were and I didn't see Edward at all after that day, even though we stayed at Nana Esme and Grandpa Carlisle's house instead of at Grandpa Charlie's. I heard the adults talking and I knew that Grandpa Charlie and Edward were out searching for the man that had grabbed me at the beach. They wanted to "lock him up for good".

After the third day, Momma decided to go back to work and Uncle Jasper drove her there, picking me up and taking me to his and Aunt Alice's house for the day too.

"Is it almost time to have the baby?" I asked Aunt Alice as we folded laundry together. She never liked to sit still normally, but now it seemed like she was always moving around… never taking a break. Her belly was getting bigger too and she had let me feel the baby kicking a few times throughout the day. It felt so weird, and I wondered if Momma liked it when she was pregnant with me, or if she was only scared the whole time because of how I got there.

"Just a few more weeks… I'm due at the beginning of September, remember?" She reminded me and I smiled. I remembered now.

"Are you happy that you're going to have a baby?" I asked as we walked towards the bedroom, each of us carrying a basket of clean clothes and towels. "Are you scared at all?"

"I think that anytime you go through something new or different, you can get a little nervous at times… not knowing what to expect." She told me and I nodded. That made sense. "But yes, Jasper and I are both thrilled to be having a baby… even though we weren't expecting it so soon." She answered me and I listened carefully as she told me about how much she wanted the baby, and how even though Jasper was scared to be a dad, he was excited too.

"Do you ever get worried that a sick person will take the baby… maybe not when it's a baby... But when it's a little girl or a little boy… like what happened to Momma?" I asked her and I saw her smile change. Her whole face looked a lot sadder and I wished I hadn't asked that question. Sometimes my questions did that to people… made them remember sad things and days that were happy became different…

"Are you worried about that happening to you Nessie?" Aunt Alice didn't answer my questions and I felt my eyes fill with tears when she asked me the question instead. I didn't even know that I was scared of that until she said it to me.

"Mr. James kept Momma for a really long time." I said quietly, thinking about it for a long time before I said anything else. "And he kept me there too and he used to say that one day I would be 'just like Bella'. And I didn't know what he meant but I think that he wanted to do those things to me too." I said after I thought about it some more.

"When the man grabbed my arm at the beach I didn't know who he was or why he blamed me for ruining his life… but he reminded me of Mr. James – except with darker skin instead of lighter skin – and I remembered Mr. James telling me and Momma all of those things." I kept talking and Aunt Alice just sat and listened to me while I let everything out. "And if Mr. James and the man from the beach could take a kid like Momma or like me and hurt us really bad and never let us go… well why? And what about other bad people?" I asked quietly, still sorting it out in my head. "Are there really a lot of bad people? And why do they have to be bad like that?" I asked, my head getting all mixed up the more I thought about it. It didn't make sense to me at all, and I couldn't understand why it had to happen to me and Momma… and why this man was trying to do it again… if that's what he was even doing – nobody really knew for sure.

"Nessie, have you talked to anyone about any of your feelings… your Mom or Edward or Nana Esme?" Aunt Alice asked as she sat down on her and Uncle Jasper's bed. We had set the baskets of laundry down in the corner, and now she tapped the bed beside her so that I could sit down too.

"Sort of…" I answered her… and then I changed my answer… "…well not really."

"Some of your questions, I can't answer – I don't think anybody can really." She began to tell me and I nodded. I kind of knew she would say that. "Why do bad people exist? Well, it's such a difficult thing to understand… especially when we've been hurt really badly by them. Some people weren't raised to know love… or the difference between right and wrong. Some people have problems with their brains, and knowing what is good or bad, and how to follow rules and how to make good choices instead of bad ones." She said and I nodded. She wasn't telling me anything new.

"I don't know why some of us get hurt in these ways. I really don't." She sighed and I saw her rub her belly while she tried to come up with an answer. "I've asked myself those questions a million times… I never could understand why Mr. James took your Momma and did those things to her… and in a way, I'm glad I don't understand why. It's not for me to understand why." She said and I thought about it. It confused me but it also made sense just a little bit… if we could understand why they did it… it would make us think like them, and I didn't know if I wanted to think like a bad guy.

"I do know Nessie that none of what happened to you and your Mom was either of your faults. Mr. James, Victoria, and Laurent were and are very sick to do that to you or to anybody. It was so horrible and I have seen how strong you and your Mom are over the last year. And I know that now that we have found you both… we will all do whatever it takes to make sure that nothing like that ever happens again." She told me… but she wasn't looking at me. She was looking at her dresser while she said it. Her words sounded strong and like she could say them and that it would guarantee that nothing bad could ever touch us again. But her eyes looked sad. When I looked at her dresser I knew why. There was a picture on top in a pink frame – in the picture was photo of all of them as kids – Momma and Aunt Alice were in the front with Edward, Aunt Rosalie, and Uncle Jasper behind them. Behind that was Uncle Emmett – he was always the biggest one – and he was making a goofy face. I had seen this picture before – Nana Esme had one in her photo album as well… she told me it was taken just a few weeks before Momma went missing.

"Are you sad because you know what happened to Momma now?" I asked a few minutes later and when I looked back at Aunt Alice, she was crying.

"I'm sorry…"

"It's alright Ness. You're right. I am crying because of what happened to your mother… and to you… and to Uncle Jasper and Aunt Rosalie… and well… it happens and I don't understand it at all." She said and I reached over to her. Holding her tightly.

Sometimes grownups thought that they always need to have all of the answers to the questions that kids ask them… especially when something bad happens. But sometimes I think its better when they don't have all of the answers. This time it made me feel better… because the more I thought about it, the more confused I got. At least I knew that it was normal to feel that way. Even the grownups couldn't understand all of the bad stuff all of the time.

"Can we go make some lunch now? I bet the baby is getting hungry." I said a few minutes later. I wasn't really that hungry, but I knew that making food and eating it would make us both feel better.

"Let's go to the kitchen." Aunt Alice said while she wiped her cheek with her sleeve and then we both stood up. Before we left the room, Aunt Alice picked up the picture frame and brought it with her, setting it down on top of the bookshelf in the living room instead. Now you could see it as soon as you came into the room.

I liked it there.

The rest of the day was better. I felt better and I think that Aunt Alice did too. I liked spending time with her and I knew why Momma always said that Alice was her best friend when she was little. They weren't like each other at all… but somehow they seemed to go together – kind of like peanut butter and jelly.

By the time that Momma and Jasper got back to the house, we were giggling at a game we had made up together, and I wasn't as worried about the bad people in the world. I knew that I had my family with me, and I knew that somehow, everything would be okay again.

I didn't know how. I just knew that it would be.