Edward's POV

When Belle walked through the front door, it was more than clear that something was very wrong.

She accepted a hug and light kiss on her cheek, but she didn't linger in the gestures for more than a second.

She hurried into the living room, dropping her bag onto the couch and started shedding her coat in a hurry.

"Everything alright?" I asked her as Carlisle made his way through the front door.

She forced a smile that never reached her eyes, giving me a small nod and an affirming hum.

I quickly searched Carlisle's thoughts but found nothing there, expect a concern that mirrored my own.

My mind instantly went to the tests they had just been doing.

"Did you find something?" I asked in a panic, but my question was quickly answered by them both with a simple "No".

She turned to face us, stuck in the awkwardness of the moment, wringing her hands together nervously, before finally dropping her head.

"I'll just... I'll get the..." was all Bella said before she stepped between us and made her way up the stairs.

I looked to Carlisle and was met with a grim and worrisome expression. But he had nothing more to offer me.

"Are you going to tell me what happened?" I questioned quietly, widening my eyes in frustration.

I was offered a small explanation in Carlisle's thoughts, but as I took in the simple memory, I had no idea why asking for medical information would upset Bella. They had been at this for quite sometime now, surely, she was used to Carlisle digging through her medical history.

Before I could question him any further, Bella started making her way back down the stairs, with a thick folder in her hands.

She stopped on the last step and looked down at the folder.

I could see her fingers tightening around the tattered pile of papers, saw her swallow down her own panic before she suddenly looked up at Carlisle, taking a deep breath, before handing him the folder.

Carlisle eyes barely glanced at the folder before his eyes shot back up to meet Bella's nervous expression. "Bella? Were you-"

"I'm tired" Bella said suddenly, interrupting Carlisle before he could continue.

Carlisle offered a nod, but wasn't given a chance to voice another word, because Bella quickly turned and hurried up the stairs.

I looked down at the folder and saw nothing significant about it. Until I noticed the stamp that had been left on the lower right corner.

"Oh Bella" I choked out in a quiet whisper.

I ran a hand down my face and over to the back of my neck, tightening my grip on it, as the realisation set in.

"She never said anything." I mumbled.

When my words were met with silence I looked up to Carlisle, hoping for some kind of explanation, even though logically I knew that he didn't have one.

When my eyes met his, I found more sorrow there than I had seen in quite some time.

He couldn't help me, not when it came to understanding Bella. Not when it came to understanding how this could have happened to her.

"People can be cruel" Carlisle thought as he shook his head and turned toward the door.

"Call me if you need anything." He offered before stepping passed the threshold and quietly pulling the door closed behind him.

When I stepped into the bedroom I could see the top of her head, leaning into the mattress, from where she was sitting on the floor.

My heart could break a thousand times for Bella, all in one day. I had to often catch myself from wondering what her life had been like. If I sat with those thoughts for to long, I was sure it would break something inside of me that would never repair itself.

The only thing that gave me any comfort at all, was knowing that through everything, she'd had Anna by her side.

But what if that hadn't always been true?

She refused to look at me when I circled the bed and found her on the floor, her knees drawn up, arms around them with her hands clasped together. She stared at the wall, clearly in some kind of internal battle with her memories.

I settled down beside her and decided to wait in the deafening silence with her.

I could see that her face was flushed and that her eyes were glistening with tears that would soon spill over. But in amongst her pain was a burning anger and frustration, I could see it in her tightened jaw and her whitened knuckles.

"I'm not crazy." She said, as she shook her head slightly.

I frowned at her words and flinched at her tone.

"Of course not." I told her firmly, desperately trying to hide my own anger.

Bella wasn't crazy. What was happening to her was very real and I had to wonder how she had ever been labelled in such a way when there were so many physical symptoms, even if no explanation for them could be found for them.

The folder was clearly marked. She'd been held at The Rosewood institution, a place I knew had been closed down because of the mistreatment of its young patients.

I remembered reading about it and even hearing about it on the news. The stories that had been told through the reporters had boiled my blood then, and now they filled me with a rage that I was struggling to contain. My mind still couldn't accept that she had been there. I couldn't accept that something so awful had happened to her.

"How did you end up there" I asked her cautiously, gauging her reaction to my words.

"They gave up." She told me, her jaw still tight as she spoke the words sharply.

"Who did?" I questioned, as the crease in my brow deepened.

She didn't answer.

"They ripped me from her arms. They wouldn't even let me see her for weeks." She snapped angrily as she recalled the memory.

I squinted at the information and my mind raced through what little information I had. "Your mother?" I asked, trying to understand.

She rolled her head on the mattress and looked at me. "No, Edward" she answered, her voice softening slightly as she looked up at me.

I shook my head slightly as the reality of everything sunk in.

It was Anna's arms they'd pulled her from, it was her sister who they had kept her from.

And it wasn't only the doctors who had given up on her, it also been her mother.

If Bella had shown no signs of being a danger to society, if she hadn't given anyone a reason to believe she was some kind of threat, then she wouldn't have been abducted from her home.

They didn't just snatch random children up because they were sick, no, their parents handed them over.

I wanted to tell her that no one had given up on her. Because telling her she was right? That the person who was supposed to love her more than anything else on earth, had thrown her away when things got too hard, when she became too much of an inconvenience? That went against everything inside of me. It was inconceivable to me, that anyone would willingly stop fighting for her.

Without warning all the anger in her evaporated, leaving nothing but a tormented look in her eyes. This was something that nagged and chewed at her relentlessly and I wondered how many of her waking thoughts revolved around that place, and the betrayal from her mother that had led her there.

"It was just easier to hide me away. It was easier to say I was crazy and put me-…. put me in that place." Her voice broke and her eyes cast down, finally releasing the tears that had pooling there.

"I get it" she told me, nodding hopelessly, swiping the tears away.

"What do you get?" I asked, feeling something growing in my thick throat, choking me. Because I could almost hear her answer before she gave it.

"I'm too much." She told me quietly before sucking back a breath, trying to fight off the demons that surrounded us.

"I'm too much work. I need too much. I take too much". Her voice raised, shook and cracked with each word, as she struggled to keep herself from breaking. "Of course, she wanted a break from me. Who wouldn't"

"Me" I said, without hesitation, instantly drawing her eyes to mine. "I wouldn't." I promised her.

She searched my face, looking for doubt. In those seconds I watched her crumble and give in. She accepted defeat against all of that pain and allowed it to boil over. She let it spill out and began sobbing and desperately trying to catch her breath as though all the panic that lived in her was working to suffocate her.

"You don't know that." She cried out, shaking her head in disbelief. Shaking her head frantically and moving herself away from me ready to run.

I took her face in my hands and leaned toward her, locking her eyes with mine. "I will never give up on you, Bella."

She shook her head at my words and grabbed ahold of my wrists.

"How can you be so sure! You think she didn't say that to me too, before she locked me up in that place?" She growled, trying to pull herself free from my hold on her.

"I would die before I let anyone hurt you." I promised her, my voice so dark and cold that it froze her in place. "And I don't care if I have to search this world over, I'm going to help you fight this. I. Will. Never. Leave you." I promised her.

She fell apart at my words, falling into me as though she had nothing stable left inside to support her.

In a quick movement I pulled her into my arms and onto my lap. I held her as close as I possibly could without hurting her.

She pressed her face into my chest and gripped my shirt in her tightly closed fists.

She cried so hard I could feel her whole body shaking in my arms and I could do nothing but smooth my hand over her back and kiss the side of face where the tears fell and gathered.

I could try to comfort her, but beyond repeating my promises and holding her close, there was nothing I could do or say to take away the memory of what had been done to her.

I sat there with her for hours on the floor, long after she cried herself to sleep, staring at the wall in front of me. My mind raced through every moment I'd spent with her, things that she'd said, things she'd done. Actions and words that hadn't made sense at the time but did now.

And the fact she'd kept it from me? I couldn't bring myself to blame her for that.

Of course she would. Her own mother had decided she was crazy. How could she possibly trust anyone else not to do the same.

She'd been quiet for days, and I had sat in that silence with her.

If she simply wanted it to be quiet, then I wouldn't interfere.

I sat at the kitchen table, reading a book and occasionally glancing up to watch her move through the room slowly and thoughtfully. Taking everything that she needed to the bench, to make herself a cup of tea.

By the time she sat down across from me, to open her own book, I was focused on the words on the page, until she suddenly closed her book and put it back on the table.

"You can't say anything to her about that". She told me, looking across to me.

My jaw tightened and my shoulders stiffened slightly.

Bella's mother was coming here, to this house.

A week ago, Beyond Bella's nervousness, I hadn't worried to much about Renee's impending arrival.

But now, it was different.

I put my book down on the table and leaned back into my chair.

"Can you do that?" She added, raising her brow slightly.

I had to consider her request. Could I do that? Could I sit in a room with Bella's mother, knowing what I knew now.

My first instinct was to say No. I didn't want to be anywhere near this woman, but more than that, I really didn't know if I wanted Bella near her. But I was certainly in no position to be isolating her from anyone.

The alternative was simply not being here and that wasn't an option, not anymore.

I let out a sigh and nodded.

"If that's what you want." I told her, furrowing my brow at the unpleasant feeling that started to twist inside of me.

"It was a long time ago Edward. She's moved on and I…."

She knew she couldn't lie and say, "and I have too", If the past few days had been proof of anything, it was that Bella was still paying for her mothers' negligence.

Bella picked up her book and found the page she had been on. She started to read once more, but I knew it was simply something to hide behind.

She could feel my eyes still on her, that was clear.

"I just want yo get this over with." She said flatly, keeping her eyes on the pages. "I don't want to argue with her. I don't want to upset her. I just… I just want it done" There was nothing in her voice. No anger, sadness or frustration. It seemed like she was far to tired to conjure up anything, except a desire to have an uneventful visit.

"Then she'll be gone, and we probably won't see her for years. If ever." She concluded.

"Hopefully, you're right" the words slipped out and before I had a chance to regret them, I noticed the curl of her lip as she continued to read.

Bella's mother would be here in a matter of days, and I honestly had no idea what to expect from the visit.

As I considered the possibilities, I realised something that caused me to release a brief and humourless laugh.

I was scared of her.

I was a monster, and Renee was a human, and yet, I was worried about the damage she could do. And I was stuck thinking over the damage she had already done.

Here I was thinking I had broken every rule and crossed every line, but this woman had done something that was unthinkable, even to the likes of me.

But I was going to spend time with this woman.

Willingly.