"Sometimes the one you put on a pedestal is the one that deserves the least amount of your time and respect."

Jayden Hayes

A stunned silence filled the cell.

"Esme-"

"Not from you, Alice." Esme snapped. "You've done enough." She did not take her steely gaze from Edward.

Edward opened and closed his mouth. For the first time since she'd known him, Bella saw that Edward was at a loss for words.

Carlisle broke the silence. "Perhaps you'll also explain to Esme and I, as well as the rest of us, why you would continuously disrespect the father of the girl you claim to love? Or Bella herself?"

On instinct, Bella's mouth flew open to defend Edward, only to freeze.

It struck her that it had become instinct to do it, just as much as her very nature to deny his mistakes.

She saw him as perfect. A truly flawless being. And now she was beginning to see just how much of an idiot she was sounding.

Bella took a deep breath. No, Edward wasn't perfect. But that didn't make him a monster. If anything, despite his vampire status, it made him human. Just as Carlisle and Esme's reactions were those of human parents.

But something else persisted in the back of her mind; like a little niggle that she just couldn't get rid of. It was as if the image of Edward had been tarnished in some way, like silver.

"Perhaps you'd also like to explain why you continuously endangered this family," Carlisle spoke softly, his eyes burning with an intensity like molten gold "by breaking into the house of the chief of police in the small town of Forks, who also happened to have extremely close personal ties to the Quileute tribal elders, one of whom is Ephraim Black's son. Ephraim, whom as you remember, negotiated the treaty with us." Edward winced.

"I'm fairly certain that the treaty's terms also included not trespassing and invading the homes of the people of Forks, as well as not harming them," Carlisle continued. "Not just Quileute lands and people. While we are there, the Wolves will not interfere nor will they expose us, in fact they will not even patrol the areas outside of their ancestral lands. But our side of the agreement states that we would not harm or kill any human, nor bite them, nor in any way intrude or stop them from living their usual everyday lives." He paused.

"But most importantly, I would like you to explain to me just what in the world-" Carlisle's voice made Bella turn wide eyes towards him "did you think could possibly be justifiable, or even mildly excusable, about breaking into somebody's house without their permission, even if somebody else who lived in said-house gave you her permission afterwards." Bella winced, unable to look at a gaping Edward who had been completely unexpecting of this turn of events. "And who would break in afterwards, when he over-extended his welcome, after the owner deliberately made it clear that it was time for you to leave?" Carlisle's voice seemed louder than thunder despite not raising the volume.

Edward stared. He swallowed and wet his lips. "H- how did you-?"

Bella turned away when Carlisle and Esme explained what they had learned from Sue. Her stomach churned. She couldn't bear to see the look on Edward's eyes, the devastation and the guilt that was swiftly manifesting and rising when confronted by his parents. Edward flinched and his flinch deepened as the story continued. So did Alice who looked as if she wanted to huddle into a corner, shrink and disappear. Esme's face was like stone, a marble sculpture, so beautiful but completely different from the soft, warm loveliness that characterised Esme's beauty. Like the Snow Queen in Hans Christian Anderson's tale, as opposed to Snow White. Her eyes... Bella shuddered. Esme had never made her feel like that, ever. She had never imagined that such a look could be had, least of all in Esme's warm and loving eyes.

Carlisle, in the meantime, looked as if he could have been chiselled from a block of stone with a mercilessly sharp blade. His eyes were as cold as sleet in a blizzard in midwinter. They narrowed, pointing their focus like daggers onto his son. There was anger there, yes, cold, hard and bitter anger. But also... disappointment. Disappointment and betrayal.

Edward was completely stunned at the look in Carlisle's eyes. He had seen, the moment he had heard them speak and seen the looks on their faces that his parents were serious, but he had never before seen disappointment in Carlisle or Esme's eyes, along with anger and worse: betrayal.

Not even during his 'rebellious phase'. Not even when he accidentally slipped and hurt a human. Not once.

It was worse than he had ever possibly imagined.

"Why did you break into Charlie's house?" Carlisle said slowly, dangerously. Bella had never heard him speak that way before. She stared wide-eyed at the contained rage smouldering inside gentle, reasoned Carlisle, the doctor whom they all knew and looked up to as a father.

Edward didn't meet his adoptive father's eyes. "I- I didn't mean to-" hearing Esme's angry scoff of disbelief, he reiterated. "I just wanted to be with Bella!"

Esme scoffed. "Oh, we all know that, Edward. And although I must say that that is still no excuse-" Edward and Bella reeled back in surprise at the hard, harsh tone of her words "before we talk about that- and we will talk about that, make no mistake- I would like to know what you were doing breaking into someone's house before you even started your relationship with Bella." Her eyes flared golden.

Edward opened his mouth and sighed. He squeezed his eyes shut, then looked down.

"What reason do you have for doing this, Edward?" Carlisle asked quietly. "What justification could you possibly have for doing all that you have done? You've already explained the best you could about what happened in Volterra, but I want to know about the dozen or so legal and moral lines that you have deliberately and continuously crossed since Bella first arrived in Forks roughly two years ago."

It startled Bella, the mention of the time-frame. She'd met Edward in January 2005, a day after first arriving in Forks. She'd known Edward from January, but had gotten with him during March, she believed, quickly running over the timeline in her head for some reason. She'd gotten engaged and saved him from the Volturi (she winced inwardly, just thinking about that incident) in March and had gotten engaged to him, for all intents and purposes, although she officially accepted his proposal in June. She knew, deep down, that she would accept this proposal regardless, too afraid to wait and grow older another year, too afraid to lose him yet again, just in case he changed his mind. And the thought struck her:

How very wrong it was. It was like a tsunami wave, slamming and smashing through a concrete wall, breaking it in half. Like the tsunami she'd seen on TV on Boxing Day; that thought, that covert realisation that she had accepted Edward's proposal for all the wrong reasons- apart from love, that was- and even worse: that Edward's proposal hadn't been so much of a question- he knew. He'd fully expected her to say yes knowing she couldn't possibly say no, unless she wanted to get another year older than she already was. Unless she wanted to lose him. Unless she wanted to remain human.

The shock of it was worse than the tsunami's force. It would've floored Bella if she wasn't a vampire. Edward... no... he couldn't have... could he?

But deep in her heart she knew he could. And he did.

It was lucky that Jasper was wearing the Magic Inhibitor. It was also lucky that Edward wasn't even looking at her. His attention was focused solely on Carlisle and Esme, although his eyes were on the floor.

Somewhere, a part of Bella denied this and protested that it was the way that Edward was raised. That voice, that part which had taken a large part of her subconscious and waking consciousness, now sounded feeble in comparison, almost broken. Weak.

It was lucky (somewhere, she gathered her senses) that things worked out the way they did, because she'd only been dating Edward for six months before he dumped her and they got engaged five or six months after that, depending on whether one counted his first proposal.

If it could even be called that.

Somewhere, an inner part of Bella screamed that it had been a condition, rather than an outright proposal. Her breath hitched.

Her inner subconscious, the part which instinctively defended Edward like breathing, was sounding more weak in comparison; more feeble. More stupid and shallow.

Bella was forced back into reality. "Carlisle," she said softly. "Esme..." Both slowly turned their heads towards her. Edward's topaz eyes lifted slowly to gaze upon her. But for once, Bella felt herself far away, yet another out-of-body experience, and she was less than mesmerised by his liquid topaz eyes, although she still found them beautiful.

Edward took a deep breath. "I was wrong," he beseeched them. "I'm sorry."

"Of course you are," Carlisle said sardonically, causing Bella and Alice to flinch and Edward and the other Cullens, bar Esme, to stare at him with wide eyes. None of them had ever imagined hearing this tone of voice before. "Try not to say that in court when they present the charges to you. It just makes you look ingenuine: sorry simply because you were caught."

Edward's eyes shot up. "I am! I'm sorry-!"

"Really?" Esme asked, sarcastically. Now it was her turn to be stared at by them. "Did you even apologise at that time?"

Edward flinched. "I admitted it to Bella when we first went out-"

"And apologised?" Esme challenged. "Directly? To her and to Charlie."

"Charlie doesn't know." Edward and Bella said at the exact same time. Edward quickly, and Bella with eyes wide in sudden realisation.

"Well, that does cast doubt on whether or not you were truly sorry," Esme said crisply. "You might've been ashamed and embarrassed that you got caught, but you certainly weren't sorry you broke into Bella's- no, scratch that- to anybody's house at the dead of night to watch a girl sleep before you started going out with said girl."

Edward instantly defended himself. "I was overwhelmed," he said, his voice quavered, his usual eloquence slipping. Now, Bella stared at him. "I had never felt these feelings before- you know I've never-"

"Bullshit," Rosalie snarled, speaking for the first time since she'd entered. Everyone turned and stared at this sudden crass language, so unlike Rosalie. "We all remember when Bella first came to school. You could barely resist her scent, it drove you wild and I don't need your ability to know that she was constantly on your mind. Even worse, you couldn't read her mind. It drove you insane trying to figure out why she was the way she was."

That comment struck Bella like a back-handed blow. She froze.

Edward opened his mouth, but Rosalie beat him to it. "You hadn't yet started dating with Bella- but you weren't in love with Bella then- don't kid yourself. You didn't know her any better than I knew Royce. Heck, I'd say you knew her even less at that stage." Edward's eyes looked murderous. "You showed no attraction or interest when we saw her in the school cafeteria the first time." Next to her, Jasper jolted upwards, eyes alight with memory and realisation. Bella felt like she'd been stabbed in the gut. "You were so angry and frustrated that you couldn't get her out of your mind and could barely resist killing her in class, that you skipped school for days if not weeks. Then, once you came back, you became so fixated in trying to figure her out that you broke into her bedroom while she was sleeping." She was fuming. "Who does that? What kind of person does that?"

Bella might as well have been a statue. Edward picked up on Rosalie's insinuation and was revolted. "You think that I'd-"

"What other reason does a stalker have to break into a girl's bedroom at night?" Rosalie hissed. "You stopped coming home with us. Now that I think about it, you were following her all the way from school to her house. And the fact that you weren't home in the mornings means that you followed her from her house to school." The Cullens all gasped. Bella's eyes widened. Her breath caught in her throat. "What does that sound like?"

Venom pooled inside Bella's throat, like bile. She wanted to vomit. For a long moment, Edward said nothing. His head dropped and he was staring at the floor. His shoulders hunched. He looked as if he was trying to hide himself. After seeing him so confident and assured for so long, Bella found the image to be all wrong.

But for how long did she know him? That sudden thought came out of nowhere. Bella had first met him in January 2005. They'd started dating in March that year. They'd stayed together until September- six months, Bella recalled. Then for six months she hadn't heard from him; they hadn't seen each other. But they'd gotten engaged, if not then, then in June, three months later. And they were married in August that year.

All in total: they'd been together for eleven months. Less than a year before they got married. Thirteen, if you included the time when they first saw encountered each other in school, but never became involved.

Charlie and Renée's story had drilled into her that early marriage was a mistake. Yet she wasn't unhappy with Edward- far from it. Still...

Bella was just beginning to be blown away by her own stupidity when Carlisle finished her train of thought: "It was lucky that it ended so well between you and Bella," he said icily. "Otherwise, we would've resorted to drastic measures to end this sick, twisted obsession of yours." Bella's hand clenched into a fist, bunching the fabric of her dress so tightly, she heard a small rip. Edward looked like he'd been slapped.

Alice's eyes had ballooned at Rosalie's putting two-and-two together. Jasper pressed his lips firmly together. Emmett gave a barely decipherable groan, touched his hand to the face and looked to the floor, as if he'd been stupid not to figure things out.

"Because that is what it is," Carlisle stood, furiously pushing his chair back. The wood scraped against the stone floor. "Obsession. You were lucky that you and Bella fell in love for real. That things have ended well between you two, as hasty as things were." He added as an afterthought.

Yet again, another slap to Bella's psyche: the timeline. Her wedding to Edward, no matter how lavish, had been a shotgun ceremony, for all she could describe it. Indeed, it was the only way to describe it.

Renée had been wrong: she really was an idiot. Same as her young, foolish mother when she was young. She was no better and no different than Renée, but at least Renée had been officially nineteen years of age when she'd had Bella and Charlie twenty-four.

Edward, while frozen as seventeen, was officially over a hundred.

Yet another shock caused venom to rise in her throat: he didn't have the same disadvantage.

On the other hand, you could point out that these things were really big in Edward's day, and maybe he struggled to adjust, didn't know any better- if so, Bella felt guilt at not considering that, to make things easier for Edward. But something else tugged at her psyche:

Unlike Edward, she'd had the advantage of being from an era where divorce was all too common. Where kids grew up in separate homes all the time, and therefore, were rarely ever fooled by whirlwind romances and fairytales being mistaken for reality: she'd seen it happen: as a matter of fact she'd lived it herself.

She really had been a fool. A breath sucked through Bella's lungs when she thought that. It was truly lucky things turned out so well. Carlisle was right.

In the meantime, Carlisle hadn't finished speaking. Bella was dimly aware of Carlisle saying: "Do you have any idea what you have done? What could've possibly happened? Not only did you actually break the treaty- endangering all our lives- but you risked our species' exposure by breaking into the house of the chief of police, which could've seen the Volturi appearing on our doorstep much sooner. And worse, you stalked and broke into the room of a stranger, a newcomer to town no less- even if she wasn't, what made you think that what you were doing were morally right and acceptable in any society? In any place or time in history?"

Edward looked down. "Based on everything you have told me about your mother, Elizabeth Masen, and your father, Edward Masen Senior, they would've been utterly horrified and infuriated at your behaviour." Carlisle's eyes narrowed. "What made you think that this was ever acceptable or even excusable in any society, or in any point in time? Or that breaking into Charlie's house after he has enforced curfew also was? Even if Bella had given you her blessing?"

A pause. "I can't pretend to understand why Bella did such a thing-" and what made the venom rise even higher up her throat, the worst thing was that Bella herself didn't seem to know either- either that or she couldn't remember in the sheer, overwhelming horror when faced with her own stupidity- because who else married a guy they had only known for eleven months total, at the age of eighteen, after he had freely admitted to breaking into her house at night before she gave her permission, and who never apologised or shown any remorse? Or any genuine warmth and acceptance towards her father? And after spending years with her mother being spoon-fed the horrors of an early marriage?

Carlisle was still speaking: "-or how she was able to get past that fact. Certainly no one else, whatever their values, beliefs, personality or place in history and in the world, would have ever gotten over that-" the venom rose higher and entered her mouth "but against all odds, your sheer dumb luck has prevailed. Unfortunately, you don't seem to understand that luck has a tendency to run out."

Edward took a shuddering breath. "I made... mistakes."

"You don't say," Esme said, sardonically.

Edward winced. "What do you want me to say," he said, pleadingly. "I am sorry-"

"Because you were caught," Esme said frostily, emphasising the last word. "Tell us truthfully Edward, tell all of us, look me in the eye and tell me that you regret ever breaking into Charlie's house, all those times that you did, without his knowing. Tell me that you regret breaking in without Bella's permission and that you regret it afterwards when Charlie imposed curfew and you snuck back in and stayed."

A stunned silence filled the cell.

Edward took a deep breath, but then his shoulders slumped. He sighed and dropped his head. "I can't."

Esme's eyes flashed fire and Carlisle's brimmed with a barely-controlled fury as Bella and the others stood stunned at this pronouncement.

"And why not?" Esme hissed, fury and outrage dripping from her every word.

Edward's eyes shot up at her, beseechingly. "I love her!"

"Before you ever got to know her?" Esme scoffed. "I could've said the same thing about me and Charles."

Bella blinked, not recognising the name. Charles? She looked baffled. She noticed that Alice, Emmett and Jasper did as well, although Rosalie, if anything, looked even more grim. Carlisle's lips thinned and his eyes narrowed at his son as he heard this pronouncement.

Apparently, the two of them knew who Charles was and what Esme meant in this situation.

"I was hardly opposed to him when we first got together. And look how that turned out," Esme spat. "Just because sheer dumb luck has turned things to be your way didn't mean that at one point, it wasn't going to be harmful. And that still doesn't excuse what you have done- nor the fact that you only apologised now when and only because we confronted you!"

She stood from her chair and took a few deep breaths. Edward sat, opening and closing his mouth, wordlessly, unable to refute this claim.

"Even if Bella gave her blessing, it doesn't excuse the fact that what you did was wrong in the first place- and not just to her." Esme's eyes were like a pair of smouldering coals: golden but rapidly turning black. "But to her father. Your father-in-law now, as I believe."

Her eyes sparked as she looked at Edward. "You owe him your apology and respect- neither of which you have given." She took another deep breath. "I see it all now, I see it all so clearly. How when you confronted Jacob after he phased in front of Charlie, you were more infuriated about Bella's discomfort than her father's life being potentially in danger-" both Bella and Edward's eyes were wide as they heard this statement "-your pathetic apology, about lying to Charlie which consisted of the words 'I'm sorry' before you calmly and collectedly launched into a paragraph of excuses as to why you did this... it all makes sense now! It makes sense why all those guests at the wedding looked at Charlie with sympathy. Why the people of Forks seemed to avoid us as a family, and looked at me and Carlisle with disapproval!" Edward and Bella's jaw dropped and their eyes popped at this pronouncement. "Like they couldn't believe we could condone all this!" She laughed bitterly. A strange, terrifyingly haunting sound that Bella was certain she would never forget. "Why Sue Clearwater- after hearing the words from Charlie's lips- claimed that your asking for Charlie's blessing-" Esme gave a harsh laugh. "If you can even call it that- was more like making certain that he knew that not only did you not need to ask for his permission, but you didn't even seem to care too much about asking for his blessing either, unless it was to keep Bella quiet and content." Bella hissed in a breath. "You were just too happy to care- not about Charlie, your potential father-in-law, Bella's father, and, as consequently, not about Bella's feelings- not when it comes to the concern and care she may have for her own father."

A memory flashed through Bella's mind: James. When Bella had returned to house after the Cullens had discovered that James was planning on tracking her, she'd come to the house, and rather than attempting some half-baked excuse and poorly-thought out lie to say to Charlie, she'd simply acted all furious and enraged to make it seem like she had had enough and wanted to get away from Edward- and Forks in general. It had gotten to the point that to to take him aback, Bella had actively hurt Charlie by repeating to him all those things her mother said when she left.

Bella took a deep breath to calm the ever-increasing mountain of guilt, but she couldn't stop the memories. Bella had been guilt-ridden and in tears while they were in the car. Edward's reaction was "He'll forgive it." A nonchalant remark that was followed swiftly after by silence.

An overwhelming feeling of horror engulfed her, worse than a tsunami wave: the realisation struck her before she could put up a feeble attempt to defend herself- defend Edward- before she could deny it:

Edward didn't care. He hadn't cared. Not about Charlie. Not one bit.

But why should he? Bella wanted to argue with herself. He didn't know Charlie, not then.

A chilling thought struck her: but he knew now. And he knew how much Charlie meant to her- as her father.

Bella bit her lip. Or did she?

Leaving aside her own failures as a daughter, Bella remembered that Edward barely seemed to give any thought to Charlie, if ever.

"And it's not just because he's Bella's father that you have to respect and consider what he may feel, personally." Carlisle spoke through gritted teeth. "You chose this lifestyle, to become a 'vegetarian' vampire, to pose as a human not because you wish to lure in prey, but because you wish to live as one of them. To be one of them. As you've always complained about not being for the past eight decades you have been a vampire for." Carlisle spat, taking his adoptive children aback.

In all the years they had known him, they had never heard him sound this way, nor look as infuriated as he did.

Or betrayed and disappointed.

"And part of the deal of acting human," Carlisle said, slowly and dangerously "part of blending in, is to treat humans like we treat ourselves." His hard voice made all of his adoptive children flinch. "As if we are one of them; because for all intents and purposes we are one of them. We do not treat them as food, otherwise none of us would have ever chosen to undergo this lifestyle. We do not treat them as pets or playthings. If you truly loved Bella you wouldn't- and you would not only make an effort to respect not only her- but her father. To treat him as if he was one of us: part of the family."

Edward gaped. "But- how was I supposed to when Charlie didn't know? When he couldn't know?"

Esme scoffed. "You could have been more considerate of his feelings while pretending to be a human being, the way others have done. You didn't have to tell him the truth, you just had to be respectful and mindful of his feelings. And to go out of your way to make him feel as if he was part of the family, especially since you were marrying his daughter and lived in the same town. It doesn't take exposing yourself as a vampire in order to do that."

Edward was aghast. "I tried!" He rose, throwing his hands up in the air and glowering when he heard Rosalie's scoff. "I did! I asked for his blessing-"

"After you neglected to ask for his permission to marry his daughter," his sister snarked.

"Bella was eighteen years old! He would never have let us get married, not in this day and age!" Edward defended hotly. "She didn't want to go against him- I didn't want to make her reconsider-" he froze.

The other Cullens all gaped at him. Alice gasped and covered her mouth. Rosalie's eyes narrowed into a hateful glare. Emmett looked appalled and Jasper disturbed. Carlisle had never seemed so infuriated. Esme might as well have been a statue. Bella stood frozen; she felt like she'd been slammed into by a sledgehammer- or a lightning bolt.

"So," Esme said, breaking the silence. "You didn't want to give her time to rethink her decision before undergoing this permanent, life-changing choice you claim to offer her? After you claimed that you didn't want her to regret and feel she's missed out on anything as a human?"

Choice? Bella thought, both wild and numb. If she were a human, her heart would've hammered. What choice?

Another lightning bolt slammed into her: she never had a choice: unless it's the one whether she either married Edward or-

"No!" Edward's hands flew to his head. He threw them down again. "I didn't- she was all nervous about getting married, I didn't think-"

"Then why did she have to?" Emmett asked incredulously, speaking for the first time since this conversation began. Jasper looked like he agreed. Emmett stared at Edward. "Why did she feel like she needed to get married? I mean, it's understandable since it's the twenty-first century and she had divorced parents-"

"I wanted to get married!" Edward shouted. "I- it was the way things were done, I wanted to do things properly. Traditionally! I felt-"

"Just you, Edward?" Rosalie's voice was as hard as a diamond. Her eyes too as they narrowed down at him. "Getting married now was just what you wanted?" Her voice was brimming with fury.

Edward opened and closed his mouth, gaping. "No! That's- that's not what I meant!"

"Then what?" Carlisle's voice was deadly but soft.

Edward closed his eyes. He took a deep breath. When he opened them, he said in a calmer voice: "Bella wanted to transform," he said quietly. "In order to be with me. If she was ever going to make a permanent, life-changing decision why not make it official?"

Rosalie scoffed. "Edward, couples get divorced-!"

"I know!" Edward shouted, throwing his hands into the air. "But that's not what marriage is supposed to be, isn't it? In theory, the couple are together for every day of their lives-"

"In theory" Esme said, voice steely. "There- you've said it. In theory. Real life doesn't always work out that way."

"And in your case, it was a permanent decision that will affect her for the rest of eternity," Carlisle said quietly.

Edward tried to reason with them. "Why are we discussing this? It was Bella who first decided that she wanted to be a vampire in order for us to be together for eternity-" his eyes pleaded with them. Bella had never seen him look so desperate. Not even when the Volturi were coming. "Why not make it official?"

Esme shrugged. "You could have: in the case that it was a mutual decision to be together, regardless of how you decided to go about it, you have every right." Edward's shoulders sagged a little as he heard this pronouncement. "But you didn't have to get married straight away; you do realise that, don't you?"

She was looking at both Edward and Bella as she said this. Bella stood frozen, she opened her mouth but found that she couldn't speak. After all, what could she say?

"I did," she said finally. But Edward beat her to it: "She told me that," he admitted. "But considering that it was- as you've said it- a permanent, life-changing decision which would last for eternity-"

"Then she had every right and every time in the world to rethink, and, if necessary, then to reconsider her actions." Esme's eyes narrowed. "She didn't have to feel pressured to get married now."

"Bad enough that you were constantly dangling your eternal teenage-hood in front of her, every time she saw you." Rosalie snarked. "She didn't need to feel any more pressure in order to do things now: getting turned or getting married."

"She wanted to do things quickly-" Edward pleaded. Like a toddler or a child trying to point the finger, claiming that this other person was more at fault. Bella was floored. "I figured we might as well tie the knot-"

"You figured?" Now it was Jasper's turn to speak up. "Not Bella? Not both of you?"

Edward took a deep breath. "Bella wanted to be transformed in order to be with me," Edward stated, calmly, as if recounting the facts. "I proposed that we should get married first."

"As a condition?" Jasper was flummoxed.

"You would get to marry her in exchange for your transforming her?"

Edward's eyes widened and he took a step back. "No- that isn't- that is not what I said-"

Jasper's head snapped to Bella's direction. "Was that what happened?"

Bella's mouth opened and closed. A tiny, miniscule part of her that could still find things humorous registered that seemed to be doing that a lot lately. "I asked him to transform me first..."

"And in exchange," Esme said slowly, understanding dawning in her now-black eyes filled with rage. "You would marry him."

Crap! Bella started to realise what this sounded like. "No, that's- Esme-"

"So it was a condition," Esme said, ignoring Bella entirely as she fixed her eyes upon Edward, her errant son. "Not a proposal based on free will."

Edward flinched. His eyes were wide, in denial, but he found that he had nothing to say.

Bella's eyes were massive, trying desperately to refute Esme's claim, to find something to say. To say that she had, in fact, chosen of her own free will...

That she had not been coerced or pressured into accepting this deal.

"Is that truly love?" Esme whispered, her flinty eyes now bore the look of pain and utter and complete disappointment in her son, along with betrayal. "If you needed to trade or barter her consent to marrying you in exchange for immortality? To be pressured and coerced into accepting a deal that she might not be ready for... nor ever would be?"

Bella gaped aghast. "I- it- it can't be-" she snapped herself out of her stupour. "Esme-"

"I thought," Alice's voice spoke up quietly as she stared at Bella. "You wanted to get married, Bella." Her black eyes were large with horror.

"I did!" Bella's eyes darted back and forth between the Cullens. "Esme- I did want to get married to Edward- I just didn't feel I could do it now, because I was eighteen and my parents-"

"Then why not wait?" Esme asked quietly. "If you both wanted this so badly, why not get transformed first before tying the knot?"

Bella opened and closed her mouth. Involuntarily, instinctively, she looked to Edward's direction.

A part of her realised that she did reacted by autopilot because she'd usually relied on Edward to save her. A large part of her was overwhelmed with disgust by how truly pathetic she'd sounded.

Alice turned around and buried herself into Jasper's shoulder.

"The Volturi might've been pacified, but how would we explain that to Charlie?" Edward asked quietly.

Esme scoffed. "Don't think you can fool us: you weren't thinking of the very real threat the Volturi posed when you voted against Bella's transformation and insisted she stayed human. You were ready to challenge them." And the memory struck Bella like yet another blow: that was the case. "And you certainly didn't think about what Charlie would think or feel at that time- or any of the town for that matter, since you and Bella were all everyone could gossip about for many months." Bella flinched, this time because she was mortified. That she did remember, but it didn't seem so bad...

"You certainly never cared that Charlie and Renée, nor Carlisle and I were subject to debates about our sanity and effectiveness as good parents," Esme insisted. "Which could've seen our status as your 'foster parents' put into question by the authorities had they gotten wind of your decisions before either of you were officially of the legal age." Bella felt like she'd been slapped: she knew that she had been the subject of the locals' juicy gossip for months, but she'd never imagined that Charlie or his parenting would've fallen into scrutiny. Now, she cursed herself. She had been so preoccupied about what people thought about her that she'd completely forgotten about how this would look for Charlie, who had conducted himself impeccably as the town's chief of police and an upstanding citizen, amidst the people in this town, the ones that looked up to and trusted him to protect them. How he must've been the source of much speculation and gossip, after his own failed attempt at an early marriage which resulted with his daughter living in Phoenix and rarely returning to Forks to see her father. How they would've questioned his effectiveness and his judgment.

Bella swallowed a lump in her throat. Her eyes stung. Was this- was this the kind of person she was?

She'd always thought that if someone else had been in love with Edward and had, despite all odds, been loved by him, they would've understood. That they would do the exact same things.

Now, she wasn't so sure.

"So don't try to use anyone else as an excuse. It's not going to look good for you in court. Not if you wish to return home to your wife and daughter." Esme finished quietly.

Carlisle sighed. He took a deep breath and squeezed his brow before looking up. "Edward," he said quietly, all traces of anger having disappeared. But the betrayal and utter disappointment in them still remained. "All you have shown- that you have proven to us- is that your reasoning and your judgment is not what we thought it was." He took another deep breath. Edward winced.

"I am extremely disappointed in you," he said slowly, eyes meeting up to see Edward's. "And I am ashamed of what you have done. Even when you slipped and had your rebellious phase, that could be understood, but this... you have no reasoning for this, Edward. Not good ones. At some point, things stop being understandable and they start being inexcusable. Even love."

Although his voice was quiet, Carlisle's words rang louder than thunder. "I never imagined you would be this selfish," he murmured. "I always thought- always believed that there was something good in you. Something worth striving and living for. Perhaps it's because you refused to see it that you never made a go for it. You hardly tried. But your mother certainly believed in you. Elizabeth-" Edward looked as though he had been struck when he heard that name "was willing to give her very life to save you. Her last thoughts and her dying wish was about you: giving you the life and the second chance she felt you deserved."

Carlisle closed his eyes. "I'm glad she's not here now." He murmured quietly. "I'll be too ashamed to see her. To know that I failed her- failed her son and someone I called my own. For her to see what he has become, what he has done..."

Esme reached out and took his hand. "We both failed." She said quietly.

Carlisle squared his shoulders. His expression became steely as he looked back at Edward. And Bella saw it: he regretted assenting to Elizabeth Masen's wishes and transforming Edward. While he did not regret fulfilling her dying wish and having Edward as his son, he regretted what Edward had become.

They all could see it: it was as clear as day.

"Thankfully," Carlisle continued slowly but clearly. "Things have turned out to be as you both wished." He looked to Bella before turning back to Edward. Bella barely avoided a flinch. "But don't continue to depend on your luck Edward. Before long, it always runs out."

People usually assume that Carlisle and Esme are pushovers or Edward's pawns, but readers- and audiences- have to ask: how much do they really know of what Edward has done? And would they have approved? Did Carlisle approve when Edward failed to check the surrounding area for humans when Bella first goes hunting as a newborn? Did Esme approve when Edward and his brothers planned on opposing the Volturi at the end of New Moon?

Alice too- she gets a lot of bad rep, and I'm not saying that she doesn't deserve it- not entirely, at least- but when we look at Edward and Bella's wedding and we see Alice's fingerprints on every single detail: from the wedding invitations, to the cake, to Bella's dress- everything that Bella should've had a say in- we also have to look on how much she herself actually knows. She saw Edward and Bella driving off to Vegas in her vision: she never claimed to see how they got engaged. Alice's weakness is her impulse. Her excitability and enthusiasm, as well as fear and panic when she sees what she doesn't like. She easily gets carried away. And it's a surprisingly human weakness and youthful trait.

Disclaimer: Don't own this and I never will. Not even Istvan is mine (he's shown in Underworld: Evolution, and named in the novel).