Disclaimer: I cry easy.

"Flynn Anthony Cullen, you get your ass here right now!"

"But, mom-!"

"Now, Flynn!"

His mother hung up, leaving a worried seventeen-year-old just gaping at his phone.

"I think my mom's gonna kill me," Flynn said, turning worriedly to his amused girlfriend. "She only uses my middle name when I fuck up really badly."

Zafrina gave him one of her bored looks, stone-faced as always despite her inner feelings.

"Just go home, dude. She's not gonna kill you."

Flynn pouted, sliding the short distance over to her side. Thanks to his dad he'd managed to grow up until 6 feet; thanks to his mom, that seemed like it'd be his limit. Whatever; he still had half a head on Zaf. It just meant that when he tried clinging to his girlfriend, it was easier to rest his chin on her shoulder than on her head. So he hunched slightly and placed his cheek next to hers.

He batted his eyelashes.

"Wanna come with me? Mom loves you; she won't kill her firstborn with you there."

Zafrina pushed her boyfriend off; she'd never been too comfortable with public displays of affection. She was working on it, for her teddybear-like boyfriend, but... it was hard.

"Can't. Caroline's picking me up in-" she glanced down at her watch. "-five minutes. I'm having a sleepover at her place."

Flynn pouted even harder.

"Can't I come along after the chew-out that's waiting for me at home? Please?" Flynn batted his eyelashes even harder, hoping that one of his tactics would make his girlfriend one day indulge him.

"No, you've got 8 am class tomorrow, don't you? You know if you stick around too late, you'll never wake up."

Flynn Cullen was a smart kid. Not a child genius like Bella had been, but he did graduate a year early and was already in college. It hadn't been easy for him, having loved going to high school and hanging out with his friends and Zafrina, but... he did have big dreams as to what he wanted to do with furthering his college education.

He was going to be an architect.

"But, Zaf!" Flynn Cullen, whiner extraordinaire, whined. "Ian's probably gonna be there, right? If he's going, then I should, too!"

Zafrina glared.

"Your cousin is dating my best friend. So yeah, he's probably going to be there," Zaf rolled her eyes, looking again at the time. "Flynn, seriously. Every second you're still here is a second you're late to getting to your mom. If you're worried now, you'll be worse then."

His shoulders hunched, and so he gave her a pitiful look of hurt and longing that almost made her change her mind. Almost. She had to be strong; Flynn Cullen was charm personified, and she was one of a handful of people who could resist those baby greens of his.

"Fine, then. I'll wait until Caroline gets here and then I'll leave."

Zafrina's phone chose that moment to light up, her best friend's picture showing up along with a phone call.

"She's here." Zafrina said, then pointing at the headlights coming closer to the driveway. They'd gone outside of the party for Flynn to receive his mother's call, and hadn't gone back in. "Now leave, Flynn. Seriously, your mom sounded super angry."

Flynn reluctantly nodded, knowing this was a fire that wouldn't put itself out.

"Kiss?"

He even stuck his lips out ridiculously, squeezing his eyes shut. Zafrina, despite how her heart melted, wondered how such a guy could still be the most popular dude in high school even though he'd graduated already. Seriously, people still approached her to ask how Flynn was, and no party was organized where her boyfriend wasn't explicitly invited. She was part of the female soccer team, spoke gruffly and hardly ever touched a hairbrush; instead of the loving, beautiful girlfriend the popular guys usually had, Flynn had gotten himself the lazy, mildly affectionate, ok looking tomboy. In any other reality, they wouldn't have ended up together; as things were, they'd always been childhood friends, and being together was as natural as it was expected. He'd gone after her so incessantly, so lovingly, that Zafrina'd had no choice but to accept that she didn't want anyone annoying the shit out of her other than her favorite redhead. Because of how blatantly Flynn wore his heart on his sleeve, she'd had no choice but to accept that her insecurities had no place in their relationship and that he just wanted her that much -that she loved him enough to know what an amazing boy was beside her.

"Fine," Zafrina finally replied, huffing dramatically before smacking a kiss on his lips. She ended up smiling into the kiss when he gave a happy hum. "You're so cheesy."

Pulling away, Flynn winked at her.

"One of us has gotta be, and I don't imagine you'd offer," Flynn teased, giving her another peck before pulling away. "Not that I can complain. I chose you that way, didn't I?"

Zafrina wrinkled her nose.

"You did," Zafrina said, giving him a small shove to get him on his way. "Now go, you disobedient man."

Laughing, he bent to lay a kiss on her cheek before skipping away. Rolling her eyes to herself, Zafrina smiled as she watched Flynn walk to where he'd parked his car by the curb, not driving away until he'd seen Zafrina get into Caroline's car.

"You're so in love with him," Caroline stated teasingly, to which Zafrina merely shrugged. "You haven't even told him yet, have you?"

She snorted.

"Please, he knows. That asshole's just dragging out the whole saying I love you until I say it first. He's being a drama king and he knows it."

Flynn sneezed.

Man, I hope mom's anger subsided a little bit, Flynn thought without much expectations. He was parking his car in the driveway, and he could see that all the lights from the first floor were lit up. Shit, this meant it was a family meeting. As in, double shit.

Sighing heavily, Flynn made his way inside. Whatever it was that had made his normally-chill mother freak had to be either extremely big or stupidly insignificant. One time, his mother barged into his room, fury expelling out of her every pore, because he'd told her he wanted to go get his Tarot cards read; she'd gone into a rant about how Tarot was an offense to God and that if she ever saw him trying to divine his future she'd be able to predict his next week. Her rants were always faintly scary and quite amusing.

"Flynn? That you? We're in the living room!" His mother's voice rang out, and heart hanging on his liver, he slowly made his way to the family gathering.

As he'd suspected, everyone was there. His mom and dad sat on the loveseat, while Robin and Christopher sat on the couch. Robbie, his beautiful baby sister, had recently turned thirteen; when she'd been born, Flynn had refused to go anywhere without her, going as far as starting to draw on all of his art assignments his baby sister as his sole family member. Chris, on the other hand, was a ten-year-old brat that couldn't fucking go a day without hogging all of his mother's attention. Momma's boy had taken a whole new meaning with his kid brother, not to mention that his dad was always vying for Chris's attention. You always want what you can't have, after all, and because Robin showered his dad with attention all the fucking time the old man was always more than satisfied.

"What's up, mom? Something wrong?" Something about the mood had made him understand that whatever the cause, his misbehavior wasn't the reason they were there. Besides, he was well behaved, and there was no way his mom could know about that one time he tried weed. Ian would've been just as heavily implicated as him.

"Hi baby, take a seat. There's something your dad and I need to talk to you three about," Bella said, and Flynn sat next to Robbie. "Sorry for yelling earlier. I was angry, but not with you."

His dad had an arm around his mother, and she did seem pretty shaken now that Flynn thought about it. His worry didn't dissuade itself a bit.

"Did something happen, mom?" Flynn asked, and his two siblings echoed his question. Instead of answering, Edward took over for her.

"As you all know, your mom recently started her own company, in addition to managing your grandpa Charlie's-"

"Did it enter bankruptcy?" Robbie gasped dramatically, making Chris and Flynn nudge her in the sides. She was smart, she really was, just... shit at speaking. Or interacting with people without offending them.

Bella laughed.

"It didn't, baby. It's doing really well."

The three kids breathed in relief.

"Anyways," Edward continued, pouting over how his wife always got all of the attention. "With the opening of a company, that means that sometimes the owners get some attention, which can be unwanted. Your mom, she... a very mean reporter got a hold of some things in our past, and the article was published today. We just found out, and we wanted to tell you about it before you found out from anyone else."

Oh.

Huh? The three siblings frowned in confusion; their parents could be many things, but they couldn't think of anything they could've done that would warrant a bad article.

"Did mom swindle some money?" Chris asked, big brown eyes wide with genuine worry. "I thought the rule was to not get found out."

Flynn and Robbie groaned; the youngest was the dullest tool in the shed, to be perfectly honest.

"I didn't, baby," Bella laughed, a parent's tolerance being perfectly displayed. "But the rule is not to swindle."

"So, what's the article about?" Flynn asked, blinking in confusion when his parents turned to each other guiltily before glancing back at their children.

"Um," Bella swallowed, and from afar Flynn could see how tightly she was holding his dad's hand. "Your dad's got this."

With a betrayed look, Edward did indeed demonstrate he had this.

"It talks about... man, I'd hoped we'd never have to tell them this, love. It talks about how I went to jail and your mother testified against me."

Flynn, Robbie and Chris all cocked their head to the side.

"Daddy, you wouldn't have survived a day in jail."

Edward flinched at his sweet girl's mean statement.

"And mom would never do that," Chris supplied confidently. He didn't even know what that was, but his mother couldn't have.

Now Bella flinched.

"Honey, horrible as it is, I did. Your dad was accused of, basically, being an accomplice in ransomware. You know how Aunt Alice and I used to be friends in high school? Well, because I'd met your dad and therefore had some connection to him, Uncle Emmett decided to bring me in so I could either clear your dad of any guilt or state his guilt. Unfortunately, I was wrong, and believed he had been involved in some way. Flynn," Bella turned to her eldest, an exact replica of his father. Man did it feel like shit to have to say this. "You know how you always used to ask why your dad wasn't in any pictures of you as a newborn? ... It's because he was in jail at the time. He was released a few months before you turned three."

Flynn couldn't even believe this. His father, the man who'd warned him if he ever even so much as shoplifted gum would be thrown under house arrest... had gone to jail? His father, who worshiped the ground his mother walked on, had been thrown into jail because of his mom. And his uncle had been somehow involved?

Was he supposed to laugh now? This was a joke, right?

"So there was no crime?"

Edward made a face at his daughter's question.

"There was, but... my mistake was not being careful enough. Listen, I'll tell you all you want to know about this part later, but right now, one of the parts we're most concerned with telling you about is... the man I was supposedly an accomplice to."

Bella had the kind of somber face that made her kids realize this was not, in fact, a joke.

"He made a deal, back then, and got released early. But he was a man with a lot of resentment, and so he planned to hurt your dad one last time before leaving the country," Bella said, and her breath hitched in such a way that it was Edward who had to finish the story.

"He tried hurting your mom," Edward said, the pain etched on his face plain to see. This had happened fourteen years ago, and yet both of them could still feel the fear from that day. "He... broke into your mom's office back then. She almost..." his voice cracked, and when he felt Bella's head, warm and alive, rest on his shoulder, he found the strength to continue. "She almost died, back then. Your Uncle Emmett and I managed to arrive on the nick of time; your mother had been stalling for time and we managed to disarm him. He was thrown into jail for attempted murder, and unfortunately, he died about five years ago in a fight. So-"

Flynn was the one to interject this time.

"Unfortunately? Luckily, you mean! He... mom..." Flynn suddenly collapsed against the couch, stricken. "I remember, faintly, mom crying hysterically one day when I was like three. I think she'd scared me with how hard she cried. Was that... it?"

Untangling herself from her husband, Bella approached the couch and sat between Flynn and Robbie. Edward sat on Chris's end, much to the boy's disappointment.

"Baby," Bella said, putting a loving hand on her son's knee. "Don't say it was lucky. A death is never lucky, and we should never wish ill on anyone. I do feel relief that he'll never be able to touch any of you, but I also remember how hard this man's mother cried during his second trial. He was flawed and angry with the world, but I don't think he was evil. People rarely are."

His mother, for how much of a badass she was, believed the best in people. He'd never heard her say she hated anything other than exercise.

"But, mom," Flynn whined, his eyes suddenly filling with tears. "You were so broken that time."

"Of course I was," Bella said, wiping the tears that spilled. "I stared death in the face, not knowing if I'd ever see you or your dad again. I was the most frightened I've ever been, and I'm sorry I gave you that memory. But I survived, and I'm happy, and I cannot say the same for that man. I think whatever punishment God had in store for him was already dealt."

The air left Bella when suddenly, her son had her in a crushing hug. Robbie and Chris joined in, and though she couldn't see, Bella knew that the hand rubbing her hair was her husband's.

"I love you, mom!" Chris cried, the full weight of his love crushing Bella to bits. Robbie and Flynn echoed the sentiment, and a long time went by before the children tired of crying and Bella admitted to her oldest she couldn't breathe.

"You did well in saving her, dad," Chris huffed, hugging his father around the neck and basically making the man's night. Edward hugged his son back tightly.

"I'm so fortunate to have the four of you," Bella smiled, the tears glistening down her cheeks. "You make me the luckiest woman on Earth."

The children couldn't reply to such heartfelt words, so they didn't try. Instead, they hugged her again.

"Your mother and I wanted to tell you before you read it somewhere else," Edward said, laying back and watching his family warmly. "We thought you should be ready if anyone were to mention it, or if you were to find it."

Lips wobbling, Flynn made a decision.

"Can I sleep with you guys tonight?" He asked, surprising his parents. He'd refused to sleep in the same bed since he was like nine, saying it wasn't cool.

"You're not too old for that?" Edward teased his son, who simply shook his head. Copying their older brother, Robbie and Chris asked for the same thing. Laughing, the parents agreed, and they all dispersed for a while before hitting the sack.

After putting on his pajamas, Flynn got a text from Zafrina.

How'd it go? Are u in trouble? -Z

Smiling, thinking of how much he loved his girlfriend, he replied.

Not at all. They wanted to tell us something; I'll explain tomorrow. Pick u up for lunch? -F

K -Z

Chuckling to himself, Flynn made his way to his parents' bedroom.

The 8 am class was three hours long, so the professor usually gave his class a twenty minute break to go get something to eat halfway through. Because Zach Whitlock, his cousin and Ian's older brother, usually had a 10 am class in the same building and got there a little early, they'd taken to hanging out during those twenty minutes. Flynn took the time to explain what had happened yesterday and Zach, ever the worrywart, blew out a puff of smoke.

"That really sucks, man," Zach said, and the nicotine made Flynn's eyes water. Damn, he hated when his cousin smoked in front of him. "I can't imagine how rough Aunt Bella must've had it."

Flynn nodded, sipping from his hot-as-hell frapuccino. What? There was a Starbucks on campus.

"Besides, I can't believe that Uncle Emmett used mom that way. He can suck balls sometimes."

Zach nodded in agreement; they both thought their uncle was the annoying sort. Good guy, but annoying.

"I knew a little about it from mom. Sometimes she mentioned something about bad dreams and Uncle Edward, but she never finished the story." Zach shrugged, suddenly flicking his eyes to his cousin. "Tell me that's not who I think it is."

Subtly, Flynn followed his cousin's line of sight. Groaning, Flynn rolled his eyes.

"That is, indeed, Sophia Cheney. Back for you, I imagine." Flynn said. Sophia was the daughter of one of his dad's friends; from early on, he'd never liked the Cheneys all that much because his mother never seemed comfortable with them, so perhaps he'd always been biased. Either way, one time Sophia had been at a family event and, since Ian and Zach's presence was a given, met them. She'd been lovestruck by Zach's starving-poet vibe, which really was just him going through his quietly-pissed teen phase. Zach looked more like the guy that stole your girlfriend now, which his blond locks and permanent scowl, but Sophia's crush had persisted. Zach had pointed out on countless occasions the age gap (six years), the difference in personalities and the fact that he had a girlfriend; nonetheless, Sophia lived near to campus and Mr. and Mrs. Cheney didn't mind her walking to the college campus to visit her mom after the Saturday morning lecture.

Which was really, obviously, just an excuse to sniff out Zach.

"Hey Zach! Hey Flynn!" Sophia chirped, jet black hair whipping behind her. Another reason Flynn didn't like her? She was the middle school boss, meaning that she was more than a little mean to his wonderful baby sister.

"Sophia," Flynn and Zach greeted in response.

"How's it going?" Sophia asked, her eyes trained like a hawk on Zach. Pity was plain to see on every pore of Flynn's face.

"Good, thank you," Zach said.

"Sorry Sophia, but I've gotta get back to class and Zach's class starts in a couple of minutes. Say hi to your mom for us, alright?" Flynn, ever the diplomat, smiled at the little brat. She just waved them off with a smile, knowing that Zach replying was a miracle in itself.

"It'd be really funny if you end up dating her," Flynn said, walking side by side with the older guy. Zach shuddered.

"Funny for you, death for me. And I'd take you with me." Zach said, stopping in front of his classroom. "Flynn?"

Flynn stopped walking, turning back to see his cousin.

"I'm sorry about what happened to your parents. If anyone ever tries anything, tell me and I'll sock them in the mouth."

Flynn laughed.

"Will do, man. Thanks."

And that was that.

"I can't believe your parents went through that," Zafrina mumbled, biting into her turkey sandwich. They usually went to Subway for lunch on Saturdays; Flynn would pick Zafrina up from soccer practice and they'd gorge on food at the nearby mall.

"I know," Flynn said with a shake of his head, taking a drink from his Sprite. "I seriously never could've imagined my dad went to jail."

Zafrina threw a chip at her boyfriend.

"I meant how your mother was held at gunpoint, you doofus." Zafrina sighed, washing down the food with Flynn's Sprite. "I don't know what I would've done in that situation."

Flynn thought about it.

"I don't know. I think average people would've been petrified," Flynn admitted, and then a funny thought came to him. "Then again, my mother's never been average. She eats rice with ketchup sometimes."

Bella and Edward were laying in bed that Saturday, just staring at the white ceiling. Robbie had gone shower since her friends were coming over at noon, and Chris always enjoyed a marathon of Disney movies during the weekend. So they'd decided to lazy around, neither obligated to work or do anything at all that morning.

"I'm glad we told them," Bella suddenly said, turning with a smile to look at her husband. "They deserve to know about our past."

Edward turned on his left, watching his wife's profile.

"A part of me wishes they'd never known of our mistakes," Edward said, as always awestruck by how beautiful this woman was. "But I think that maybe a lot of mistakes young people commit are because they were never told how to avoid them. The kids deserve better."

Bella nodded in agreement, and the two fell silent for a while.

"You know, I've been thinking about our wedding a lot, lately." Bella admitted, surprising Edward. She wasn't the emotional type, after all, or the type to remember things that happened more than a month ago.

"What about it?"

"How Emmett fell in the pool after the toast," Bella snorted, turning to look at her husband.

"You can't blame him. He was that surprised when Rose told him she was pregnant," Edward defended his brother, but Bella's lips just twitched in amusement.

"You mean how you pushed him in when he wouldn't stop screaming?"

Edward grinned sheepishly.

"Potato, potatoe."

"I just..." Bella sighed, growing serious. "I keep remembering how happy I was, you know? How wonderful it was to have Flynn as our ring-bearer, how much dad cried when he gave me away, how much Ian cried throughout the first half of the ceremony." Bella chuckled at the last part, remembering how mortified Alice had been. "I keep remembering our vows."

"You've made me the happiest man alive once already, and today you've made me the happiest man to ever live. I love you, Isabella Marie Swan. You're the best dream I've ever dared to catch."

"I never thought I'd get married, growing up. Then again, I never could've imagined a man like you existed; someone so good and brave and loving. I always tried showing you my best, but now I want to share with you the lows and the highs. Also, Flynn's college tuition. I love you, Edward Anthony Cullen, because I don't think I ever could've done otherwise."

"You mean how you made me swear in front of everyone I'd be paying for Flynn's college education?" Edward teased. "You devil."

Bella laughed.

"Nah, the part where you told me that I was the best dream you'd ever dared to catch," Bella said, also turning on her right to face her husband. "It was the sweetest thing you could've told me."

"Did I? I can't remember," Edward laughed, scooting forward and coddling against Bella.

"You did," she said, kissing the crown of his head. "I have an incredibly memory."

They both laughed, because they knew she was full of shit.

"Alright, I was watching our wedding video. Whatever."

The couple sighed loudly, thinking of how strange it was that they could still love each other this much even after fourteen years together. The three where he'd been in jail didn't count.

"I love you, you crazy girl."

"I love you too, Jerkward." Bella laughed when Edward bit her boob. "Edward, I said Edward."

She'd always been full of shit, and Edward couldn't wait to spend the rest of his life finding out just how far his wife was willing to go to make a stupid comment.

Someone once said that... memories are just fractions of mind. When we remember, we fiddle these fractions around in, what we think, the right way. Therefore, memories are creations. To remember means to dream... and memories themselves are nothing more than mere illusions.

It's why Bella and Edward could love so wholeheartedly. Their memories were illusions, and the only thing they counted on as reality was their present. Their love. Each other.

Anything outside of it... it just wasn't worth remembering.

And we're done! Just like that. I want to thank everyone so very much for their patience, for their reviews, for their follows and favorites. Because of you, the readers, I was able to finish this story in not such a long time. I'm still swamped right now, but I also really wanted to give everyone closure with this story, which is why I worked hard to finish. I'm also quite amused that many of you thought it wasn't a romantic proposal! Haha. Honestly, I'm not really one for the whole 'popping the question' system, so I did the one version I thought I could live with. :P In any case, I'm really very thankful with everyone's endless support for me and this story. I hope that you had a good time with this story, much as I had an excellent time writing it. I hope you enjoyed the mystery, romance and humor. Thank you for reading my silly author's notes and for sticking with me to the very end. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Leah.