A/N: This is my first story on . I tried to upload it a few hours ago, but something went wrong, and it uploaded in code. This one will hopefully work. Please tell me what you think. Thanks :)- Izzi.
Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of the characters involved. They all belong to Stephanie Meyers

Chapter One: Rochester

"I can't read her Carlisle." Edward said, pain and tension evident in his voice. All he had done was brush his hand with mine, and I had flinched away. I sat on the bed, pushed back against the wall, having yet another violent flashback. I was flush against the wooden siding, with one knee up and my arms wrapped around it. Esme sat beside me, and I leaned my head on her cold hard shoulder. I didn't hear Carlisle's response, but I heard Esme whisper to me that she needed to hunt, and I moved to let her by.

"I'll be back soon, sweetheart." I nodded blankly, and shifted until I sat Indian style. Edward came into the room minutes later, and knelt in front of me, clasping his hands together. He leaned closer to me, and I pushed back further into the wall. I could feel the grains in the wood on my back.

"Please Bella, tell me. Why won't you talk to me?" He pleaded, his topaz eyes yearning. I was being dreadfully unfair, I knew. Ever since my change weeks prior, I had only allowed Esme to touch me, and Carlisle to come closer than a few inches. Even my new father was a struggle to let close. I logically knew that neither would hurt me, but my reflexes wouldn't allow them close. He knew what had happened to me, had read it in Carlisle's mind. But knowing and experiencing are different.

"I do talk." I answered, my voice monotone. People in town had once said my voice was an angel's, expressive and pure. Even the new musical tambre to my voice didn't allow for any inflection or emotion. I had closed that off, locked it in a far corner of my new mind.

"What happened to you?"

"Do you really want to know?" I felt my resolve shatter. I knew I should talk. Who better to talk to than Edward Platt, the young brother of the doctor's wife? The one studying psychology from home to help his sister and her husband?

He closed his eyes and nodded, and so I began.

"It was the night of May 5th, I remember, because I was due at Vera's. We were supposed to talk about the wedding, my wedding, as it was only a few weeks away and I had yet to ask her to be my maid of honor. We talked about Royce, my fiancee, Father's superior at the the bank. I never understood why Royce chose me. I was a far cry from the most beautiful woman in town. I'd say that honor goes to Esme. That fact was well known, even though we rarely saw her in public. Personally, I believe that Royce wanted someone with a marginal amount of intelligence, and Vera and I were the only smart ones with looks. Royce called me "Isa", something no one else did. He called me beautiful, peaches and cream, ivory and rose.

"Vera was always prettier than I, with her long black hair and jade eyes. I thought for a while that Royce had his eye on her, but she married Tommy, the carpenter's son, last winter. I envied her that at the time, that she had someone to love her and hold her.

"My parents, though they loved me, would have never let me marry a craftsman. Trajectory must keep moving upward, they said. But Vera seemed happy, and I wondered why my parents wouldn't want that for me. She is in love with Tommy, and their little boy Henry is adorable. I used to wish for children, but when I imagined little children running around the King estates with Royce's hair and my eyes, and my stomach would turn over. Royce was not the man I would have picked for myself."

Edward seemed surprised by this, and I nodded at him.

"I would have prefer someone like Vera's Tommy, someone like you, someone who loved me. For Royce certainly had no illusions of love where I was concerned. No, our marriage was one of convenience. He got a pretty wife with a brain in her head, and I pleased my parents.

"It was dark the night of May 5th, and strangely cold as I walked home from Vera's. I remember wishing I was in the main part of town, where the lanterns were. I only stopped because someone called my name.

"'Isa!" called one of the drunks of the street. I looked closer and saw how well dressed these men were. My heart froze, only Royce called me Isa.

"'There's my Isa! Yer late! I been tellin' them about you, how you don't look like much, but you're a firecracker when you wanna be.' slurred Royce."

Edward hissed and froze, before reaching towards me. I shook my head at him, and continued, whispering low, wrapping my arms around myself.

"I stopped in my walking, and he stumbled towards me, pulling me close. There was a new man there, who I hadn't seen before. Royce shoved me towards him, and he caught me, holding me roughly in large tanned hands.

"'What'dya think Johnny?"

"'She's no Southern Belle, but she'll do."

"'Remember Johnny, it's not the wrapping that matters it's what's inside." he turned to me then, "C'mon Isa," he ripped off my coat, "Show them what you got." And after that, all I could remember was pain, pulling, scratching, shoving and more pain, until the ground rushed up to meet me, and I hit the cobblestone street with a crack.

"'Looks like you'll need a new wife King.' they shouted as they left me.

"I laid there, cold and alone. It began to rain, and I cried, somehow knowing I would die there. The rain was icy for early May, and I felt my fingers and toes begin to numb up. It would be hours before anyone from town would find me. I believe I had just given up when Dr. Cullen found me. I barely remember the fire Edward, and how I escaped from Esme while we were know I ran back to Rochester, how I killed the four of them, and those two guards. You know about the wedding dress, and you know I'm trying. What else do you want?"

"You're the only thing I want, Bella. I do love you, no matter how much you think I couldn't."

"You deserve more than me."

"Why? Because you killed those six men? I used to kill six men a night."

He had told me of his years as a vigilante, of killing men like Royce and Johnny.

"No. You don't deserve me because I'm broken. Because I'm used and dirty and worthless."

"Bella. Bella. Bella, no. Nothing that happened was your fault. But you're safe now. I'll never let anyone else hurt you."

And it was that day that I first let him hold me, and I fixed it in my head. December 17th, 1933. The day I got better. And then when Rosalie Hale joined us in Nashville three years later, she understood, and the two of us understood each other. The day I found someone to help. And she found her Emmett later, in the Smoky mountains. And she took the same steps I had earlier, to health. And by the time Jasper joined the family and found his Alice, we were complete. And as I sat on less useless bed with Edward's arms around me, his fingers twirling the ring on my finger, I felt whole, for the first time since May 5th, 1933, I felt whole.