A/N: Thank you to all of you who are reviewing. I love hearing your thoughts on this Edward and Bella. I will say I had this chapter laid out in my mind, but once my characters started talking, they took over and it went in a completely different direction. I will say though, that I am happy with where it went.

Song for the chapter: I'm Sorry by Blake Shelton

BPOV

~~~One Day After Waking Up~~~

Yelling…so much yelling. I should have known this would happen. My parents were bound to show up at some point. And really, what they have to say is nothing more than I expected from them. Words like disgrace…overdramatic…disappointment…embarrassment to the family….failure as a parent. I should be used to hearing these words by now. Edward said them plenty of times, and my parents were always great at reminding me that these words applied to me too, but I can't deny that they still hurt to hear.

I press the call button from my hospital room for the third time, hoping a nurse, an orderly…anyone at this point, comes so I can get my mother and father out of my room. Can't they see how their words affect me? It wasn't just Edward who drove me to this point. I'm not sure how much more of their ranting I can deal with, although it's been telling how they effect my health…in the twenty minutes since they've begun listing all of my endless failures, I've watched my monitors as my heart rate and blood pressure start to climb.

I hear footsteps approaching, their pace quickening and I can only hope it's someone here to make them leave, as my father continues his tirade about my severe lack of judgement and how I was inconsiderate to do such a thing as try to kill myself knowing full well it would create problems for my parents…I guess it won't do for them to become the social pariahs at the country club.

"Get the fuck out of here and shut your mouth!" A familiar voice angrily bellows.

I look up to see Emmett glaring at my father. My father stares back, momentarily silenced and slack-jawed.

My mother tries to speak, to defend my father, but Rosalie appears next to Emmett and silences her before she even utters a word.

"Don't you even think of starting either," Rose hisses. "I know I'm supposed to respect my elders, but so help me God, you say one more vitriolic word to Bella and I will snatch you by your head and drag you out of here myself."

My parents don't seem to know what to do. I don't think they've ever had anyone ever speak to them like that. I can see them looking past Rosalie and Emmett, noticing how the nurses who have finally shown up are beginning to stare.

"Fine, we need to be going anyway," My father says begrudgingly. "But," he continues, "This conversation isn't over yet Isabella. We will finish this discussion later." He grabs my mother's hand, both of them shaking their head in disappointment at me as they storm past Rose and Emmett and out of my room.

Rosalie and Emmett continue standing in the doorway to my room, uncertainty on their faces. It's only once my parents are gone that I realize they aren't alone. Alice and Jasper, as well as Edward's mother are with them.

"Look," I grumble, more tired than anything at this point. "If you're all here to tell me I'm just being overdramatic again, you clearly heard I got enough of that from my parents for one day."

I turn my head away from all of them, unsure how much longer I can hold back the tears. I'm used to the words my parents said. My whole life I've been expected to fulfill the role of the perfect daughter, and my parents have made it abundantly clear how big a failure I am in their eyes time and again.

"Isabella." Esme says my name softly, but I can hear in the way she says it that she desperately wants me to hear what she has to say.

"Sweetheart," she continues after I make eye contact, letting her know I'm listening. "None of us here think you're overdramatic. We're here because…" Her voice quivers with emotion and tapers off, her words replaced by sobs, which confuses me since Esme has always been one of the most composed people I've ever met.

"Because," Alice continues for her. "We're all here to tell you we're sorry. We're so sorry Bella. We should have treated you better. We should have listened to you and offered you help. We know…all of us know and understand just how horribly we failed you."

"You asked us for help Bella," Jasper says, continuing on after Alice stopped speaking. "We should have helped you then. We failed you and we were wrong and we know nothing can ever make it right, but we would, if you'll allow us to, show you that we can be the support network you need and be here to help you now."

I want to hide the tears but I can't. I break down crying in front of them all. For so long I wanted my friends, this group of people who were supposed to be my family to hear and understand me and they never did. To hear them say these things now is almost too much and makes me wonder how differently I might have handled things if I at least knew I had friends, a safety net that would be there to catch me when I stumbled and fell.

Esme walks up to my hospital bed, taking my hands in her own. Her own pain is clear on her face…she's not hiding it. She's like me…a broken woman.

"Bella," she says, squeezing my hands in hers. "I know he's my son, and I know I wasn't there for you as I should have been. But please believe me when I say I am here for you now. I will always love my son, but I can no longer be blind to his role, or my own in this. Please, let me be here for you. Let me help you."

My emotions are roiling and bubbling uncontrollably within me, giving me whiplash as they swing wildly from one extreme to another, because as much as I welcome what everyone has said, I can feel untempered anger fighting to escape. I try to tamp it down, to have a civilized conversation, so that I don't truly end up sounding like a petulant child throwing a fit, but the words leave my mouth before I can stop them.

"You say you never meant to hurt me," I growl out, yanking my hands out of Esme's and ignoring the hurt on her face. My tone is accusatory, as I address them all at once. "Well that might be true, but the reality is you hurt me beyond explanation. You dismissed everything I ever said to you when I sought you out asking for help. You say you're sorry, but do you really think I should forgive you for what you put me through? For making doubt myself and think that maybe I was wrong for feeling the way I did? For making me think that between my parents and Edward, no one had my back, that hopefully you would, but that you didn't? That you couldn't be bothered to be there for me when I clearly needed someone, just one of you to tell me my feelings were valid and that you would be there to help me get through all the bullshit and lies that were taking over my life?"

"Bella, please," Rose begs. "We know we were wrong. None of us knew what to do. You and Edward put on one hell of an act, always showing us that you were the perfectly happy couple. Add in your parents calling and telling us all the time that you were being needy and whiney and blowing things out of proportion and telling us that the best thing we could do would be to tell you to handle it on your own or just ignoring it all together…none of us knew what to do. We'd hear what you were saying…hear you asking for help and advice and then two days later see you and Edward together, the picture of happiness…how were we supposed to handle that? And I know we all started to just drift…let our lives get in the way. We told ourselves we couldn't put our lives on hold for you, justified it because we thought it was the right thing at the time, because if we didn't we'd have to admit we were wrong and had failed you. I'm not saying this to make excuses because there are none. We're here to say we're sorry."

The anger I'm feeling is so different from the pain and nothingness I'm used to feeling. I want to hold onto this, because at least I'm feeling something that makes me feel alive.

"I don't know what it is that you're expecting Rosalie," I shout. "Just because you looked me in the eye and said sorry doesn't make it better. It doesn't fix things. It doesn't change the fact that I ended up using your husband's gun to try to end my own life."

I know the last thing I says was uncalled for, and judging by the way Emmett is breaking down and sobbing at my words, he already knew that the gun was his and that he blames himself for what happened. It's clearly written on his face. I want to soothe their pain, ease the guilt that plagues them, but I also want to keep lashing out…make sure they feel, if even just a little bit, the same pain they caused me.

"Well I'm sorry too Rose," I sob, unsure of just when I started crying. "Sometimes sorry…sometimes sorry just ain't good enough."

"We should have been better….you deserved better."

It's Emmett talking now. His voice sounding so small and sad and broken, unfitting for a man who is usually so much larger than life itself.

"We're not expecting an apology to fix things," he continues. "We just know that you deserve one from us. And wanted you to understand that we know how wrong we were. Please Bella…please let us be there for you now. Let us start, in whatever way your willing to let us…let us start rebuilding our family. Let us find our way out of this nightmare together. Let us be the family you deserved all along."

I look around my hospital room at these people, this twisted family of mine. All of them, like me broke. All of them, owning their role…it's more than Edward ever did. Any time he said he accepted responsibility for his part in our problems was an act, a carefully constructed role that would allow him to shirk actually owning what he did as he slowly turned back to how he always was.

But looking at Rose and Emmett, at Alice and Jasper, and even Esme herself…I know I can't take on this journey of rebuilding myself into a functional and healthy person completely on my own. I need some sort of support. And, I have to try to trust people at some point. It would, admittedly, also be nice to have this part of my family back.

"We get it Bella," Alice sighs. "You don't want us here. We can respect that…we'll…we'll go. We'll leave you alone. Just know that we're here, any time you need us or are ready to talk."

It's only as Alice talks and I see them all making their way to leave that I realize just how long I must have just been quiet and lost in my thoughts.

"Wait," I call out, stopping them all in their tracks. "Look…I'm not saying I forgive you, but I appreciate you coming here and saying what you did. I…I would like to try to fix things. For us to try and see if we can be the friends…the family we used to be."

Everyone hesitates for a moment, before coming over to hug me, to thank me for being open enough to be willing to try to fix these damaged relationships. My eyes start drooping not long after that, my body and mind exhausted from the day's events, and seeing how tired I am, everyone leaves, promising to come back soon.

As I drift off, I can't help but feel some tiny semblance of peace…some minute recognition of what it feels like to finally not feel so absolutely alone after such a long time of living an utterly solitary existence.

A/N: Thanks again for reading. I would love to know what you all think about how this little meeting went down. Next chapter should be out in a week or two.