"I'm just finishing this filing and then I'm leaving early today, remember?" I call out to Demetri from the front desk.

"Bella's birthday, right?"

"Eighteen. She's finally eighteen." I smile as I push the last file into the cabinet and turn around. "You ever think I'd be working here? I mean I know it's just front desk and just until I leave for college, but I've got to be the hottest piece of ass who's ever held this position, right?"

"I always knew you were going places, Masen. I was just waiting for you to show me where that was." He leans back in his chair. "Still can't believe you're going into social work. Haven't you had enough of it?" He laughs and stands.

"You helped me, D. You saved my life, gave me someone to talk to, told me off when I needed it. I want to do that. I look up to you more than anyone."

"That means a lot, kid." He reaches out and slaps my shoulder.

"We're alone. It's okay, you can admit it. I was your favorite."

"Get out of here!" He jokes, throwing his pen at me.

I grab my stuff and head out the door. I drive towards Charlie's for Bella's birthday dinner. If the last few days are any indication, Charlie's nervous. In fact, if I was a betting man in Vegas, I'd lay down twenty to one odds that he's pacing in front of the fireplace with his hands on his hips, staring at the envelope on the coffee table.

Bella's new truck is sitting outside in the driveway. She's been volunteering at a Women's Shelter close to Seattle on the weekends, so she really needed her own car. She's a natural of course, talking to those women about their experiences and about hers. She's so good at it that they offered her an internship for the entire upcoming year while she starts community college, talking at conferences all over the country. I leave for college two days before she takes off to Seattle.

I haven't let myself think about it. Being away from her for that long. I'm afraid that if I do, I'll drive myself crazy. It's not that far really. I mean USC is only about a seventeen-hour drive to Seattle if I really need her. If. That's bullshit. I'll always need her.

The smell of roast hits me as soon as I walk through Charlie's door. Even though it's her birthday, Bella insisted on cooking.

Charlie is doing exactly what I knew he would be. Pacing in front of the fireplace.

"Hey, Chief," I say, throwing a wave his way.

He nods as I continue into the kitchen. Bella is standing at the stove, stirring something and swaying her hips to the beat of the soft music playing in the background.

I slide my arms around her waist and lean in close. "Happy birthday," I whisper.

She smiles and turns her head a little, acknowledging my presence. "How was work?"

"Good." I kiss her cheek. "That smells delicious." She offers me a taste. "You know Charlie's nervous as hell."

"He still won't tell me a thing. He wanted to wait until you got here." She narrows her eyes at me. "You know what my present is, don't you?"

"I do." I smile.

"You know, I told him he didn't have to get me anything. He's done enough. I mean, he's taken me in like I'm his own, paid for my food, my clothes, everything. College." She turns back to the food. "But if he was going to get me something, he could at least have surprised me instead of torturing me with this wait."

"I promise you it's worth the wait. And he hasn't spent any more than he already has on you." I figure that puzzle would keep her going until he was ready to tell her.

When dinner was ready, we all ate on TV trays in the living room while Charlie watched his baseball. There was ice cream, with a candle right in the middle of her scoop for Bella, for dessert. And by the time we're scraping our bowls, Charlie's stopped eating all together. His eyes land on the envelope, the same one he was staring at earlier.

"I guess...you can open your gift now," he mumbles. "It's in that envelope there."

Bella smiles as he averts his eyes down to his lap. She hops up and brings the envelope back to her chair.

"What is it?" She asks, tearing the top part off. She pulls out a stack of papers and her expression changes. Her jaw falls open and even from here, I can see her eyes fill with tears.

"Adoption papers?" She says, her voice cracking. "But I'm eighteen. Why now?"

Charlie looks uncomfortable talking about all this emotional stuff. "Well, I figure I want you to be my kid because you want to be. Not because you feel obligated to while you're still living here." He chances a look up at her. I feel bad for the guy. He looks like he's about to pass out.

I know what it's like...waiting for her to say yes. It's like waiting for the one thing that you know will be the best thing to ever happen to you. How is it even possible to stomach that kind of anticipation?

"I've never wanted anything more than to be your daughter," Bella says. She stands and throws herself down on Charlie's lap, curling up against his chest like a little girl would with her dad.

A hint of a smile tugs on his lips as he kisses the top of her head. I grab the plates and head to the kitchen to give them some privacy.

I do the dishes and put away the leftovers so Charlie has lunch for the next few days.

"This is my favorite birthday," Bella says, slipping in beside me.

"Good. Because it's not over yet." I've been so anxious for Charlie that I've forgotten to be anxious for myself. I still have to give her my gift. "You ready?"

"Where are we going?"

I lean in and kiss her. "It's a surprise," I whisper.

We get in my car and drive, talking about nothing in particular. I take her through the winding roads and down to First Beach, close to the woods where I found her over a year ago.

"What are we doing here?" She asks, squeezing my hand.

"This is where it all started, me and you." I pause. "Crazy how much has changed, isn't it?"

"All for the better."

"It's just that we're starting this whole new, big thing in our lives now. You're going to Seattle and I'm going to California and it just feels like the end of something."

Her smile falls. "Are you breaking up with me?" She whispers.

"No, quite the opposite." I put my arms around her waist. "We are destined to do great things, especially you. And I want you to be able to accomplish all that you want to. And God, I have dreams, Bella." I shake my head and smile. "But I know that every one of those dreams is going to lead me back to you." I pause because this is the hard part. This is the part that's going to make that seventeen hour distance that much harder. And that much more worth it. "So I want you to go out and see the world, study it, get your education and I don't just mean in the classroom. Tell me about it. Write me. Call me if you want. But I want to give you your time to find yourself, baby. You won't have to worry about me finding another girl, because I've already found the girl for me." I lean forward and kiss her forehead. "And in four years...four years," I hold up four fingers, "When I'm done with school and you've made your mark, we'll meet back here." I look down at the ground. "At this very spot. Four years from today. And we'll be unstoppable."

She smiles and I'm relieved. She understands.

The moment she was free from Phil I knew that I was the only one that could give her exactly what she deserves. The world. So I'm going to give it to her, no matter how hard it's going to be to be away from her. I'm going to miss her. I'm going to wish that I was a selfish prick that had to be with her every second of the day. And I'm going to love her for the next four years while we're out finding our place in the world. Until we meet back here in this exact spot. Four years.

Four Years Later...In This Exact Spot

I'll be lying if I tell you that I haven't seen her at all in the last four years. In fact, I would have gone crazy not seeing her. I was home on breaks, she visited Charlie. We were bound to run into each other somewhere. She'd call me every now and then to let me know where she was and what she was doing and I'd tell her all about school and applying for graduate schools.

We made new friends. Experienced new places and things. And I carried her with each step. I carried her in the way that I carried myself. In the way I saw people and treated people. How I saw myself. There was never a single doubt in my head about her or our relationship, no matter how strange it seemed to most people. Together, but not. They don't understand how important this whole thing is. It's everything to me that she gets to experience life the way it was meant to be. And I deserve the same because I sure as hell didn't have a great childhood. Our paths led us right back to where we're supposed to be, just like I knew they would, like footprints in the sand.

I step out of my car and follow the tiny footprints from just beyond the parking lot, along the water's edge at First Beach, and towards the tree line. She's standing with her back to me, staring at the endless stretch of sand before her.

Her hair's a little shorter than the last time I saw her, curled and wavy as it falls just past her shoulders. She's wearing a long dress that blows in the sea breeze and sweater to keep warm.

My body's buzzing, aching so bad just to reach out and touch her.

"I was afraid you weren't coming," she says, turning towards me.

I smile and shove my hands into my pockets. "I've been waiting for this for the last four years." I take another step towards her.

She takes me in, just a little older, hopefully a little wiser. There's a little more scruff along my jaw and I wouldn't be caught dead in any of the clothes I used to wear in high school.

I worry for a moment that I'm too different. That maybe this world proved to be too much for me to compete with. And then she smiles.

"Hey," she says, wrapping her arms around my waist and perking up on her toes. "Hold me?"

A/N: I told you it was unconventional, but they still got their HEA. Just like for Edward, it was so important to me for them to not go from being Foster Kid Edward and Abused Bella to Edward and Bella. They deserved more than anybody to be their own person, out on their own, away from the labels and the restraints that their childhoods put on them because they were never allowed to be that before. And that didn't mean that they loved each other any less, in fact I think that it means that they loved each other more because that takes a great deal of strength to let someone go and trust and know that they'll come back to you. And I couldn't have imagined a better ending for them :)

Thank you again so much for reading and joining me on this story. I hope to stay in touch, please follow me on twitter. I have a Fandom account and a RL account and I'd invite you to follow either or both. Fandom: MandyLeigh010 RL: AmandaLeigh1123

XOXO