Holly plays with Arthurs hair as she stares at the ceiling; the room is lit bright by the moon meaning she should be fast asleep like Arthur is, snoring ever so loudly beside her. But she can't sleep, his cries echoing inside her and his pain now hers.

She carefully sits up and goes to the window, her arms wrapped around herself. She looks at the sky for a moment before she catches something out of the corner of her eye; startled, she quickly looks down, relieved to see Edward's pale face in the treeline. He nods towards the livingroom and Holly nods, quietly heading down there with one of Arthurs hoodie over her tank top.

Edward sits on the arm of the couch and fiddles with his thumbs as she comes in quietly, doing the same on the opposite couch. "It's late." She says softly. "This must be important."

"Yes..." Edward says softly. He looks at Holly, his eyes hungry. That's the only way he can pull off looking just about old enough to be Arthurs legal guardian; hunger causes the dark eyes and purple bags, making him looks slightly older. "Bella said something - about when your brother was here."

"If it was about Paul being a jerk, I set him in his place. I won't have him or Jacob or anyone speaking to Arthur in such a way." Holly says.

Edward smiles small. "Thank you. No, this is about something to do with him. That he-he covered for her. Josie. He covered for her about how she died."

Hollys heart leaps. Oh god no, she can't tell Edward, Arthur will be mad. "I-I..."

"Holly, please. I just want to help him, he is my son. He is my everything and I can't take much more of him hurting, of us all hurting. He's the only person who has ever been able to shut me out so well on this things, it's frustrating." Edward begs.

Holly sighs deeply and shakes her head. "I won't tell you. But I can get him to, I think. He's exhausted, physically and emotionally. He cannot carry the weight of this much longer. Arthur is that fragile boy we all love, he's in there, he's just hiding his hurt. He's truly hurt."

Edward rubs his face sighing. "I know... Thank you for being there for him. A few weeks and you're more than a part of the family." He smiles.

Holly blushes and smiles. "Yeah, it's a good job coz my mom's mad at me for upsetting Paul. And I love Arthur. He's a unique soul."

"That he is. Sorry I disturbed you, I hope you get back to sleep soon." Edward says as he stands.

"It's fine." Holly waves him off. "Goodnight." She smiles before heading upstairs. She carefully climbs beside Arthur, tucking the covers over them both carefully before laying her head against his. "I truly love you." She whispers before dozing off to sleep again.

-

The next day they make breakfast together, Arthur failing miserably at flipping the pancakes again. Holly just laughs and takes over as he chops the fruit. "You, mister, have made a mess."

"It's okay, ma will clean it." He grins.

"No, you will clean it." She raises an eyebrow. "I'm pretty certain a big boy like you, Arthur Cullen, can clean up a little breakfast mess."

He raises an eyebrow in mimic of her. "And you, Holly Mathers, can help me if that's your battle. You made the mess too, look at this fruit juice everywhere."

"Hey I can't stop a fruit from being juice, you can stop yourself from making a mess." She points the spatula at him.

He winks at her and eats a strawberry as he waits for his plate. He then piles the fruit onto his pancake and drizzles some cream over it, kissing his fingers. "Magnifico."

Holly rolls her eyes at her boyfriends poor attempt of humour and fills her pancakes much neater. They both sit at the table and talk, enjoying the quiet house. Edward and Bella are the only two who didn't go hunting last night so they expect to see them at some point but for now they savour being alone, a rarity in a house full of his family.

In a moment of silence, Holly decides to broach the subject of the truth. "I spoke to your dad last night - well, this morning I guess it was."

Arthur sips his drink slowly. "Okay... What about?"

Holly sighs as she sets her fork down. "Tell him. Please. We can sort this."

"No." He says sternly.

"Why not? He can help. They all can." She tries to reason with a scowl.

He huffs. "Because." He doesn't want to be having this conversation.

"Because what?!" Holly snaps back exasperated at this point.

"Because it's bigger than me at this point. Because it isn't about the damaged kid who thought he was doing the right thing, it isn't just about the fact I withheld information in a murder trial. I will still go down for it. And now it's bigger than just me. It's bigger than just my lies." He yells.

Edward stands at the end of the table; Holly jumps while Arthur just throws his glass at him, used to the surprise entrances. Edward ducks the glass and it smashes on the wall leaving juice dripping down. "Enough of this all!"

"You absolute asshole!" Arthur yells.

"Oh here we go again. One minute I don't care enough and then I care too much!" Edward yells.

"You just cant keep your nose out of other people's business! MY business!" Arthur yells.

Holly just sits and rubs her temples as the father and son argue. She waits for a moment before she stands, interrupting. "Okay, stop it before you both snap entirely. The trust is out there now, you may as well explain it Arthur. And that was a jerk move Edward, I said I'd handle it."

Both men glare at each other before Arthur sits with a huff and Edward sits at the other end of the table. "Tell. Me. The. Truth." He says slowly, folding his hands on the table, his whole body tense.

Arthur's silent for a moment. "I didn't do it. But I said I did for Jo." He whispers.

"Why? Why would you lie like that Arthur, you ruined your life!" Edward says, shocked and confused.

Arthur sniffles as he tears, staring at his empty plate. "She asked me to... I thought it was the right thing. It was my fault she pushed me away, I let her; I pushed her into his arms. I'm the reason she died. I couldn't save her. I killed her." He whispers as he cries.

Holly squeezes his hand as Edward tries to process this; his young, easily manipulable son was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. He didn't think what he was doing would end so badly for him... He thought he was doing the right thing for the friend, the sister he never had, who made him promise to do so with her last breath. Josie knew he would, and it was so wrong of her to ask him to do so.

Edward kneels by his son. "You didn't do anything wrong. Josie made the decisions to do those things... You did nothing wrong." He whispers.

Arthur throws his arms around him and cries. Holly's heart breaks as she watches; her eyes fall on Paul who stands in the corner of the room with Jacob, both having heard the conversation.

Edward looks over at them. "Happy now? I told you I knew my son. I told you there was a reason he would have lied... He had a weak mind, he was young and he was frightened. His best friend died and he kept his last promise like his own life depended on it. Are you happy now for all the pain you've caused my son?"

Jacob hangs his head as he and Paul stay silent; he should have trusted Edward, and Bella. They wouldn't have lied to him. He just... He loves Nessie. And he wants to protect her at every cost.

"Im...so sorry." Jacob finally says.

Holly shakes her head and turns her back to them, kneeling by Edward and Arthur as she plays with her boyfriends hair. "Come on, let's go upstairs and have a shower." She says gently.

Hes stopped crying by now, but he looks defeated. So many walls came crashing down, so many security barriers he'd spent years building all crumbled in seconds. The trusts out. And it hurts.

He's disappointed everyone.

He's caused so much trouble.

And, most of all, he broke his promise to Josie.

He silently follows Holly upstairs; she locks the door and turns the shower on, helping him strip gently. She strips herself too and pulls him in, wrapping her arms around her as he just stands, a broken man.

"I love you. Okay?" she whispers. "And I won't ever leave you. Or be mad at you. Josie won't be mad at you. We're gonna fix this and we're gonna do it together." She whispers.

He shakes his head. "You should... You should go." He whispers as the water rains down his face, but he doesn't move or wipe it away.

Holly just laughs and strokes his cheek. "You, Mr Cullen, are stuck with me."

He rests his forehead on hers and kisses her gently, closing his eyes. Good.