AN: I apologize for the long wait for this chapter, but the priority ranking of this story got bumped up, so this story should be getting updates at least once a month give or take a few days. Always remember, be a kind person and leave a review! I wanna know if people are still interested in this story.

(OH! Side Note: If you would like to beta this story, message me! Cuz I can get one now that I'll have regular updates)

Chapter 3

ASHLEY POV

It was probably a combination of things that had kept my attention away from my injuries. There was the relief of being 'free' and seeing my cousin, who I never expected to see again after what happened. Then I was able to get clean and relax in the soothing warm water, and my focus had been on the sensation of the warm droplets hitting my skin. All those things had pulled my attention from my bruised and battered body. Now, since all my necessities had been met, I was beginning to realize the pain in my chest once again. It wasn't mind shattering pain, but it was very distracting.

I glanced over at Emily who had a concerned look on her face.

"Are we going over to the clinic or to Forks?" I asked quietly.

"We'll head over to the clinic first. They'll tell if you need to go to Fork's Hospital," Emily said.

"… I can't believe I didn't think about you being hurt. I apologize, that should've been the first thing I helped with, and making sure you were alright." Emily sighed and pulled the car into the lot in front of the clinic.

I looked over at Emily as she got out of the car. She walked around the car and opened up my door. "Emily," I said.

"I'm always the one with the watchful eye…,"Emily scolded herself, as she helped me out of the car, though I didn't need it.

"Emily," I said again.

Emily stopped her rambling to look at me. "Yes?"

"You should stop being such a worry wart so young, Emily. I'll survive," I said. If I've made it this far I'll be able to get through anything, I thought to myself.

Emily laughed as we walked over to the front door of the clinic. "And I think you're a little too old to be calling people worry warts. How old are you?"

I smiled. "Twenty-two."

"Ahaah, twenty-two and a sophomore in college…" Emily said. She pushed open the door for me and I walked in.

In front of me one of the nurses was leaning against the counter and talking to the secretary at the main desk. I recognized them both because I had spent a good year volunteering my time here. They were going to be overly concerned about what had happened to me, even if they shouldn't be. They both looked over at me and instantly recognized me.

"Ashley!" Nurse Helen crowed and walked over to me, quickly pulling me into a hug.

"H-hi, Helen," I stuttered, in surprise and pain.

"Is something wrong?" Helen asked, having had heard the strangeness of my voice. She stopped hugging me but still firmly held onto my arms.

"Hello Helen," Emily said, intervening. "Sadly, Ashley here is actually here to be admitted."

"Admitted?" Helen said. In her surprise her grip on my shoulders loosened, I took a good sized step back and crossed my arms in front of me.

"Yes, she got in a pretty bad fight and we just want to be sure nothing got damaged," Emily said smoothly, not piquing any worry.

Emily caught my eye and silently communicated that I wasn't to tell what actually happened to me.

"Well that's no problem," Helen said ushering me away from Emily and through a set of doors.

She quickly went through the paces of admitting me as I sat on the front edge of a hospital. Helen and I were the only conscious ones in the room and that helped me feel not that uncomfortable.

VVVMVMVWWVMVMVVV

"Alright, Ashley, let's check you out now. What hurts the most right now?" Helen asked.

I raised a hand to rest on my chest. "My ribs."

"OK, then." Helen began to check my chest and I was just waiting for the little the little gasp when she saw.

"Hmm. Can you tell me what you did exactly to cause this?" Helen asked. The question wasn't entirely for medical reasons; she must really be worrying about what I had gotten myself into over the past two years.

"Like Emily said I got in a fight. I can't exactly tag what had caused this…," I answered vaguely.

Helen nodded as she continued about checking my other injuries that I had listed out for her.

VVVMVMVWWVMVMVVV

Turned out I had three fractured ribs, and plenty of cuts and bruises all over my body to last me a lifetime.

I stood in front of the bathroom mirror, holding my shirt up and looking at my cleaned up torso. I turned around and looked over my shoulder to see my back which had a ragged scar that ran from just below my left shoulder all the way down to my lower back. This scar was the worst of them all; my best guess of how I really had gotten it was one of the times Mary had thrown me into a tree.

I let go of my shirt and shivered. They were still out there, probably fucking each other or some shit. Hey, maybe they were killing some other family for funsies.

"Teeheehehee," I said, fixing my shirt. I made eye-contact with myself in the mirror, and saw the fear and pain in my own eyes. "Fuck!" I shouted, slamming my hand into the wall.

Pain shot through my arm and I instantly regretted my impulse. I may be pissed about everything but that didn't mean I needed to take it out on a wall.

There was a knock on the bathroom door. "Ashley, are you OK?" Helen asked through the door.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," I said quickly, not wanting her to come in. "I just got some water on my shirt!"

I turned the faucet on and splashed some water on my shirt, turning my lie into a truth.

"Oh, alright, just making sure you're not hurting yourself there," Helen said.

I dried my hands off again and then left the bathroom into the waiting area. I didn't expect to see one of the boys standing by Emily as she sat and waited for me. I couldn't tell who it was exactly, they had all changed a lot from the last time I saw them. Even though I knew I was safe with them all, I couldn't help to be somewhat intimidated by them, they were just so freaking tall – and that's saying something, because I've always been the tall one looking down at people.

"Are you all set to go now?" Emily said, rising from her seat.

"Yep," I answered.

The boy, who I now realized was Embry, shifted from foot to foot, and I began to wonder why he was even here. It's not like he actually cared about me and my well-being. He's a boy after all, I thought, Kim probably sent him.

"Kim started to get worried after a while and she sent me to check up on you. It's good to hear that you're alright," Embry said.

I nodded and turned around to leave out the way we came. I could hear Emily hustle over to me as I passed through the front doors. Perhaps I had just been rude, but I was getting the strangest vibe off of Embry and I didn't need another thing to pile on top of all the shit I had to deal with. I slowed down for the sake of Emily, who was half a foot shorter than me, but didn't expect Embry to come up on my left. I was tempted to shoot him a glare to get him to go away so I didn't have to think about him, but that would be rude and just not me.

We all got in the car and Emily drove the car off the lot, and back to her house.

I was tempted to peek over my shoulder to get another look at Embry. He was currently taking up a lot of brain space right now. Like, if he was taking a car back, how did he even get here? And, how can an eighteen-year-old look so damn sexy? I mean, I played the field in college and I can't remember seeing any guy that looked anything close to the G who was sitting in the backseat. I tucked my hair behind my ear and leaned my head against the cool glass window.

"Did Helen tell you how to take care of yourself? Any pain medications?" Emily questioned.

I lifted my head, and turned to look over at Emily. "I'm sure she told you mamma bear."

Emily smirked. "Well, did she?"

"Yes. But I'm hesitant about taking the prescribed pills because of the side effects," I answered.

"What's the prescription for?" Emily asked.

"Vicadin," I said.

"Ooo, partaay to-night!" Embry said, bouncing up and down hard enough to shake the car.

I turned around in my seat and Embry stopped screwing around. I looked him up and down, noting every detail about him; his hair, his clothes and physique. By looks he seems to be in his early twenties, sad thing was that there was an eighteen-year-olds juvenile brain in that body. I turned back around in my seat and scoffed. "So immature."

Emily parked the car in her drive and I noticed that there was a third car in the driveway. As I got out of the car, the front door to the house burst open. I quickly turned to face the person who was stomping down the steps and over to me.

"Uncle Fra-?" Was all I managed to get out before my uncle Frank crushed me in a hug.

I groaned at the force he was using, and I just wanted him to let go of me, but he just wouldn't. He tightened his grip on me as I started to squirm. My heartbeat quickened as my mind made a connection of this feeling to one had had while I was under Mary and Gary's care.

"Mr. Connweller, Ashley has some fractured ribs and it would be best if you would let go right now," Emily said. I heard her voice get louder as she quickly made her way around the car over to my side.

"Oh, I'm sorry Ashley," Uncle Frank said apologetically in his deep voice. He let go of me, but I had to grab onto one of his arms to steady myself. "We just got a call from the police saying what happened, and that they couldn't find you at the… ah… scene."

"I-it-it's Ok Un-cle Frank," I stuttered. Damn! My ribs were really hurting right now; I could barely catch a full breath. I couldn't help the sad whimper-like sounds I was making due to the pain. As I was concentrating on the simple act of breathing, I saw that people were beginning to enclose around me and I didn't like that –my hazy vision was enough to cause me to freak out. I broke my contact with Uncle Frank and pushed past the large bodies to get out. I felt a tear trickle down my face and just realized my watery eyes were the cause of my blurry vision –not just the pain.

My family was all talking at once at me, or at least it seemed that way to me. Did they know they were so loud? I was making my way over to the house and sat down on the first step. I first leaned forward but that made it harder to breathe, so instinctively laid back, my head and neck coming to rest on the porch. My mouth was opened wide as I got my first full breath of air. Someone placed their large hand on my shoulder and I decided to put my full breath to immediate use.

"Stoooooop!"

Full breath number two, and then number three…

"Alone," I said. Full breath number four, number five, six. "That's what…I need…No talking…no touching…just…"

"…"

They were all quiet now, waiting for the traumatized injured girl to finish.

"…this sucks so bad…," I finished.

No one moved or said anything for a long moment. Then I heard footsteps walk across the wood chips to stop by my feet.

"Ashley, darling, do you want to come with your uncle and I to rest at our house?" Aunt Donna said.

"Yes, I'd love that Aunt Donna," I said, still looking up at the roof of the porch.

"Do you want some help up?" Aunt Donna asked sweetly.

"Yes please," I said.

Aunt Donna took hold of my right hand and I lifted my head to see her stand up from a crouch on my right. I raised my left hand and she took hold of that hand as well, shuffling over to stand more in front of me. She pulled and I pulled, and I was hoisted up to my full 5" 11' stature. I slung my right arm around her shoulders and she led me over to her car. I got into the back seat of the SUV as Aunt Donna called out for Kim. Uncle Frank was already seated in the driver's seat and Aunt Donna got in the passenger seat. Kim came running over to the car and hopped into the back seat with me, closing the door behind her.

Sensing that they were all apprehensive of saying anything because of my words earlier, I broke the silence before it could start.

"I apologize for my outburst, I just had an overload of things and I just couldn't deal with it," I said calmly.

Kim reached out to take hold of my hand. "Its fine Ash… you know, I have never seen all those boys shut up so quick." A small smile spread across her face and I smiled back.

When neither of her parents said anything I kept my sole focus on Kim. "So who were all those boys, Kimmy? I never imagined I'd find the likes of you in a gaggle of cute boys."

Kim laughed, but quickly quieted herself. "Hmm, well I never thought that I would, in your words, in gaggle of boys."

"Hmm… Are you still with Mr. J?" I said, using Jared's codename that we had used when we talked over the phone or in her parents' hearing.

"Yes, I am," Kim said, her face softening at the mention of her sweet boyfriend.

Kim doesn't know how sweet he really is. From the stories that she has told me of Jared, he really is the sweetest and nicest guy in the world. In the guy department, she got the top model; considerate, caring and freshly made abs. No joke, she sent me a picture of her and Jared at the beach, and let's just say that once that my two roommates saw the picture they desperately wanted to have it blown up to life-size. If my mind wasn't occupied by such dark things right now, I would definitely be entertaining the thought of how the other boys had 'grown up' since I last saw them shirtless for the rest of the car ride.

VVVMVMVWWVMVMVVV

Aunt Donna showed me the spare room and told me to find her if I needed anything. I thanked her and watched her as she left the room and closed the door softly behind her. I eventually turned to take a full survey of the room, which was probably the room Kim's older brother Bobby had before he went off to college and made a real life for himself. Moving over to one of the windows in the room, I pulled up one of the blinds. Woods. Right outside my window.

I was suddenly hit with the fear of being found in the house. I didn't want the rest of my family to be killed because of me. Glancing over my shoulder over to the door, I pictured where everyone else might be. Kim might be in her room, Uncle Frank and Aunt Donna sitting around the dining room table discussing the topic of me. My imagination painted the disturbing picture of what could happen if Mary and Gary came storming in here this second. There would be screaming, lots and lots of screaming –gurgling if their throats were being torn apart—I wasn't even sure if the neighbors would be able to hear if I yelled at the top of my lungs right now. Even if they were able to hear, I highly doubt they would do anything. They might just dismiss it with a little explanation and return to their current tasks.

I shut the blinds and went over to the bed.

Just lie down and be calm, thought to myself. I took deep breaths one by one, trying to calm myself down and thinking peaceful, happy thoughts. Slowly my breaths became shallower and my thoughts began to blur together as drifted off to sleep.