Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight; all credit for the characters goes to Stephenie Meyer. However I do own the plot for this story.
A/N: This chapter is in reference to the Van Morrison song Reminds Me of You. I'm sorry it took me so long to update. Hope you all like it (if I still have any readers left). Please rate and review.
Chapter 4: Reminds Me of You
EPOV
Bella was gone.
"Edward, Edward, please, Ebony needs you, it's time for her feed", Alice's voice rang through my stupor. Blindly, blankly, I reached my arms out for my baby daughter. Alice handed Ebony softly to me; the warmth of her tiny soft body shocked my cold skin. I could feel her heartbeat under my palm, but I couldn't look at her. I knew that all I would see was Bella's eyes, Bella's small, soft lips, and Bella's mahogany hair. I shoved her back toward Alice.
"You feed her," I challenged, although I knew there was no emotion in my voice to convey my desperate anger, the consuming, deathly sadness that stopped me from being able to look at my daughter.
"Edward, Ebony needs you. You're her father," Alice implored. All I wanted was silence; I couldn't bear the thought of anyone mentioning Bella. I slowly shook my head. "Edward, Bella's gone, but you can't let go of your daughter." It was too much.
"FUCK ALICE, DON'T YOU GET IT! SHE FUCKING REMINDS ME OF HER TOO MUCH, EVERY TIME I FUCKING LOOK AT HER, ALL I SEE IS BELLA. I CAN'T TAKE IT, just take her away." My energy was spent, I couldn't look at Alice. I could hear her sobs as she slowly turned away and walked out of the room. I couldn't feel guilt though; I couldn't feel anything except love for Bella. I fell onto the bed and curled myself into a ball, anything to make the pain go away, to stop the searing knife edge from cutting me into a million pieces. I was a shell, splattered nerve and cortex, blood frozen in my veins, no blood in my heart. Everything stopped.
4 Months Later: ESME POV
I softly stroked Ebony's beautiful mahogany hair, she was almost asleep. Just as she drifted off I heard a dull creak on the stairway. I looked up from my seat on the sofa and saw Edward walking down the stairs. He caught sight of me. I didn't expect him to smile; he hadn't smiled once since Bella left. His lifeless eyes drifted downwards and saw Ebony cradled in my arms. Immediately, he turned round and began to walk back up the stairs.
"Edward," I called softly, careful not to wake my granddaughter. Edward turned warily around again. "Are you going back upstairs? Could you take Ebony to her crib for me?" Edward held his chin up, as if he was trying not to cry. He softly shook his head. I knew the look on his face. He couldn't trust himself to speak without crying. It broke my heart that his daughter had that effect on him. It broke my heart that I couldn't mend my son's. He was living a half life. He ate and he slept, but there was no life there. It was like Bella had taken his spirit with her when she left. But I couldn't hate her. No matter how hard I tried, Bella was like a daughter to me, I couldn't understand her motives, but I could still love her. I just hoped that my love was strong enough to guide her back home.
I broke out of my reverie and looked back at the stairs, but Edward was gone. I sighed, but slowly got up and took Ebony up the stairs and laid her down in her crib. I tucked her apple green blanket over her and stroked her soft, baby face before going back downstairs. I had never thought that I would be caring for another baby at this point in my life. I had tried everything to get Edward to connect with Ebony, but he couldn't even look at her. She was five months old now and her father hadn't even held her since she was born. I couldn't help but feel that she needed more love. Of course, everybody else in the family: Carlisle, Rosalie, Emmett, Jasper and Alice all loved her to the ends of the earth, but it wasn't the same. She needed a mother and a father.
ROSALIE POV
"It's time for dinner," I heard Esme call up the grand staircase. Emmett and I were in our room. He was reading a football magazine; I leant over and saw him admiring this season's football strip.
"You know what would be really sexy?" I purred. Emmett turned an inquiring gaze on me. "If you wore your football strip to bed tonight." Emmett let out a chuckle and stroked my chin with his lips. I flicked my tongue against his until he gasped. "Not now," I reprimanded, "It's dinner time." I leapt of the bed with a quick smirk at Emmett before sashaying my way towards the door.
"Rosie! No fair!" he cried after me. I grinned. It had taken Emmett a few weeks to get back to his normal self after Bella left. I knew he thought of her as a baby sister, as did we all. Personally, I couldn't understand how Bella could leave. Ebony was the most beautiful baby I had ever laid eyes on. She had Bella's thick dark hair, and her original ice blue eyes had turned into the same shade of dazzling green as Edward's. The same shade as Edward's used to be, I should say. The life had gone out of them now. They didn't sparkle the way they used to.
I entered the dining room, with Emmett close on my heels. We took our usual places and clasped our hands together ready to say grace. As usual Carlisle led,
"Dear Lord. We ask you to bless us as we eat, bless this food and bless the hands that prepared it. We also ask you to please bring Bella back to us."
"Amen," we all chorused after him. We had just begun to eat, when Ebony's cry rang over the baby monitor that Esme had on the sideboard. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Edward flinch at the sound.
"I'll get her," I said, scraping my chair back. When I returned, Edward was gone. I was expecting it, but it still hurt me that he couldn't be in the same room as Ebony. I grabbed her bottle from the kitchen and walked back into the dining room. Just as I was taking my seat the doorbell rang. "I'm up, I'll get it," I said, "You guys finish your meals." I was curious as to who would be ringing our bell at 8pm in the pouring rain. I rocked Ebony as I walked towards the door. I opened it with one hand, holding Ebony in the other, but I wasn't prepared for who I would see on the other side.
Stood there in the pouring rain was Bella. But it wasn't the Bella who had left four months ago. Her beautiful mane of hair had been raggedly cut into a scraggly bob. Her frame was emaciated; she had virtually no fat left on her body. Her eyes were haunted, the same flat dull texture that Edward's had. And worst of all were the cuts and bruises that seemed to cover every inch of her skin. Her left eye was black and blue, swollen closed. Her cheek was swollen and a large cut scored the length of her cheekbone. Her right arm dangled at a scary angle, it looked broken, and her neck had angry red handprints around it.
"Is that her?" Bella's raspy voice sent a shock down my spine. "Is that my daughter?" Bella reached her frail arms towards Ebony, and I drew her protectively towards my breast. I couldn't speak, but Bella's terrible appearance made the mothering instinct in me cautious. Even though Ebony wasn't mine I wasn't inclined to hand her to this broken creature before me.
"Rosalie. Rosalie, who is it?" I heard Carlisle's voice drawing up behind me. I heard his gasp as he took in the girl standing before me.
"Bella?" he said, "Bella?" Suddenly Bella fell to the floor. I gasped in shock. Immediately, Carlisle's medical training kicked in. "Rosalie! Get Jasper and Emmett!" he urged. I stood there, dumbfounded, unable to move. "Rosalie, now!" he yelled. I was shocked into action. I ran back to the dining room. "Jasper, Emmett! Carlisle needs you, it's Bella." I said. Jasper and Emmett jumped from their seats and ran towards the front door. I collapsed in my seat, as Ebony began to softly whimper.
"Bella?" Edward whispered.
A/N: I know it's short, but I haven't written since February, so I'm just getting back into the swing of things. Please please please rate and review. It gives me inspiration to write.
