Chapter 6

Edward was driving me insane. The light touches and forehead kisses that disintegrate my panties are going to cause me to spontaneous combust. I was in class thinking about him, I was doing that a lot lately. I was confused Edward flirted but he didn't ask me out or let on that he was interested in me at all. And I didn't know what to do I'd never had a boyfriend before so this was a conversation I needed to have with Alice and Esme.

Alice and I were a given in the friendship department but the relationship Esme and I had developed was a surprise. Whereas Alice was spontaneous and exuberant, Esme was always the voice of reason. I needed some girl talk to figure this thing with Edward out. I swear to God if he forehead kissed me one more time I would not be responsible for my actions.

I spent a lot of time with him and Christian. The duo would come over to my house and we would watch movies or I would play with Christian until he fell asleep. Edward and I would talk about our childhoods and whatever else we had on our minds. But was this just a friendship or something more.

I felt butterflies anytime he was near and he had starred in more than a few dreams. He was always doing extra nice things for me like cooking dinner or running errands.

A few weeks ago Edward surprised me with a sort of thank you party. It was the day of Esme's interview at Ace check cashing. After her interview was done Alice and I went shopping and formulated our wedding plot. After we finished shopping like girls gone wild and I was dropping Alice at home, she insisted I needed to help her put her things up. Once we entered the door everyone yelled surprise.

Everyone was there even Rosalie and the twins, Caleb and Carrie Anne. That in itself shocked me as Rosalie hadn't really let me spend much time with her 4 year old offspring. Emmett was of course caught in the middle and although I think he actually really liked me and wanted to get to know me better Rosalie was in the way.

"We wanted to show you our appreciation for what you have done for all of us." Edward was speaking as I stood there a little shocked. There was food and a cake on a buffet table and decorations and balloons all around the room.

Esme came over and hugged me, she was still in her clothes that she wore to her interview. "We know you don't like the attention and you really hate surprises" she laughed "but there wasn't much we could do or give you that you don't have. So we figured just showing you our appreciation would do."

I was near tears and although I didn't look for any reward it felt nice to be appreciated.

Carlisle came up to me next still in his Lab coat I'm pretty sure he just got home from work. "Ahh no tears Bella it's a happy occasion watery eyes are not welcome here." He grinned at me and I almost swooned Carlisle cleaned up very nicely, he was gorgeous. His scruffy beard was gone and his hair was cut shorter Carlisle was definitely swoon worthy. I have to say Esme was a very lucky girl.

We spent the evening playing board games, eating, and singing karaoke. I hadn't had that much fun since before my parents died. That night caused a shift in every ones relationships. Getting together for dinner and movies became a regular occurance. True sometimes people were at work and couldn't make it but all in all we hung out like a regular family even Rosalie.

Leaving class I sent Alice and Esme a text.

Meet me at my house once you get off bring wine-Bella

I immediately got responses

Ok see you at 6-Esme

OK-Alice

Walking to my car I got the eerie feeling of being watched. I turned around and didn't spot anyone strange. There was a strawberry blond woman sitting on a bench and a couple of guys who looked to be residents as they were wearing scrubs crossing the street. I shook it off and kept walking towards my truck.

Heading home I decided to skip the interstate and take the street as traffic was heavy. Driving down Third street I began to hit my brakes as I approached a red light and my truck didn't slow down not even a fraction. I screamed as I drove helplessly into oncoming traffic and slammed into another car.

Everything went black.

APOV

"Hello welcome to Graceland can I take your order please?" I greeted the middle aged couple dressed in head to toe in Elvis paraphernalia. They looked utterly ridiculous. They ordered their blue suede cheeseburgers and fries and took their seats. Just as I was about to take the next order my manager came forward.

"Alice you have an emergency call I will handle the orders will you take it."

My first thought was Jasper and maybe he had been hurt at work. I ran to the shop phone "Hello" I said frantically.

"Is this Alice Brandon?" an unfamiliar voice said to me.

"Yes it is, is Jasper alright?" I was near tears my gut told me this was bad.

"We have no Jasper but a young lady by the name of Bella Swan is here at The Med she was in an accident. We got your number from her cell phone as he has the most calls with you. You didn't answer the cell so we call this line." He stated

I vaguely remember ignoring a call several minutes ago as it was unfamiliar and I was busy."Oh my god is she alright."

"Are you her next of kin mam."

"Yes" It wasn't really a lie Bella was my sister even if not by blood.

"We need you to get here to the hospital as quickly as possible."

"I'm on my way." I ran from the back towards my manager. One look at my distraught state and she said. "Go."

I called Reverend Webber to pick me up and explained to him that Bella was in an accident and was at the Med. While I waited for him I sent a mass text to Esme, Carlisle, Jasper, Emmett, Rosalie and Edward."

Bella in a car accident get to med now—Alice.

As I waited I prayed to God for Bella to be ok.

Esme pov

As I ran to the bus stop to catch a bus to the hospital I convinced myself that it was just a fender bender and Bella was fine. God would not be so cruel as to take this angel from the world, from us. I just found her. Bella was the baby I never got to have, the child that bastard of an ex husband of mine caused me to miscarry.

No God wouldn't do this, he couldn't do this. Bella was ok she had to be.

CPOV

As I walked the five blocks from the coroner's office to the hospital a feeling of dread washed over me.

I thought of the young lady I was rushing to go see and knew that for the sake of my wife and the others Bella had to be okay. She had brought them all together in a way that was baffling to all who knew the story. She had taken a group of wayward individuals and treated them as equals not some homeless charity cases. She listened to their stories without judgment and gave them all hope for a better tomorrow.

True enough we had been together as a group but we were not TOGETHER. Since meeting Bella a family of sorts had been created. Perhaps without the restraints of the difficult life the streets place on a person they had all been able to let their guard down with one another. He discovered he and Edward had a similar sense of humor and had a lot in common. Emmett was a barrel of laughs and Jasper, who was slowly coming out of his shell, had a calming personality and was very charismatic. Alice was a ray of sunshine and even Rosalie smiled more lately than he had ever seen her in the past year that he had known them.

The biggest change was Esme she was happy really really happy and I couldn't let her lose that.

Bella was special and I knew Esme would never be the same if she was lost.

JPOV

Emmett and I rode in silence as Riley gave us a lift to the hospital. My thoughts were on Alice. I knew exactly how much Bella had helped Alice deal with the direction her life had taken. Alice had been slipping into a depression right before my eyes and I had been powerless to stop it.

I knew I should spend a little more time getting to know Bella better, it was just hard for me to open up to people. I made a vow to change that. I owed Bella more than I could ever repay her and I hoped for Alice's well being that the pretty brunette was fine.

Emmett POV

This day started like any normal day and now I was on the way to a hospital yet again to see if a loved one was okay. Bella had burrowed her way into my heart despite the fact that Rosalie was determined not to have anything to do with her. She was spunky, hella smart, and had the patience of a saint. She had to be the most tolerant person he knew just to deal with Rosalie the way she had.

I knew I had been avoiding her to keep down the animosity and that was gonna change after today. Bella didn't deserve it and I was a grown ass man and could make my own decisions.

Rosalie needed to deal with what happened to her and let it go. I really think she had some form of Post traumatic stress disorder. It wasn't healthy what she was doing and more importantly it wasn't right.

RPOV

Bella was in a car accident, was she hurt badly. Why should I care? But you do

I felt the sudden urge to hold my children, but for once both the twins and Christian all were sleeping at the same time.

I don't care. Keep lying to yourself

She's just like the others. You know she's not.

I don't care, I don't care, I don't care. Maybe if you say it enough you will start to believe it

EPOV

I had never felt fear like I had when Alice sent me that text. I called Michael and let him know what was going on so he could give me a lift to the hospital. I couldn't find it in myself to feel guilty about pulling him from work, my entire focus was getting to the hospital.

Why hadn't I told her how I felt. Why hadn't I kissed her? Why why why why. I had to I had learned some tough lessons this last year and I was a better man because of it. be honest with myself I was embarrassed about the situation in which Bella found me in and it made me feel like less than a man. Here she was 19 to my 28 and she had her entire life figured out. She was beautiful, smart, and generous all the things any man would love for a woman to posses. She was better than me and I knew it.

She loved Christian and my heart caught in my chest every time I saw her holding him, which was quite often. She doted on him and was spoiling him rotten with the rocking and scooping him up any time she heard him whimper. He deserved a little spoiling Lord knows Tanya was never the motherly type even before she left.

It wasn't just the financial stability that set us apart it was her heart. I knew that if that had been me walking past that alley a few years ago and it was Bella that needed the help I wouldn't have wasted my time. I would've kept walking not even bothering to ask if they were fine and that made my chest ache. I would've let the love of my life freeze to death in an alley.

And she was the love of my life. In this short amount of time Bella and I had gotten to know one another better than Tanya and I ever had. I now know that what we had was lust. She was beautiful and I was a young man being led by my dick. But you can't build a foundation on lust and I was burned badly.

This last year had taught me a lot of hard lessons. But now I have a second chance to right my wrongs. That's why Bella had to be alright she was my second chance for everything life, love, and happiness.

Arriving at the hospital everyone was there except Esme. Alice rushed over and said in a hushed tone "I told them I'm her sister otherwise we wouldn't get any info from them."

I nodded my head understanding, I was concerned about that on the way over. "How is she?"

Alice just shook her head. "We don't know yet we all just got here."

We waited for a couple of more minutes before a doctor came out and asked for the family of Bella Swan.

Alice jumped up "That's us is she ok." She rushed out.

The doctor looked at her skeptically. I knew what he was thinking. Alice has very pale and while Bellas race is hard to determine she definitely looked ethnic, more Brazilian than Valley girl. "They have different father's" I supplied hoping he wouldn't make an issue of this.

I guess he decided it wasn't worth the hassle and took our word for it. "Well she's a banged up and a little worse for wear but she is going to be fine." He assured us.

Thank god I could feel the tension leave all of us here. "Can we see her now." I asked.

"The police are here to ask some questions but yes you can go in to see her now."

We all made our way to her room and sure enough there was a police officer there asking.

"Ms Swan if you can tell us why anyone would want to hurt you in any way that may help us out." One of the officers was saying to her."

"What!" I bellowed out. "Someone tried to hurt her." I heard someone gasp behind me.

Bella and both officers looked up at us, the officers looked at Bella as if getting permission to speak freely. She nodded her head to go ahead.

"Well this accident was no accident someone cut Ms Swan's brake line."

Bella's eyes filled with tears and I just wanted to grab her up and protect her from the world. She looked so small and helpless and the little angel that had taken care of us now needed to be taken care of. I took charge immediately.

"Christian and I will be moving in with you. From now on you will check in with someone after class and when you get off work to make sure you are alright. If this person is crazy enough to cut you brake lines who knows what else they might do."

"Edward I …" she started to protest.
"No Bella do you know what I felt like when I got that text from Alice? Do you?" I knew I was yelling but I couldn't stop myself. "I felt like my world was crashing around me if anything happened to you…" I couldn't even formulate the thought. I just squeezed the bridge of my nose and looked at Alice "Talk some sense into her I need some air."

I stepped out in the hall way and froze at the sight of a woman I never thought I'd see again. "Tanya?"