Daddy's Little Cannibal: It was my fault we didn't update last week. I was on Spring Break and because of it I kind of neglected everything to do with fanfiction. But we're here again and hopefully there won't be another week we skip. Sorry again for not updating last week.

Bronzehairedgirl620: Not much of an author's note, but enjoy the chapter! I liked it a lot. Oh. And if any of you get the opportunity to see Phantom of the Opera, do it. It's crazy good. But yeah, hope you like it. :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight.

Dale- forty year old biker
B- fourteen year old
Victoria- vampire
Emily- OCD girl
Marie- French chick

Chapter Seven

I was talking to Isabella's family today. After observing all of her alters, I decided that it was time to talk to the family, and of course, Alice. I started with Renee. She was the most willing to participate in the session.

I was sitting in one of the mismatched armchairs, pen in hand, the tip positioned on the first line of the page. Renee was shuffling nervously across from me on the couch, fiddling with her wedding ring incessantly while she tapped her foot. I didn't know if she was aware she was doing it.

"Mrs. Swan," I greeted, nodding my head. She gave me a weak smile, and I couldn't help but feel like I was the attorney and she was the guilty convict. I didn't understand her nerves.

"Hello, Edward. How are you today?"

I cleared my throat awkwardly. "Fine. How are you?"

Renee shrugged. "Not bad."

Silence fell over the room and I looked over my list of notes on each of Bella's alter personalities. I wasn't sure where to start, so I decided to go from the top down.

"I wanted to talk to you about your daughter."

I bit back a snort. Now it was like I was the teacher, and she was the mother of a rebellious teen. I needed to set the mood straight.

"What do you think about the alters?"

"I think…" she stopped, collecting her thoughts. "I think they're unnecessary, but nice enough." She hesitated with her last two words.

It felt strange, talking about them like they were people without Bella being in the room. I suppose they had grown used to it over the years. "How long have they been with your daughter?"

There was a distant expression on her face. "A while."

"Are there ones that come out during certain times, or is it entirely at random?"

"It depends," she said. "Some events trigger a certain one, but mostly it's whoever decides to visit that day. There is no rhyme or reason to it."

"Mrs. Swan?" I asked, setting my notebook down to make her feel a bit more at ease. "What was Bella like before…?"

I didn't want to jump into reasoning quite yet.

"She was such a happy little girl," Renee said, her voice weak. "So full of life and excitement. She was clumsy, so ballet was never her forte, but she loved the outdoors. Always running around in the dirt and coming in with scraped knees and bruised elbows."

I decided to go with it. "And when did you first notice Bella acting…differently?"

"She came home one day a little later than usual, but that wasn't abnormal. She liked to take the long way home. She was acting a bit strange, and within the next week we were introduced to the first."

"Who was the first?"

Renee looked pensive. "I don't remember. They just continued to progress. They kept growing until they seemed like real people, even to us."

"Was it difficult to get used to the idea?"

"At first," she said. "But over time, I learned to understand. If they were a part of Bella, I wasn't going to say anything to upset her."

"How do other people react?" I found myself asking.

"We don't get out much," she said softly. "I'm afraid of their reactions. Especially with the controversy around DID."

I nodded in understanding, looking at her for a moment. Her gaze was trained out the window, giving me an opportunity to peer at her. I could tell she was worried about Bella, which was partially why I was here. To help and explain at the same time.

"I have something for you." She reached into space between her and the arm rest. "Here," she said as she shoved a giant, worn leather book in my hands. I opened to the first page, peering at a birth corticated and a picture of a tired looking Renee holding a baby.

The rest were pictures of Bella as a young toddler. Renee's descriptions were accurate. She was all smiles and carefree, up until about halfway through the book. Bella had turned sullen and hollow looking, and then the alters began to appear.

"Thank you for showing me this," I said simply, grateful for the visual representation, although it only made me more intrigued. I put the book on the coffee table and made a mental note to look at it more carefully later tonight.

"I don't know what else to tell you, Edward," Renee sighed. "It just happened one day, Charlie and I tried to be supportive, we thought that she would grow out of it, maybe become a thespian, but she didn't. We still love her, but we just don't understand."

She apologized for not being more helpful and went to go check up on dinner. Bella hadn't changed alters today, so she took advantage of this and decided to try a new recipe that she found in a magazine. Charlie came in a minutes after Renee left, a hard look on his face.

His posture was rigid and composed as he sat. His uniform crisp and straight. The badge gleaned in the sunlight, making me squint, and his gun was still attached to his belt.

"So what can I help you with, Edward?" he asked. "I've got to be at the station soon." He was home for lunch.

"This won't take long, sir," I promised. I didn't want to hold him up. A cat might get stuck in a tree.

I decided to start with the same question. "How long have the alters been a part of your daughter."

He gave a gruff snort. "Too long." He eyed me menacingly, shaking his head. "And they are not part of my daughter."

I noted all of it. "Are there ones more like Bella than others?"

I could tell this pained Charlie to answer, as he obviously didn't believe in MPD in the first place. "Yes. You could say that."

"Which ones?"

An irritated look crossed his face. "The French one. Maybe that one that cleans all the time."

I felt a pang of disrespect towards him. He couldn't even use their names? "Marie and Emily," I said subtly, nodding. "Why?"

The distaste was not lost on me. "They're nicer. The boy drinks all my beer and passes out on the couch. I've spent too much time repairing things he's broken. And that other girl…Victoria," he said, "she makes me lose sleep."

"And B?" I asked, wanting to cover all bases.

"I was so happy when Bella didn't get into that rebellious teenage stage," he cringed. "But B took care of that."

I waited as he shuffled his feet, looking like he wanted to say something. "I just want Bella back," I heard him murmur under his breath. I inhaled; instead of showing emotion, I merely wrote something completely unimportant down, trying to compose myself.

I felt oddly connected to Bella and her family, and I wanted to help them. Charlie didn't say much. Just the same that Renee had told me. Neither of them had any idea of what could've happened to Bella to cause her to develop DID.

I was writing notes in my journal when Alice came in. I almost didn't see her. She was quiet, a first for her, when she took a seat in the chair across from me. She was too small to fill it up. I smiled at her, she returned it. I dotted my "I" and crossed my "T" before I set my pen down on my journal and opened my mouth to say something to her.

"I don't appreciate what you're doing to Bella," she snapped at me before I could say anything to her.

I closed my mouth and leaned back in my chair. I wasn't expecting her to snap at me like that. I cleared my throat, an attempt to stall a reply, and crossed my legs. "What do you mean?" I asked.

"Victoria," Alice said. I flinched. "You're playing with her alters emotions, which means you're playing with Bella's emotions-"

"Whoa!" I held up my hands to stop her. "I'm not playing with anyone's emotions. What happens between Bella, or any of her alters, has been merely professional. Victoria wanted to hear what I was listening to and I fell asleep, I didn't mean to fall asleep, I just fell asleep."

Alice bit her lip. "You don't understand Bella, Edward. She's fragile." She crossed her legs and rested her hand on her knee. "You need to be careful around her alters just like you need to be careful around her."

"I know that you feel protective over her, but I'm not going to hurt her. I promise." I scribbled down protective in my notes under her name. "How long have you known Bella?" I asked.

"We've been friend since kindergarten."

"So you knew her before her alters started to show?" I asked.

Alice nodded. I took note of this. Alice finger tapped nervously on her knee and she kept on looking out the window. I didn't bother to make note, people often get nervous when psychiatrist talk to them, especially in therapy sessions.

"When did you move in with the Swans?"

Alice shrugged. "After B showed up, so a few months ago. The psychiatrist before you thought that having someone around B's age would help Bella and the family cope with having a new alter."

"What about your family?" I furrowed my eyebrows. "Were they okay with you staying here?"

Alice nodded. "I practically lived with Bella before I moved in, so it didn't really bother them when I told them that I wanted to move in."

I nodded and took more notes. I wanted to ask her more about it, but this wasn't a therapy session for Alice, I was supposed to be here for Bella. "Bella tells you everything, did she tell you anything that could've been the reason why she might have developed DID?"

Alice didn't look at me, she looked at the window. "I was with her the last day that she was Bella. We were at the park, playing pretend, a police officer came and told her that she was a friend of her dad's and her dad wanted to see her. I didn't go with them, I wanted to go home. The officer told me that he would take me home and that he really needed Bella to go with him. I walked home and Bella went with the officer. I don't know what happened after that. I tried talking to Bella about it, I've also tried to talk to her alters, but no one will say anything."

My lips pursed and my heart pounded against my chest. Alice looked at me. Tears were in the corner of her eyes and she was visibly shaking. She opened her mouth to say something and then closed it. I didn't say anything. I waited for her to say something.

"I promised Bella that I wouldn't tell anyone about it," she said. "Her parents don't know about it, her other psychiatrist don't know about it, you and I are the only people that know that it happened. Bella has no idea. I think that some of her alters might know, but they won't talk to me about it."

"I'm the only person you've told?" It was the only thing that I could ask. I couldn't write anything down. I was too shocked to make any movements.

Alice nodded. "Bella's getting worse, she's not getting better. I just want my best friend back, and you're the only person that can help."

I looked down at my notes. I couldn't think of anything to ask Alice, so I looked at the questions I asked Renee and Charlie. "Have you noticed any patterns between Bella and her alters? Do any events trigger them?"

"It's when Bella feels the least comfortable is when an alter comes out. Victoria only comes out at night, when Bella can't sleep. Dale comes out when Bella feels intimidated. Other than that, I haven't noticed any real patterns with the others. I've seen the simplest thing as the smell of sausage make Bella change alters."

I wrote this down. Everything she said was written down. I hadn't been here long enough to notice a pattern, so I made the notes bold and underline important parts. Especially the insomnia bit about Victoria.

"Is there anything else that you can tell me?" I almost pleaded with her.

She shook her head. "No, if I knew anything else I would've told you."

"Thank you for this." I looked at my notes. "This really helps, a lot." I looked back up at the chair. Alice was already out and heading towards the door. Her arms were wrapped over her chest. She didn't say bye before she walked out of the room.

It took a few minutes before Bella walked in. She didn't look at me as she headed towards the chair. Her arms were crossed securely over her chest and she pulled her feet onto the chair when she sat down. She was wearing a long sleeve shirt and biker shorts. Her hair was down and matted. She looked like she hadn't slept in a week.

"How are you feeling, Bella?" I asked.

She ran her fingers through her hair. "I'm okay. I'm just a little tired." She looked up at me. Her huge brown eyes made me catch my breath. "How are you doing?"

"Good." I nodded.

"I'm going to ask you some questions. They may seem redundant, but I want to know if you remember anything that you hadn't remembered before."

"No, I don't know what happened to make the alters come and visit. I don't remember anything that happens when I'm an alter. I don't know what triggers them. And I don't know how to make them go away." She answered all of my question before I asked them.

"What is it like to have an alter visit?" I asked.

Bella shrugged. She was playing with a lose string in the chair. "It's like I'm asleep, only I'm exhausted when I wake up. I don't remember anything that happened while I was gone and when I wake up, I have no idea where I am."

"Some people have reported sharing the same experience that an alter experienced. For example say Emily is vacuuming the hallway; someone that has this experience might recall vacuuming the hallway too."

"Wouldn't that just be me switching back?" she asked as she looked up at me. There were bags under her eyes.

"They say it's like an outer body experience," I tried to explain better. It was hard to explain something that I had never experienced.

Bella's eyebrows furrowed. She shook her head. "No, I've never experienced anything like that. Like I said, I never remember anything that happens when the alter is in control." She rubbed her bare legs.

I sighed and leaned back in my chair. I scrambled my brain for a way to approach the subject of what might have happened at the park without scaring away Bella. "Do you like your dad?" I asked.

Bella nodded. "Of course." She sounded insulted by the idea of not liking him.

"Has he ever invited any of his friend s over? Have you ever visited the station to see him?"

"Not really. Renee doesn't want me to visit him at work. If I had, I don't remember." She frowned at me. "What are you getting at? You don't think that my dad has something to do with my alters, do you?" Her voice got loud it was almost like a squeak.

"No," I shook my head. "No, I was just asking a question." I smiled at her as I scribbled in my notebook. I was stalling again. I had to find a different approach to this. "Do you feel comfortable with Charlie when he's in his uniform?" I asked. "Do you ever get anxious or switch alters?"

Bella's foot started to tap the side of the chair and she couldn't look me straight in the eye. She shook her head. "Why would you ask me that?" Her face started to twist. "Why would you-" she didn't finish her sentence. She pushed herself out of the chair and started to head out of the room. I was about to get up to go after her when she turned around. "That's disgusting, Edward," she snapped at me before walking out.

My jaw loosened and I stared at her retreating form. I fell back into the chair and let my hands run through my hair. I went through the conversation again in my head. I tried to pin point the moment that might have made her believe that I was accusing her father of being the reason that he might be the cause of her alters. I wasn't implying anything like that; I was trying to get her to remember the park.

My head fell back onto the back of the chair. I pulled at the ends of my hair. This was going to be harder than I thought…

End Chapter.

Daddy's Little Cannibal: It's hard to write a story where someone has a problem like this. Especially since neither Bronze nor I have DID (MPD), and the only source for it is the internet and the books that I got from the library. I can promise that we're trying our best, though. Hopefully you enjoyed it.

Bronzehairedgirl620: Review and tell us what you thought, and if you haven't, go vote in the poll on either one of our profiles. We're curious to see who you like. Thanks for reading.

Daddy's Little Cannibal