A.N. Update complete! Hope are enjoying the changes!

PPOV

It's been two days since Bella came to stay with us. She has been staying in my room while she heals because it is the closest to the bathroom if she needs it. My dad didn't want her walking around a lot while she tries to heal. Everyone in the family adores Bella, I don't think she has been alone for even a minute since getting here. Everyone is trying to make sure she is well looked after, if she needs anything, someone will jump up and get it for her that very minute, no waiting around.

She is slowly starting to heal. Some of her bruises are starting to change to various stages of yellow. Most of them should be gone in a few days' time, leaving only the worse off ones. Bella still jumps whenever someone makes a loud noise and she has been having nightmares every time she goes to sleep. Someone always wakes her up as quickly as possible. We have told her if she ever needs to talk we are all there for her but so far she hasn't opened up. I'm hoping when she does, that I will be the person she talks to.

We got a call yesterday afternoon telling us that a social worker will be out today to talk with us. I am so happy Bella wants to live with one of our families. No one has said no so far and it looks as if it will be Jared and Jacob's parents who she will be adopted to. They are the only ones with a spare bedroom so it makes sense. It's not like she won't see the rest of us again. We are such a tight group she should pretty much be expecting, if she hasn't realized already, that she will be seeing everyone on a daily basis.

It is a Saturday and everyone is over at my house messing around waiting for the social worker to get here. Embry carried Bella down the stairs earlier this morning and we are all playing monopoly now. So far Brady is winning and he is making sure everyone knows it.

Bella's eyes have dark circles under them from the many sleepless nights. She looks so tired and sad, but she still tries to cover it with a smile. It makes me like her even more, that she doesn't want us to worry about her, she's strong and she's a fighter.

Bella was about to roll the dice when someone knocked at the door. Bella, paralyzed by the sound, drops the dice and turns very pale.

"Bella? Can you hear me? You're going to be fine. Everything will be sorted out and you will go and live with Jacob and Jared and you will always have the support of the rest of our families. There is nothing to be afraid of." I said trying to reassure her. My talking seemed to have calmed Bella down enough for someone to open the door and allow the social worker to come into the living room.

"Hi, I'm Sophie; I'm the social worker who is looking after Bella's case. Today I'm here to sort out the details about her legal guardians." The lady said.

She was young and looked as if she always smiled. She had short red hair that just reached her shoulders and she was very tall with freckles everywhere.

My dad and the rest of our parents walked in as she was introducing herself.

"Hi Sophie, I am Lachlan, Paul and Quil's dad these are the rest of the parents of our group. Before we get too far into this I would just like to say that Michael and Crystal, Jared and Jacob's parents, are willing to adopt Bella."

"Well okay, that just made things a lot easier for both of us. Now I can't say yes to this adoption just yet. I will need to go away and look at both Michael and Crystal's backgrounds, just a formality." Sophie said mainly speaking to Michael and Crystal now.

"Now I am guessing you are Bella. How are you?" Sophie asked guessing correctly, looking directly at Bella.

"Y…yeah, I'm Bella. I'm ok." Bella said still scared and nervous about this new comer.

"Do you mind if we go somewhere quiet and have a quick chat? I have a few questions I need answered before we can organize this adoption. Michael and Crystal can come with us if you want. They don't have to though, it's entirely up to you." Sophie said in a calming manner, seeing how frightened Bella obviously was.

Bella just nodded her head. Crystal took that as a go ahead for her and Michael to be there for the questions. She led the way out of the living room and into the kitchen. Michael and Bella followed slowly behind.

There was nothing else for everyone to do other than wait. My dad turned the TV on we all watched a repeat of M*A*S*H. After more than half an hour in the kitchen, the four of them came out. I could tell Bella had been crying, her eyes were rimmed red and still watery. Crystal was trying her best to comfort her. What had Sophie asked her?

My dad stood up when they came out and after asking if Sophie needed anything else, showed her to the door.

When Dad came back in I asked the room when she would be back. Apparently there was a definite time period we would have to wait. It all depended on how backed up the system was. Sophie had said though that Bella looked to be in safe hands for the time being so the wait shouldn't be a problem for us.

With all that cleared up and Bella looking like she was ready to fall asleep again, her conversation with the social worker must have really tired her out, I asked what was for dinner.

"Take out good for everyone? My treat." Michael said. "To celebrate Bella coming to stay with us."

Once the food was ordered, a huge amount I might add, I scooted closer to where Bella was sitting.

"Are you ok?" I asked quietly so only she could hear me.

"I'll be fine. Don't worry about me." She replied. Bella didn't look like she was in the mood for talking but I had to say one final thing.

"If you want to talk about anything, like the questions Sophie asked you for example, you can come to me or anyone else in this house. We are all here for you if you ever need anything. We aren't going to judge you."

"Thanks, I'll open up one day, but I'm not ready yet." Bella said softly. "I think I might go up to bed, I'm feeling pretty tired." She said, just loud enough for the rest of the room to hear her.

I don't think my dad was too happy that she was going to bed without dinner, but he couldn't stop her. He could see how tired she was. She needed time to figure out for herself what has happened over the past few days and fully come to terms with it. It's not something that can be rushed. Though I agree with my dad at wanting her to stay downstairs for dinner, she is too skinny, she needs some meat on her bones.

"Alright sweetheart, I'll bring some food up for you later in case you are awake. Call down if you need anything." Sam's mum said as Bella started to get up.

"Ok, thank you." Bella said leaving the room slowly.

After everyone had eaten more than enough food for dinner, things started quietening down, people started to go home. Sam and Emily said they were staying the night so we made some space on the floor for them to sleep. I gave Emily the couch, which left me and Sam the super comfortable floor.

BPOV

"What would you like to eat Bella? Anything you want, you choose." Leah asked me.

"I'm not really hungry right now, maybe later?" I said.

Really I felt that if I ate anything, I would be sick straight away. And since I haven't really eaten anything in a while, I probably will. Though Paul's friends and family are extremely kind to me, they keep forcing me to eat something. Every once in a while I give in and let them feed me something, but I haven't been able to hold anything down as yet. Most of the time when they try and force me to eat, it scares me too much and I burst into tears. It is almost a reflex now. I have had too much experience with forcefulness.

"Bella, you have to eat something. You are way too skinny. You need some fat on those bones of yours." Paul told me.

I could tell he was really worried about me. They all were. I could also tell that Paul wasn't giving in. I was going to have to eat this time.

I could feel the tears forming in my eyes as I agreed to eat something.

"Good. Now what would you like? Like Leah said, the choice is yours." Paul said looking happy.

"That" I said pointing to something randomly in the open cupboard.

"Pasta, good choice. I was planning on having that as well. Anyone else want some?" Paul asked.

Quil, Brady, Sam, Emily and Leah all said yes.

Quil looked through the kitchen drawers till he found a pot big enough to fit all the pasta about to be cooked.

When it was done, servings were placed into enough bowls. My bowl was very tiny. I was feeling a little brave so I asked if they had parmesan cheese. They did and I covered my pasta in the stuff. I took a quick bite. It tasted so good. It was still hot so it warmed me up as well.

It was one of the rare sunny days in Forks so we decided to eat our lunches outside.

I had eaten a few more mouthfuls of pasta before I started to feel something rise up my throat slowly. Quickly I dropped my bowl onto the table and ran for the downstairs bathroom just in time, before I started to throw up everything I had just eaten. A few seconds later, I felt someone's cold hands on the back of my neck, holding my hair out of my face. It was Leah. She called out for someone to get her a wash cloth.

When I was done, Leah helped me over to the sink where she wiped my face. I started to feel very sleepy after that. My eyes were starting to close. Without realizing it, I found myself being laid out on Paul's bed again. I knew it was Paul's bed from the wonderful smell that is him coming out of the sheets and the room in general. I vaguely remember telling whoever carried me up, thank you, before passing out from exhaustion.

PPOV

I was glad that Bella hadn't put up much of a fight over eating something. It was one of the main things we were worried about, Bella is so skinny and it isn't helping that she can't keep the food she has eaten, down.

It breaks my heart when I see the tears start to form in her eyes when we have to force her to eat something. I wish I could just let her have her way all the time. But sometimes her health is more important.

We were sitting outside in silence, enjoying the sunshine when Bella dropped her food on the ground and ran off into the house. She didn't look well and I had a feeling she was about to be sick.

Leah ran after her. When Leah asked for a wash cloth, Sam ran up to the linen closest to get one. Soon Leah came out of the bathroom, practically carrying Bella. She was having a lot of trouble it seems.

Quickly I picked Bella up and took her to my room. When I laid her down on the bed she mumbled a thank you, before fully passing out. Today must have really tired her out. I didn't expect her to wake up for quite a while so I left the room to go find my dad.

I found him in his study. He was reading a book about some new topic he has become interested in. I knocked on the open door and asked if he had time to talk.

"Sure Paul. Come on in." he said. "Take a seat." I took one of the two black chairs across from his desk.

"What did you want to talk about?" Dad asked, putting his book down.

"Bella, actually. I am worried about her, she throws up every time she eats something. She can't keep anything down. It can't be good for her can it? Bella had a few mouthfuls of pasta, maybe 30 minutes ago and she just threw it all back up. She was completely exhausted after. She passed out quickly when I put her in bed." I said.

"Bella's body is still trying to adjust to the foreign object which is food. She has been starved for many years and it will take time for her body to get used to this intake. There is nothing we can do but wait. Every meal, even morning and afternoon tea should be offered to her. Even if she just eats a few saltine crackers, it is better than nothing. But she must eat at every meal. We will get there, just give her time. How are you holding up by the way? I know you care about her in ways the rest of us don't." my dad said. It was like he had read my mind. Was it that easy to tell, how much I liked Bella?

"Don't tell anyone about how much I like Bella, please?" I begged.

"As much as I want to keep it a secret for you, I'm pretty sure everyone else has noticed. You're not really keeping it hidden." He replied. "I wouldn't go telling Bella your feelings for her just yet though, she still has a lot of healing to do before I think she will be ready for any form of relationship with anyone, not just you. She has a lot of trust issues and the best we can do is be there for her and hope that she trusts us one day soon." He replied.

With our conversation over, I left the room and went looking for my friends. They were in the living room playing video games. I sat down quickly and waited for my turn to play.

A.N. It's been a while since I last updated a chapter from Time of Need, hope the changes aren't too much for you to handle. If you don't like the changes being made or have your own suggestions, let me know and I will see what I can do. You may have thought of something I had never considered. Always willing to hear constructive criticism.

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