I do not own Twilight

Sorry about the last chapter being a semi-cliffy...

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Chapter 7

My knuckles were throbbing horribly as I stood staring at Jessica's perfectly unmarked face. For a minute I questioned whether I had actually hit her at all.

"Nice try, Bella. Except it's going to take a lot more to hurt me." She grabbed a hold of a thick locke of my hair, yanking hard as she pulled my face towards hers. My eyes began to tear up as she pulled so hard on my scalp. Lightening flashed throughout the garage, sending me flying towards the door as she abruptly let go of my hair.

I ran towards the street, suddenly realizing that I had no truck in which to take me to the hospital. I tried calming down as I began the walk to the Forks Hospital, I clutched my knuckles close not wanting to look down to see whether or not they were actually broken. I heard another crash of thunder, sending me faster down the road. I stopped suddenly, debating whether to just turn back, and beg Victoria for a ride to the hospital...or I could keep going, Jessica and the rest of them be damned. I kept walking, trying to find my way to the hospital. I had been there numerous times, but I had always gotten there by driving...not walking! I huddled into my jacket as it began to pour, my legs gave out sending me onto the cement.

I was so busy sitting there, practically wallowing in self-pity, that I didn't even hear the familiar rumble of my truck. My skin was so cold from the icy rain and wind that I didn't even notice the difference in temperature as Edward placed his hand against my cheek. He was bent down on one knee, his golden eyes staring into my brown ones.

"What happened, Bella?" His thumb rubbing back and forth over my frozen cheek, caused my scrambled thoughts to go completely haywire.

"I lost my temper and punched my step sister. The hit broke my hand but did nothing to her, so I left and tried walking to the hospital but my legs gave out and it started raining. I've been sitting here for ten minutes, so I'm almost completely frozen." I laughed a little at my predicament, deciding it had "Bella" written all over it.

"May I see your hand?" Edward asked so politely as his golden eyes burned into mine. I couldn't feel it anymore from the cold, I placed it softly in his outstretched palm.

"How is it?" I asked, I couldn't look. I was still a chicken over the sight of blood and broken bones.

"Uh...it's definately broken, I'll take you to the hospital." He managed to say it all without breathing...or, at least, I thought he did. "Can you walk?"

"Yeah." I stood up and pulled myself into my truck, all one-handed. I looked over at him quickly, noticing how he wasn't shivering from the cold like I was. "Aren't you cold?"

"I'm always cold." He said with a smirk as he started the truck.

"I've noticed." I whispered, noticing the way his smirk suddenly disappeared. He looked straight ahead, his hands gripping the steering wheel so hard I thought it would snap.

"How's the hand?" Edward asked, not looking over at me.

"I'm starting to feel it again." I said, looking over at his beautiful face.

"Is that good or bad?" He asked, finally looking over at me.

"It's painful...but it's not the worst I've had." I shrugged nonchalantly, seeing Edward raise an eyebrow at me.

"Fall down a lot?" The smile returned to his face and I couldn't help but be dazzled by him.

"That's putting it lightly..." I said, rolling my eyes as I thought of some of the tumbles I had taken over the years.

"Well...we're finally here." He laughed, sounding exasperated. "I'm amazed we were able to make it at all with how slow this thing is."

"Hey! No picking on my truck!" I laughed, glad that he had parked close so I wouldn't get completely drenched when I ran from the truck to the front entrance.

"Hold on a second." Edward said before ducking out of the front seat and appearing next to my window. He helped me out, covering me from the rain as we ran towards the hospital entrance. I sat over in the waiting room, still soaked through from earlier. Edward walked over and said a few words to the gawking nurse, staring wide-eyed at him as she dialed on the phone. He walked back over towards me and sat down, going through the text messages on his phone.

"Edward, you don't have to stay here and babysit me. You can leave if you're bored." In all truth, I actually didn't want him to leave, but it wasn't up to me...he wasn't my boyfriend or anything. I blushed at the thought, hating my pinkening cheeks.

"What are you thinking?" He asked, smirking at me.

"Nothing!" I so badly wanted to disappear into myself. The word came out as a semi-shriek, causing several people to turn in our direction.

"In response to what you said earlier, I'm not bored, it's quite interesting being stuck here with you." He laughed, causing several female nurses to stare and blink their lashes at him. "I was texting Alice because she was worried about you."

"Yeah, she didn't want me to go inside when she dropped me off at home. I probably should have listened to her." I said, shivering as the cold came back.

"Alice is coming, she's going to bring you clothes." He said, looking over at me shivering. "Here's my dad."

"That's your dad?" I asked, amazed. The man had to be in his twenties, blonde hair and the same golden eyes as Edward and Alice. He looked like a golden god just like Edward. I remembered the story Angela told me of how the Cullens were all adopted by Carlisle and Esme Cullen.

"Carlisle, this is Bella. Bella, this is Carlisle." Edward introduced us, as Carlisle smiled at me.

"So this is Bella." He smiled towards Edward, who coughed lightly. "Follow me and I'll find you some scrubs to wear for the time being. We don't want you catching a cold from the rain." Carlisle stepped into one of the rooms, pulling out a simple set of the hospital scrubs. "Edward and I will be gone for a bit, you can change in here."

"Thank you." I said quickly, before they both left the room.

--

"Bella? Are you finished?" Edward asked through the door, knocking lightly. I threw my clothes in a bag quickly and opened the door with my good hand. I pulled my hair up with one hand into a messy bun.

"I'm done." Carlisle and Edward were standing by the door, Edward holding the black leather coat he was wearing earlier.

"Bella, if you just sit there, I'll take a look at your hand." Carlisle indicated to the simple patient bed behind me, while he walked over and took out a couple things. I sat, looking over at Edward, who just stood there looking over at me. "So, Bella, what happened to your hand?" He held the chart in his hand, reading a couple of the things printed on the paperwork.

"I punched my step-sister." It was embarrasing, the fact that I had lost my temper had landed me in the hospital.

"Then you must have a pretty strong punch..." He said, scribbling down some stuff.

"Not really, I hit her, but nothing happened. She pretty much smiled the entire time, no effect at all." I shook my head, noticing the sudden look Carlisle sent Edward.

"What else happened?" Carlisle asked, looking me straight in the eye.

"It's nothing, but she just yanked my hair really hard. I was amazed that I made it out with any hair left." I rubbed the spot on my head, wincing when I touched the still painful part of my scalp. Edward let out a hiss, causing Carlisle to look at him suddenly.

"Edward, do you need to leave?" Carlisle asked, but I wasn't sure what he was truly asking. To me it sounded as if he was implying something else, but that might have just been my mind playing tricks on me.

"I'm fine, Carlisle." Edward said, taking a seat in one of the chairs beside the patients bed I was sitting on.

"Okay Miss Swan, let's take a look at that hand." Carlisle said, placing the chart off to the side. He took my hand softly and began probing the knuckles, causing me to flinch suddenly.

"Just call me Bella." I said, gritting my teeth so I could finally look at my hand.

"Well Bella, I need to reset the bones in your hand. You broke one of your knuckles and several of the smaller bones in your hand. They're not bad breaks, and with a small cast they'll heal quickly." Carlisle smiled at me then turned to Edward. "Edward, maybe you should go find Alice."

"Okay...I'll be right back, Bella." Edward smiled and ducked through the door, leaving the leather jacket beside me.

"Now, before I set your hand I'm going to give you a small shot of pain killers." I didn't look as he gave me the shot, feeling a bit like a crybaby. I doubted whether I would ever be able to look at needles, broken bones, or even blood without wanting to pass out. "While those take effect, I'm going to check your head. Just to make sure it's okay." His reassuring smile was infectious, causing me to smile back at him. He probed the spot on my head, checking for any serious injures.

"Well, your head will be bruised for a bit. But you didn't lose any hair, it's just going to be tender for the next week or so." I nodded slowly along with what he said, feeling the slight pain on my head. "Now I'll take care of that hand."

--

"There you go, Bella. All done." Carlisle smiled at me as he finished wrapping my hand in the small black cast. I stood up, clutching my hand close, and left the room.

"Bella!" Alice yelled from down the hall, skipping towards me with a huge pink bag in her hand. "These are for you." She smiled widely, leaving me to roll my eyes at her.

"Alice, I'm perfectly fine. You didn't need to buy me anything." The scrubs were pretty comfortable, although not as stylish as Alice may have wanted.

"Anything for Alice is an excuse for her to go shopping." Edward and Carlisle laughed, Edward ignoring the irritated look Alice gave him.

"You went shopping in this storm?!" I stared wide-eyed at her, amazed over how calm she was, still trying to stick the bag in my hand.

"Pfft...it's not even that bad." She rolled her eyes at me in annoyance, completely uncaring of the crazy winds and pouring rain outside.

"You're so weird!" I laughed, finally taking the bag and skulking back into the room to change again. I pulled on the clothes quickly, amazed over how perfectly they fit. The silk ice teal colored shirt was cut perfectly, a black silk bow tieing around the waist. The tight black skinny jeans were soft, feeling like a second skin. They blended perfectly into the faded black leather boots. The boots were my favorite, although I usually ran from the sight of heels, these were perfect. The heels were small and thick, easy to walk on. I stepped out of the room, looking over at Alice.

"You forgot a jacket, Alice." I said, the small sleeves of the shirt would be impossible to protect me from the cold outside.

"Here, take this." Edward said, handing over his leather jacket to me. I slipped it on, amazed over how big it was on me.

"Thank you." I whispered, smiling up at him. Edward nodded and walked over to talk to Carlisle, I watched their conversation as Alice came over and began braiding my still wet hair. They were arguing, Edward was absolutely furious about something Carlisle was saying. Carlisle finally walked over, leaving Edward where they had been. Edward was frowning deeply, upset over something.

"Bella?" I looked up at Carlisle, whatever Alice was doing to my hair was putting me to sleep.

"Yes?" I asked, fighting to keep my eyes open.

"We need you to come home with us. We have things we need explained." Carlisle said.

"Am I in trouble?" I asked sheepishly, not sure what was wrong.

"No," He smiled at me, turning towards Alice. "Alice as soon as your done we need to go." Alice nodded and continued with my hair. Finally everything combined, the pain medication, the stress, and I passed out in the seat. I was jumbled softly as someone wrapped cold arms around me and picked me up, carrying me as I fell back asleep.

--

I was waking up slowly, not really wanting to lose the peaceful calm that had overcome me.

"How is Jasper going to handle it Alice?" Edward asked from beside me. I was curled against the soft leather seats...definately not the seats of my truck.

"He's been perfectly controlled lately Edward." Alice seemed to hiss, obviously hating whenever someone questioned the integrity of Jasper. "How are you going to handle her Edward?" Alice asked.

"After earlier today, I've been able to control my urges a lot better. It still burns...but I can handle it." Edward answered, sounding completely honest. I had no idea what they were talking about, I was about to ask, but the car came to a stop. In an instant Edward was no longer beside me, he was standing beside my now opened door. "Bella?" He asked softly, unsure of whether I was awake or not. I opened my eyes slowly, and Edward helped me out of the car. I kept my arm tucked in close, as I stared around the massive garage. All the beautiful cars around me left me stunned, I kept my mouth closed and I followed Edward and Alice into the house. Well some would call it a house...I was calling it a mansion! The entire back wall was glass, leaving the entire house open. I stood back and merely marveled over how big everything was, Edward laughed and pulled me along behind him.

"You'll get used to it." He whispered, still laughing over my expression.

"Will I?" I had never seen anything like this...it was absolutely beautiful in design.

"I did." He said, finally able to stop laughing.

"Well, that's you!" I laughed, seeing him smile and shrug. We finally stopped at a perfectly set table, the room was lit so we could easily see the storm outside. I saw the lightening striking in the distance.

"Just sit here, Bella." Edward pulled out a chair for me, tucking it in after I sat. Alice sat beside me, Jasper sitting calmly on the her other side. Edward sat in the seat across from mine, smiling over at me. Obviously he had gotten used to what he was so upset about earlier.

"Alice? Is my truck still at the hospital?" I asked, looking between both Edward and Alice. I had slept through us leaving, unable to remember fully how we had left the hospital.

"Carlisle drove it here. He's upstairs at the moment." Alice said. The idea of the professional Carlisle driving my truck left me embarressed. My truck was a complete mess, I hope that didn't leave a bad impression on Carlisle. I began panicking as I thought of how messy my truck had been when we had finally reached the hospital.

"There's nothing to be embarressed about." Jasper said from beside Alice. His voice came out fluidly, suddenly I began to feel calm, the panic easing. I watched as Rosalie and Emmett took their seats beside Edward. Rosalie smiled over at me, Emmett throwing an arm around her shoulders. Carlisle came walking into the dining room, walking beside him was Snow White herself. Her carmel colored hair flowed beautiful, perfectly accenting her golden eyes. I looked around, noticing their eyes were all the same golden color.

"Bella I'm not sure you whether or not you know, but this is my mother Esme." Edward said, smiling at Esme who sat at one head of the table while Carlisle sat at the other. Esme smiled beautifully at me. She sent a smug look towards Edward, causing him to stick his tongue out at her. I smiled, seeing how they were acting towards each other.

"Bella, we just have some questions about your family." Esme said softly, her voice absolutely beautiful.

"We'll explain everything about ourselves afterwards." Carlisle said, I nodded slowly, curious. "First off, how old were you when your father married Victoria?"

"I was nine. He said he did it so I could have a mother." I whispered, remembering back to when my father had tried to explain Victoria to me.

"And your step-sisters? Were they your age when they arrived?" Carlisle asked.

"They were the same age as me. The only thing I really noticed about them was how different they were from Victoria." I said, remembering back to the day I had met my worst nightmares.

"How so?" Esme asked from beside me.

"Lauren had very blonde hair, Jessica had dark hair. They looked nothing at all like Victoria with her red hair. Nothing about them matched at all, not their voices, not their eyes, nothing." I said, amazed that I had noticed these things yet never mentioned them.

"How would you explain Victoria's appearance?" Edward asked from across the table, his brows puckered.

"She always wore sunglasses, her skin was pale and cold. Like yours..." I whispered, staring straight into Edward's golden eyes. Everything clicked, the idea that I had always joked about when I was little, the idea my dad has said was ridiculous. "Right before my dad died I told him that I believed that Victoria was a vampire. He yelled at me and told me I needed to get my head out of the books."

"How did you come by these assumptions?" Carlisle asked.

"Books...my dad was right on the money when he yelled at me. He knew me too well, but what sparked it was when I saw the true color of Victoria's eyes. She always had sunglasses or possibly contacts in her eyes, but I caught her once, she hissed at me. I had nightmares for weeks about her blood red eyes." I whispered, shuddering as I remembered.

"When were you pulled out of school?" Alice asked, reminding me that she had been there

"Freshmen year. Shortly after you moved here. Now that I think about it, she didn't want me going to school when she could be discovered." I was beginning to hate remembering these things.

"When did they leave and where did they go?" Carlisle asked.

"They left shortly after they pulled me out of school. They went to some place in Italy. They've been gone for two years, that's why I was so shocked to see that they were back." I shrugged and saw Edward stiffen.

"What happened exactly when you got home? Are Jessica and Lauren different also?" Edward asked.

"Victoria confronted me when I stepped through the door. She slammed a hand less then an inch from my face, she yelled at me for being with Alice and Emmett. She told me she didn't want me hanging around, in her words, "Those People." I didn't see Lauren but Jessica is definately different. Ever since I first met her, I've never seen her wear sunglasses but suddenly she was wearing the same thick black ones as Victoria. She looked different, her hair was prettier, her skin paler, and freezing. Plus the whole thing when I hit her, I got hurt and she kept smiling." I showed my cast quickly.

"You punched a vampire?" Emmett laughed, breaking the tense atmosphere, I nodded. "Way to go human!" I laughed, but stopped short as soon as I saw the look Edward sent Emmett.

"Is there anything else?" I asked, noting how Emmett was still laughing.

"Nope. We'll explain what we are if you want to know." Carlisle said, pausing only as he saw me nod my head sharply. I was practically dying to know. "You were right, Victoria is a vampire just like us. " Edward watched my reaction closely, frowning when he saw that I didn't freak out when Carlisle spoke.

"Do you drink human blood?" I asked, wondering how their eyes could be different.

"No, we're vegetarians, we only drink from animals." Edward said, still watching my reaction.

"Then what is Victoria?" I asked.

"She drinks human blood, which is why her eyes are red. Our eyes lighten to gold when we feed, they're black when we're hungry." Alice said, I turned towards Edward.

"That's why your eyes were black in the parking lot when I first met you." I said to Edward, who looked rather sheepish. "Was that why you were so grumpy too?" I asked, smiling over at him. He nodded, laughing as he remembered.

"I'll explain to you later Bella." Edward said, smiling at me. I looked over at Alice, finally asking what I had almost asked earlier.

"Can you see the future, Alice?" I asked, turning towards her, she smiled and nodded.

"You scared me with how perceptive you were this morning. I was afraid that you had finally figured me out." She said, laughing.

"Yeah, but you sort of fooled me when you said that you only saw the board." I laughed along with her, and then thought back to a minute ago. "Can Jasper control emotions?" They all turned towards me.

"Wow, Edward she really is perceptive." Esme said from beside me.

"Yes, I can control emotions. That's how I calmed down your panic earlier." Jasper said, talking for the first time since he calmed me down. My stomach growled loudly, reminding me that I hadn't eaten all day. I blushed crimson and looked around to see Emmett hiding a grin.

"Edward, show Bella to your room. Bella we can keep you safe here. Esme and Alice have already ordered you something to eat." Carlisle said as Edward stood up and helped me out of the chair.

"I can't stay here, Victoria will kill me." I didn't know how Victoria would act. I knew, at least, that she would be furious.

"Bella, this place is like a fort. You're perfectly safe here." Edward said, stroking my arm lightly. I lost all train of thought, but one thing I did notice was the smile spread across Esme's face as she saw Edward's hand caress my arm. "My room's this way." Edward said as he guided me towards the stairs.

Please Review!!! I worked my butt off on this chapter trying to make it long!!!

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(Ugh, I completely forgot to mention it...I posted pics of Edwards jacket and Bella's outfit on my profile!)