Disclaimer- All recognizable characters belong to Mrs. Meyer, the other ones belong to moi. The song belongs to Liz Phair.

Chapter 9- Table for one

I'm walking down in the basement

I'm leaning on the washing machine

I'm reaching back through a hole in the wall's insulation

I'm pulling out a bottle of vodka

Replacing that with a pint of Jim Bean

I'm lying down on the floor until I feel better

My knees throbbed, I'd hit the floor pretty damn hard. But, I didn't care. I just stared at the floor while denial worked its way through my veins. It couldn't have been my daughter that was stolen. I hadn't heard right, Bayleen was fine. I let out a tiny sob and shook my head. " No. . . God please, don't take my little girl." I cried. Edward knelt down beside me and began rubbing my back. I turned to him and wrapped myself inside his arms. I instantly felt how cold he was, and how comforting his touch could be. He ran his fingers through my hair and hummed softly in my ear. But I just couldn't stop crying. It was as if my tears had a mind of their own.

" Bella, I promise it'll be okay." He said quietly. " We'll get her back." I looked up at him, into those beautiful eyes. He wiped away some of my tears and gave me a weak smile.

" I can't lose her Edward." He kissed me softly, but strong enough that it took my breath away.

" You won't Bella." All of a sudden the door swung open and Helena came darting in. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying. I swallowed and then stood up; I had to be strong. I walked over to her and tightly embraced her. I had to somehow let her know it would be okay, even if I didn't believe that myself.

" I'm so sorry Bella. I swear I don't know what happened!" She exclaimed, her tears soaking into my shirt. Edward stood behind us, his hands in his pockets and his gaze kind of far away. He was thinking, planning. I knew him well enough to recognize that look. I pulled away from the hug and shook my head.

" I don't blame you Helena. This is not your fault." I reassured her with a soft smile. Then I led her over to the couch and sat her down. Like I'd down with Bayleen many times. My heart faltered and I pushed the thought away, I couldn't break down. I had to be confident that we would find her. " Now, tell me what happened." She brushed away some of her tears and let out a shaky breath.

" We were walking around the park. It was starting to get cloudy out so I told her we had to go. She begged me not to, she wanted to stay just a little while longer. She wanted to smell the flowers." She smiled for a brief second and then continued. " A dog, he came running over so I bent down to pet him. I looked away for not even ten seconds and she was gone." Her eyes shined with the tears she hadn't yet cried. I felt her strong hand grab mine and give it a small shake. " Bella, no one saw anybody take her! It was like one moment she was there and then she was gone. I don't know what happened." I could hear Edward shift his feet and glanced up. His eyes burned into mine. Immediately I knew he was thinking what I was thinking. A vampire had taken my daughter.

" The person who took her could've been in a car." He spoke up, his eyes still on me. " We should get down to the police station and report her missing." Helena looked up at him and sniffled.

" Don't you have to wait twenty four hours before reporting someone missing?" She asked. I stood up, my face grim.

" I don't care how long they want me to wait. I'm going now." I replied strongly. " Helena, I want you to head down to the police station now. Edward and I will catch up with you. I just have to talk to him about something real quick." She nodded her head and I gave her my car keys. Her eyebrows furrowed as she took them. " I'll ride with him." I told her. She apologized once more and then stepped out of the apartment. Edward grabbed my hands and brought them to his lips.

" We will find out who took Bayleen." He assured me. I shook my head in agreement and sighed.

" She said it was getting cloudy out. Perfect timing for a vampire to steal her quickly. But who-" I stopped. Christopher's voice echoed through my head, ' You will if you want your daughter to grow old.' I clenched my fists and let out a small groan. " He took her." I whispered.

" Who?"

" Christopher. He told me he'd take Bayleen if I didn't get you to meet with him. He took her." My phone rang, making me jump a little. My nerves were on edge. I rubbed my arm and walked over to it, thinking it was Helena saying the cops wouldn't let her report Bayleen missing. I picked it up and cradled it to my ear. " Hello?"

" Bella, sending someone to report your dear daughter missing? How unlike you, you should've known I couldn't let that happen." My blood ran cold as I heard Christopher talk. Helena, he did something to Helena.

" What did you do to her?" I growled. He laughed, I hated how he sounded just like my beloved Edward.

" Well, let's just say accidents happen. You won't be using your car anytime lately." My heart stopped. He'd killed her?

" I swear to God-"

" He can't do much for you now. Is Edward there? I'd love to talk to him. Maybe if you let me talk to him, I'll let you speak to your daughter." He paused, " I'm sure you figured out that it was me who took her by now."

" Yes, I did. Hold on." I held out the phone to Edward and sat on the couch. What was I going to do? I turned on the t.v and saw it. Breaking news. A car accident. . . My car, it was one of the ones in the accident. " Helena." I whispered. " Oh my God." I didn't listen as Edward talked to his brother, all I heard was a lot of cursing and a lot of threatening. He handed me the phone and stormed off, he was angry. " Hello." I said quietly.

" Mommy," Bayleen sobbed. " Mommy where are you?" I felt my heart break, another tear fell from my eye.

" Bayleen, baby I'll come for you soon okay? You be strong for mommy, promise me."

" I promise. . . Mommy, don't let him hurt me." She cried.

" I won't sweetie. I won't." I replied. Then Christopher came back on and told me he'd call in a couple days to set up a meeting. " You hurt my daughter and I swear I will kill you." I said through gritted teeth. Then the phone went dead, he hung up. Edward came over to me and caught me before I fell to the ground. It was like my knees just gave out on me. " The hospital, we have to go see if Helena's okay." I managed to get out before I fainted. Before my world faded to black.

Oh, I want to die alone

With my sympathy beside me

I want to bring down all those demons who drank with me

Feasting bleed through me

On my desperation

Edward's POV

I lifted Bella into my arms and carried her down to my car. I couldn't believe it. . . I wanted so much to help Bella, to help take away her pain. But I knew she'd be in pain until she had her daughter back in her arms. I knew it, I knew all I could ever give her was pain. It was because of me she was going through this. Because she knew me, because she loved me. And the person doing it, someone related to me. Someone I once called brother. I didn't even remember him, but I didn't remember much from my childhood. What was he like? Was he always this. . . Bitter? Angry? I had so many questions, but Bella came before my curiosity. If I needed to, I would kill what used to be my flesh in blood before he could hurt Bella. I told her I would protect her, love her forever, a long time ago. And I was going to hold to that. I left her once, I wasn't planning on leaving her again. And I sure as hell wasn't going to let her leave me. I pulled into the hospital parking lot and turned to her, my sweet Bella.

" Bella, Bella wake up." I whispered. " Come on, it's okay." Her eyes fluttered open and she stared at me. Groaning, she leaned up and held her head.

" What happened?" She asked me.

" You fainted. Come on, we have to go in." I undid her seat belt and helped her out of the car. She looked out of it, I knew she probably thought it'd been all a bad dream.

" Helena." She whispered then put a hand to her mouth. " The car accident." I nodded my head and walked inside the hospital with her. She walked right up to the front desk and knocked on the window. A woman slid it open, she didn't look very happy to see Bella. " Elaine, I need you to look someone up for me." Bella told her.

" Are you a family member of the person." This Elaine asked her.

" No, but I-"

" You know the rules Bella. I can't tell you if you're not family." I walked up behind Bella and took her arm.

" Bella, maybe we should wait." I whispered. She shook her head no and turned back to the woman.

" You're going to tell me and you're going to tell me right now." She said in a low voice. I felt her trembling underneath my fingers.

" Bella calm down." I said quietly. She faced me and let out a sob.

" I can't Edward, I can't." Then she buried her head in my lap and waited for the news.

I hide all the bottles in places

They find and confront me with pain in their eyes

And I promise that I'll make some changes

But reaching back it occurs to me

There will always be some kind of crisis for me