A/N- Wow. 23 reviews in the first 5 hours after I put this up, and then 27 in all. All of you are amazing. So this is a really long chapter to reward you I would have updated last night, but it took me a while to write this.
Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, or any of its characters.
BPOV
I woke up to an unfamiliar room. I sat up and immediately wished that I didn't. There was a sharp pain in my stomach, and I didn't want to look down and see what it was.
Then everything that had happened flooded back into my mind. Charlie. Clothes ripping. Knives carving into me.
Why am I here then? And where am I?
Edward was suddenly next to me. "Bella," he breathed.
Why was he here? I must have looked very confused, because Edward interrupted my thinking with an explanation.
"Alice and I came over last night to see if we could borrow your biology book. We heard a gun fire and ran inside. I brought you to my house. My father, Carlisle is a doctor. We thought you would be more comfortable here than at a hospital."
He came over last night? Shit. That means that he knew everything…I blushed and looked down.
"Thank you," I whispered. I don't know how he heard me, but he did.
He smiled. "So, how bad are my, uh…injuries?" I asked awkwardly.
His smile disappeared. "Well, you have some puncture wounds in your stomach," he began, pointedly not mentioning that those puncture wounds happened to be carved in the shape of Charlie's name. "You got shot in your left shoulder, but the bullet is out. You have a concussion and a slight cut on your head, but other than that it's fine. You have a broken arm, some cracked ribs, and a broken ankle."
I tried not to grimace. I guess it could be worse though…
Then Carlisle walked into the room, and our conversation stopped. He smiled at me.
"How are you feeling, Bella?" he asked.
What kind of stupid question is that? Of course I'm feeling like shit. Not that I would ever say that to him. "Um…I'm fine." I lied feebly.
He didn't look like he believed me. "You were sleeping for 2 days."
Really? That long? I didn't think that I was that messed up.
What did Charlie think? Did Edward and Alice say anything to anyone? Where is Charlie now?
Those were the questions that I wanted to ask. But I kept quiet, afraid to say anything.
Carlisle turned to Edward. "Esme wanted to talk to us downstairs for a minute."
Edward looked annoyed, but got up anyway. Carlisle left the room.
Edward looked over at me and smiled softly. "I'll be right back, Bella."
And then he was gone. And I was alone again.
EPOV
I was annoyed to have to leave Bella, but I knew that we needed to have this family meeting. We had to decide what to do now that we had saved Bella.
We certainly couldn't send her back to Charlie. He almost killed her last night, and I'm sure he wouldn't mind a second chance at that if he was given the opportunity.
We all sat down at the dining room table. It was just for show, but also useful for family meetings like this one.
Everyone was silent, so I decided to be the first to speak. "We need to decide where Bella will go after she recovers."
I could hear buzzing from their thoughts, but I couldn't concentrate enough to hear them. It was Rosalie who spoke up, surprising me.
"I think she should stay here, with us. Edward obviously likes her, and I think the whole family does. She should never have to go back to him, even if she doesn't end up staying with us."
Of course Rose would want to protect Bella. It made sense now. She was raped too, and even though she doesn't like humans, she would do anything to protect Bella now.
Carlisle looked surprised. "Ok, so does anyone not like the idea of Bella staying with us?"
Jasper looked uncomfortable. He wanted Bella to stay, but he wasn't sure of his control over his bloodlust. I heard his internal debate from his thoughts. He decided that he could control himself, if it would keep Bella from having to go back to Charlie.
Esme smiled and said, "I think it would be lovely if Bella stayed with us. I already love her like a daughter."
We unanimously agreed to have Bella stay here. But then Jasper spoke up.
"Will we tell her about…what we are? If she's going to be living with us, it might be kind of hard to hide."
Carlisle looked at me. "He has a point, Edward. She should get a choice in staying here too. Tell her, and if she doesn't want to stay, we won't make her.
I nodded. I knew that I had to tell her, but I was scared that her reaction might be bad. She has already faced so much horror. She doesn't need to be exposed to stories that she thought were made up. But I had to tell her anyway.
I opened her door and she was lying peacefully on the bed, still awake.
I smiled softly, but then my expression became serious. "Bella, my family and I were talking. We want to ask you to stay with us from now on. Carlisle and Esme can adopt you since you're only 17. You don't have to say yes, but we would all love it if you did."
When I was saying all that, I was looking down at my hands. I looked up to gauge her expression.
She was silent for a few moments, and I worried that she would say no. But then she smiled.
"Edward, I would love to stay with you and your family. But what about Charlie? Where is he?"
I was overjoyed that she said yes, but my anger was building up from her saying his name.
"We left him there Bella. He was unconscious when we left. He has no clue what happened, but he's keeping quiet about it. We weren't sure if you wanted to stay yet, or if you wanted to report him to Child Services. Carlisle wanted your permission to take pictures of your bruises and cuts, if you did want to report him. We will, of course, have to go to court, but Carlisle is sure that there is no chance of us losing and not being able to adopt you."
She just nodded. "There's something else too," I began. "My family and I…we aren't like other people. We aren't human. We are vampires. But we don't drink human blood, we drink animal blood. We consider ourselves vegetarians because of that. I understand if you are frightened now, and if you don't want to stay with us anymore. But no matter what you decide, you must not tell anyone what we are."
Her face was shocked and calculating. Had I scared her?
"Are you scared?" I asked quietly.
"No," she said quickly. "I'm just processing everything. I still want to stay here though," she added with a big smile.
"Good. I'll get Carlisle to take pictures before everything starts healing too much."
She smiled and closed her eyes, soon falling asleep.
APOV
Yay! Bella decided to stay with us! I told the rest of the family before she even said it. I hated the reason that brought her to stay with us, but I was still happy that she chose to.
When she gets better, I can do Bella Barbie every day! And take her shopping a lot! I saw that Bella and Edward would be together, and that Bella would become a vampire sometime soon. I was keeping that particular vision from Edward for now though. He would go on and on about how he wouldn't take away her soul and blah, blah, blah for hours if he saw that vision now.
Carlisle went upstairs to call Child Services. He was using his connections to push for a quick trial date, in two days. This Friday. Bella would be well enough to go out by then, if there weren't any complications.
I hope that judge is smart and can see past the face that Charlie is the police chief. Bella deserves to be happy more than anyone after years of torture from him.
Rose was pacing around the living room angrily. For once, she was thinking about someone other than herself.
She literally had to restrain herself from going after Charlie and killing him now.
After what happened to her with Royce, she would defend anyone who was abused in any way because she knew what it felt like. I saw that now that she knew what happened to Bella, she would protect her and treat her like a little sister.
Bella was sleeping now. She had no clothes here, and her clothes at home were hideous! Time to go shopping!!
"Rose, do you want to come with me to go shopping for Bella? She'll probably want to take a shower and change when she wakes up."
Rose agreed, and we went out to my yellow Porsche and to the mall in Seattle.
CPOV (Carlisle)
I already thought of Bella as a daughter. I wanted to rip Charlie to shreds for what he did to her, but I have much more self control than that.
I had just gotten off the phone with Child Services. The trial was set for this Friday, only two days away. I would tell Bella when she wakes up, and get some pictures of her bruises and cuts.
I had no clue how anyone could ever do that to another person, let alone their own family. It was unfathomable to me. People like Royce and Charlie didn't deserve such wonderful girls like Rose and Bella.
I was happy that Edward had finally found his soul mate. I saw the way that they completed each other. They need one another, and they both deserve it.
After the trial, Bella would finally be free. She could become one of us; no matter how against it that Edward is. If Bella wanted it, he wouldn't be able to say no to her.
We would finally all be happy. The whole family had been worried about Edward being alone, especially Esme. She adored Bella, and was grateful to her for completing her family.
Edward walked down the stairs and waited outside my study for a second before I told him to come in.
"Bella is awake," he informed me.
"Ok, I'll be upstairs in a minute." I said.
I grabbed my medical bag and camera, and went upstairs to check on Bella.
Ok, so since this obviously worked last time…
1-4 reviews (for this chapter) – No new chapter!
5-10 reviews (for this chapter) – Short chapter
11-16 reviews (for this chapter) – Normal chapter
17-22 reviews (for this chapter) – Long chapter!
I love it when you review other chapters too, but this only applies for chapter 10!