STRUGGLES

Disclaimer: The Cullen's, the Swans, and most of the characters mentioned in the story that are known from Stephanie Meyer's beloved Twilight Saga, are all hers and hers alone. I neither have nor wish to pass them off as mine. I do appreciate the fact that she did bring them to life and allows us to play with them in our imaginations. The only thing I will claim is the current storyline.

The awesome and talented dowlingnana searched out my errors and corrected them. She also makes the banners for each of my stories.

"Don't worry about it, Ren, after all, she is my daughter in a sense as well, so, she's family and we need to take care of family. However, I would suggest that if you're able we get settled, changed and get on over to the hospital so we can see for ourselves how well she is doing."

CHAPTER 10: RENEE'S ARRIVAL

Charlie and Jasper had settled down for the long wait through the night in the hard, plastic chairs that lined the walls in the ICU waiting room. They both would have been back in the small cubicle type room that held Bella, if it had been allowed, but, due to the unusual circumstances only the doctors or nurses were permitted to enter.

A guard had been placed outside of her door even though formal charges hadn't been filed as yet. But, Charlie knew they would be coming and he was glad that he had prepared for such an event. He had full confidence in Edward being able to handle the situation his baby girl was in and knew that Edward, along with everyone else, would do everything humanly possible to steer her through the rough waters that were rushing towards her. Unfortunately no one knew just how rough those waters were going to be and what was waiting on just the horizon once Bella did wake up.

Both men were dozing when the clicking of footsteps coming closer and closer jarred them into awareness. They were preparing themselves for whatever might be moving in their direction as the footfalls were rapidly approaching their location without the slightest hesitation, or, showing any signs of slowing down indicating they might be stopping before arriving at the waiting room door. No, the clicking, clacking sound which was as near a military marching cadence that could be had by a civilian, was in full stride and was moving towards them in full steam and was doing a good job of drowning out any other footfalls that might be accompanying the individual that seemed to be intent on getting to their destination.

And, although, they were watching the door to see if anyone was going to appear the one person that did come through and made a straight path without even slowing, missing a step, or, having any hesitation in their stride towards Charlie Swan was none other than Renee Dwyer with Phil Dwyer coming right behind her. Once she was close enough to him she surprised everyone as she pulled back her arm and slammed a full force fist right into Charlie's face.

His head snapped back at the same time as Phil reached his arms out to encircle his wife's body to prevent her from doing any further damage to herself or others.

"Damn, Renee, what the shit was that for? Control yourself woman." Charlie demanded as he rubbed the spot where the hit had landed.

"Control myself? You have the nerve to tell me to control myself when my baby is lying in an ICU room fighting for her life and is facing problems once she wakes up as well. Are you seriously telling me to have control?

"How dare you Charles Swan to tell me that. You didn't even let me know that she was having any problems with that bastard even before now. You should have given me warning long before now. So, how dare you even try to tell me what to do!" Renee was nearly shouting, but, was still trying to maintain a level of quiet as she unconsciously kept a sense of where she was.

"Ren, from what you've told me that Charlie had told you over the phone, there wasn't much that could have been done since Bella refused to confirm to anyone about the problems she was having in the privacy of her home. You have to stop and remember that Bella is an adult and no one could do anything more than what was done until she was ready to let them." Phil tried to reason with Renee, but, for all of his efforts she was throwing angry frowns along with a look of disgust in his direction.

"Philip Dwyer, are you siding with him against your own wife?"

"No. I'm not siding with anyone, but, the truth and the right and wrong of the situation is what has the most importance here. Dealing with those facts and using them as they truly exist is what is going to help Bella more than anything else.

"Dear, you have to stop and gain control of your emotions enough to be reasonable about all of this, or, you're not going to be of any help to anyone, much less to Bella. She's the one that is important right now, but, you have to look at all of the circumstances with a clear, open minded view. And, you're not doing that at the moment. All you're doing is striking out at anyone or anything that you think is standing in your way.

"Take the time to be reasonable and to listen to the truth of what is said and then we can determine the best way to help Bella along with everyone else that will be supporting her. You must stop and realize that she isn't in this alone and neither or you. Everyone that loves and cares for Bella is going to be helping in every way possible."

Renee continued to give a death stare to all three men that were surrounding her at the moment, but, she did quit struggling to break free of her husband's tight hold that he continued to have upon her until she showed some signs of calming down enough to listen.

"All right. All right, I'll listen, but, I had better hear some answers as to why things had been allowed to get this far out of control and what can be done about all of it to get everything resolved."

So, Phil loosen his hold, dropped his arms and stepped back from his wife while Charlie indicated for everyone to be seated. Once they had all gotten as comfortable as the hard assed chairs in the waiting room would allow both Charlie and Jasper began to fill the two new arrivals in on all that had been taking place and how Bella refused to confirm anything. She refused to allow anyone to interfere with her home life in anyway. By the time they had gotten through with their narrative both Renee and Phil know everything that everyone else knew.

"But, why? Why would she continue to allow herself to stay in that sort of position and situation? There has to be more to this than what you're saying, or, than what is known." Renee asked and wondered as she had continued to listen to what Charlie and Jasper told her.

"Charlie, I realize that you might consider that I have no business being concerned about this matter since I'm more or less an outsider and only Bella's step father, but, I'd like to help in any way that I can. And, my understanding of what you've said so far is that Bella is facing being charged with some kind of a murder charge and will have to defend herself before all of this is over. So, my question is have you gotten her an attorney and is he any damn good?

"If not then I'll see about getting a hold of an excellent one and will pay for whatever charges are incurred that will get Bella freed of all of this." Phil told Charlie and Jasper as he made his offer.

"Don't worry about an attorney for Bella as I've managed to get one of the best available to represent her and to see her through all of this mess." Charlie told both Phil and Renee.

"Do you mind if I ask you who did you retain? Is it someone that I might have heard of?"

"Can't say if you've heard of him or not, but, yes, he's the best that could be gotten to handle this case. His name is Edward Cullen out of Chicago." Charlie paused with whatever else he was going to say as he noticed the surprised look on Phil's face as well as Phil's reaction to the name of the attorney. "Is there something I should know about Cullen?"

"No, Charlie. It just surprised me that you have been able to get some one of his caliber. He has a damn good reputation in his handling of cases and his number of wins."

"I was able to get his services because his parents are friends of mine and his dad is Bella's personal doctor." Charlie explained and then continued to explain further, "When I was informed about what had happened at Bella's home I called Carlisle Cullen and requested that he get his son involved with this case as soon as possible. Both Carlisle and I have seen enough of this sort of thing to have an idea of how the police would handle things from beginning to end."

"Smart move, if I may say so. Now, what can Renee and I do to help?"

"Phil, at this point I really have no idea. Everything has been turned over to her attorney and we are all going to be meeting with him in the morning to find out more about how he wants to proceed with things. I would suggest that you both be present for that meeting and ask Edward what either of you can do to help."

"Okay. We'll definitely be available for that meeting, but, my next questions are: has Bella been charged formally with anything as yet? Next question is why is there a guard outside of her ICU room? Then lastly why isn't she awake?"

"Okay, probably, the best way to answer you would be to say that Bella's situation is severe enough that Carlisle put her in a medically induced coma to allow better healing.

"Then your last two questions can all be answered together by saying that no she hasn't been formally charged, but, it is expected and no one is wanting to take any chances that she might try to escape if presented with the opportunity."

"Charlie, is there any way that you can set it up for me to be able to spend some time with Bella?" Renee quietly asked of her ex-husband.

"Renee, you can go in and spend some time with her. The police aren't preventing it. None of us are allowed to stay for any extended period of time right now."

And with Charlie giving her that information Renee rose and left to go spend time with her daughter while Phil stayed behind. He still wanted to get more information as to why anyone was wanting to have charges, other than the normal reasons, filed against Bella. So, once he was assured that Renee was out of hearing he asked that one question.

"Charlie Swan, what is it that you're not saying? Why do I have the feeling that you're withholding some information?"

"The police have spoken to Norma Harrison, but, no one knows what she told the police. They are staying closed mouth about that and it was after that interview that the Seattle police have taken a dimmer view of what occurred between Bella and Frank.

"In fact, that was when they posted the guard outside of Bella's door. And, they have advised from almost the beginning of the investigation that we needed to get a good attorney for Bella.

"Of course, that is normal procedure in cases of this sort, but, Norma has really put some sort of bug into their ear."

"What has Bella told the police?"

"Nothing. She hasn't been in any shape to talk with the police due to her injuries, the surgery and then with Carlisle putting her into the medical coma."

A/N: Well, Renee wasn't too gentle at first with Charlie upon first sight of him. It's still up in the air as to what Norma told the police, but, Edward is going to be hot and heavy on the case starting the next morning after everyone had gotten some rest.

Thanks for reading the story and hope you will enjoy it. Your reviews, ideas and comments are always welcomed.