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Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, as much as I'd like to. Stephenie Meyer does.

Chapter Ten

Bella's Point of View

Oh, shit. Oh, crap. Oh, crap, shit, crap, shit…

I had just spilled my darkest, most protected secret with almost no provocation. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

Jasper's and Emmett's face were still mostly shocked, but Edward's was just plain out furious. I could practically see steam rising from his head and a volcano erupting inside of his body.

"Bella," he said in a slow, calm voice, although I knew that he was just masking his immense anger, "what did you just say?"

I furiously tried to think of something that sounded at least a little like I just shouted in their faces, and as it turned out, my brilliant excuse was, "I…fall down the stairs a lot." Aside from being the lamest excuse in the history of excuses, I didn't even say it convincingly.

Edward's face was still really angry.

"Bella, you've got to go to the hospital," he said, reaching towards my arm.

"NO! Don't make me go, please, don't…" A memory from a beating from Charlie flashed into my mind. Charlie reached for my arm and locked his hand around it painfully tight, kicking me in the stomach and sending my flying across the room.

I shied away from Edward's grasp, sobbing and sinking to the floor. Edward caught me and leaned against the car, hugging me. I whimpered again, but this time in pain- he was pushing too tight against my bruises. He gentled the embrace, making it feel welcoming and warm against all my injuries.

I cried and cried against his shirt, while he just ran light, soothing circles on my back.

"It's okay, Bella, it's okay," he whispered to me over and over again. After minutes of me sobbing against his shirt, probably ruining it, too, he murmured, "We need to get her to the hospital," to Emmett and Jasper.

I began to gasp wildly.

"No!" I shrieked. "You can't take me there! Charlie will kill everyone and then he'll get me and he'll torture me and then he'll kill me too! You can't, I didn't say anything, just stay out of my life!" I attempted to shove his arms off my shoulder, but they held fast.

"Bella," he said in a strong, firm voice, "you have to go to the hospital. Then we'll go to the police and Charlie will never be able to hurt you again." Again, I began to struggle frantically. Finally, I got loose, and I tried to make a break for it, even though I had absolutely no idea where I was. I heard Edward order Jasper and Emmett, "Go after her; don't let her run far, she's probably hurting herself." It was true; my wounds were screaming in protest to the great amount of physical activity, and a lot of my knife cuts were reopening.

Emmett caught up with me first and picked me up, ignoring my yelled protests and the punches against his back.

"Here," he said to Edward. Edward traded me with the keys, as he was going to be the one sitting with me in the backseat.

Emmett gently forced me into the seatbelt, while I was still kicking and screaming.

"Bella, easy, geez," Edward murmured. I hadn't realized he had slipped into the seat next to me. I calmed down a little when I saw Edward, I'm not really sure why. He had a relaxing presence, I guess.

Eventually, I resorted to resting my head on Edward's shoulder and having a foot in consciousness and a foot out of it. Honestly, I'd been through enough that day, so I felt I should be able to put my head down and rest. Who cares if they took me to the hospital?

I could still hear their conversation; I wasn't that out of it- their words were just a little bit muffled.

"Okay," I heard Emmett start, "let's see how bad the damage is before we take her in- I mean, I don't think the hospital staff would be very pleased if we brought her in and she had a little red mark on her back."

"I'm telling you, she had bandages all over, and she was covered in bruises," Edward insisted. I could practically hear Jasper's and Emmett's eyes rolling.

"Okay, Mr. Over-exaggerator, let's see." Edward began to take off my sweatshirt. Every boy in that car gasped.

"Oh, shit, Edward, I didn't know it was that bad," Jasper breathed.

"Neither did I," Edward replied. I felt his feather-light touch trail down my arms, slowly peeling off the long, brown bandages. Edward, Jasper, and Emmett cussed.

I guessed they were seeing my deep, deep knife wounds, some of them bleeding a little because of the little escape I tried back in the middle of nowhere.

"Bella?" Edward asked anxiously. "How did you get these?" I sighed and rolled my head over.

"Hmm?" I mumbled.

"How'd you get all these cuts over your arms and stuff?"

"A knife."

Silence. Then, "A knife…what do you mean, 'a knife'?"

"You know, a knife. That's what Charlie did to me, he'd just cut me all over, like he was drawing on my body," I replied. I sounded so groggy. Edward took a sharp intake of breath.

"What else did he do to you?" Edward asked through his teeth.

"I don't know, he did the knife, punched me, kicked me, pulled my hair, all sorts of stuff," I replied in an off-hand tone. I really wanted to sleep.

"How long has this been going on? Days? Weeks?"

"The first day I got here, so around a month or so, now can I please sleep?" I pleaded. Edward looked down at me.

"Of course you can, princess, just put your head down and relax…" I did as he told me to and sighed when his hands came in contact with my hip and cheek. For once, I didn't mind that he called me princess or that he was touching me. I just fell into the welcoming, swirling darkness of sleep.

Edward's Point of View

That son of a bitch! He was doing this to my Bella. She was so sweet and kind, she didn't deserve any of the torture he was putting her through.

"Edward, man, what the hell are we going to do?" Emmett asked worriedly. I looked at him like I would look at a green-skinned alien.

"We're going to go to the hospital and drop off Bella and then we're going to go to the FBI to report that lunatic." What else were we going to do?

"Yeah, that's swell and all, but where is she going to live? I mean, she can't go back to Phoenix with her grandma, part of the reason she moved here was because it was putting too much strain to have Bella live there, and her mom's dead. Where's she gonna live?"

I thought for a moment. Then I said slowly, "Well, Alice is her best friend, maybe she could just live with us until someone else comes to take her." Emmett and Jasper nodded. I kind of liked the idea of Bella living with us…I could keep her safe…but I was getting ahead of myself. First we had to go to the hospital and get her out of this hell she called her life, with her father being the devil.

"Okay, let's go," I muttered to the others. Bella stirred in her sleep and murmured my name once, and she reached her hand out…like…like she wanted me to stay. To stay there, in her dream. My heart warmed and my eyes softened as I considered that she might like me as much as I like her.

I know, I know, it's a little short! That's okay, though, because the next one is going to be a lot longer…it'll be up soon. Please, please, please, please, please, please, REVIEW!!!!!! The more you guys review, the more it motivates me to get the next chapter up. Thanks!!!!!!!