*As always credit goes to Stephenie Meyer for her original characters.
*I decided to be nice and post TWO chapters today because this one is a little shorter than the other one. It also makes two in a row of Bella's POV even though I tried desperately when writing this initially to keep it flipping every other chapter. But when I did write this I knew it had to be Bella as I wasn't quite finished with her last chapter. Anyways, without further ado, here it is!
"Emmett?" I whispered and he nodded, tears in his own eyes as Rosalie stood off to the side watching us worriedly. Emmett smiled down at me sadly and I nodded. "Thank you." I knew what he was seeing. He was seeing me before and I felt awful, my throat constricting and my breathing picking up again. I had never in my life been more thankful that he thought of me as much a sister as Alice was to him.
"I need to see Edward."
Bella's POV
I felt horrible for the way I had run from Rosalie's pain.
I had tried, believe me I had tried to stay there with her when she fell against Emmett and I saw the surprise register in her face at the pain she was obviously feeling. After the day we had spent together, I felt surprisingly close to her and I was already calling her my friend – possibly even older sister (in law) by the time we had arrived at the Cullens house. But I still couldn't face what I was sure was happening to her. Not now, not when my own pain was still so raw.
I hoped and prayed that she would never understand why.
"Can I come in Bella?" His velvety voice wasn't full of his usual smoothness. It was different, not cracking but already broken as he stared down at me from the doorway of the guest room, his entire body was leaning towards me but his face was revealing his hesitancy. I didn't blame him for being hesitant – the last time he had tried to see me I had told him how much I hated him. What I wish he knew was how much I hated myself.
I didn't have the use of my words at the moment though so I just nodded silently, holding up my arms and hoping that he wasn't too angry with me. He hesitated only a moment before approaching me, his own arms immediately enveloping me as he joined me on the floor.
Eventually we pulled apart, neither of us speaking and I leaned against the enormous bed. I had slept in this room countless times – especially in those first few weeks after Emily had died – and this room was as much mine as it was a guest room. "You lost them too." I whispered suddenly, remembering the reason I had been so desperate to see him, the reason we had walked into the scene that we did.
Edward didn't answer me, reaching over and squeezing my hand, his eyes boring into the side of my head until I felt I didn't have a choice but to look up into his emerald eyes. I wasn't expecting to see him like this. My breath caught in my throat as I saw the intense agony in his face, the hurt and sadness that seemed out of place on his perfect features. A reminder of everything he had also suffered through both with me and on his own.
I didn't know what else to say. Edward had made one huge mistake in our relationship. I had made too many to count and I knew that he deserved so much more than I could offer him. But we had already been through so much, and as selfish as it seemed… I needed my rock.
"How are you feeling?" his question pulled me from my thoughts and when I looked back at his face it was as though a switch had flicked and although he seemed truly concerned, I could also feel him pulling back from me emotionally.
"A little sore actually… my ribs are killing me from my panic…" He raised his eyebrow at me as I bit my tongue. I hadn't meant to tell him about me panicking on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere – at least not yet. But it was too late. "I was out with Rosalie and I started talking about Emily… I guess I had a bit of an episode – a panic attack – and she didn't know what to do so she called Emmett. But I was curled up pretty tightly during everything so I'm kind of achy now." I explained without him asking. I knew he wouldn't force me to talk about anything, I knew him too well to know that he wouldn't make me speak if I didn't want to. But something deep inside me was compelling me to be honest with him.
Wordlessly he stood up, reaching his hand down and offering to help me up. I took it silently, and he looked at me questioningly before I moved and lay down on the bed. This wasn't completely better but it was more comfortable than the floor. Once I had finished shifting I watched as Edward perched carefully on the edge of the bed and reached over to once again hold my hand.
"Aside from your ribs how are you feeling?" He asked nervously and I watched as he ran his free hand through his hair without thinking. I knew what he was asking and I swallowed heavily before answering him. "I'm… okay. I'm still pretty crampy from…" I changed thoughts, "And I've been seeing Dr. Morton again… it's not really helping yet… it's just… everything has brought back a lot of feelings about Emily and losing him is even harder…" I trailed off and I felt the pressure as he tightened his hold on my hand just slightly while he patiently heard me out.
"How… how are you feeling?" I whispered a minute later and I waited for his answer but he didn't give it, changing topics instead. "How come Emmett brought you back to our place?" I could hear the hidden question in his voice… was it my choice or his, was I okay with seeing Edward right now? I didn't know how to answer, because as painful as it was… I knew I needed to be with him.
"I asked him to… sort of. I…" I paused and I could see him watching as I bit down on my lip nervously, my free hand wandering down absently to rest on my stomach before I abruptly pulled it back. I felt my heart clench and I closed my eyes to try and force my tears back just before I thought I saw Edward do the same.
"I… I'm sorry Edward. I know this is hard for you as well… I know that you lost this…" I pulled his hand to my stomach and I tried not to flinch at the slight pressure, at the reminder. When I looked back at his face I saw the tears overflow from his closed eyes and I lost all control of my own, sitting back up and this time wrapping him in my arms as he cried.
"I needed to see you… I needed…you." I pulled back just a little bit and shook my head sadly. I don't know how I had denied it for so long, I loved him. I loved him with everything that I had and that was why it had been so excruciating when Tanya had...
"Do you think Rosalie is going to be alright?" I had to change my thoughts, I couldn't think about that wretched woman or the words I had heard as we had come in the door earlier.
"I don't know. I hope so…" Edward replied and I nodded. "She hit the door pretty hard…" I said more to myself as I replayed it in my head, the way I had run when I had seen her with him, when she had described what they had done. I hadn't gone far though, I had stayed to watch with a sickening morbid curiosity, not believing it when she had used the entire force of her body to knock my friend into the mirrors behind her, the glass shattering and piercing her back…
"She has to be alright. Emmett will kill me if she's not. He might kill me anyways." Edward's voice was eerily quiet and I clued in a second too late. Edward blamed himself for this, for that Bitch's actions.
"I don't want to talk about her Edward… but what happened tonight… it's not your fault. You couldn't predict that she would take her anger out on Rosalie like that."
"If it wasn't for me…"
"Please. I don't want to talk about her anymore…" He didn't say anything else and gradually I felt the tension begin to ease as we both lay down on the bed, not speaking, just needing the presence of each other.
"Emmett? Edward?" A panicked yell hit my ears just as I began to doze on the bed and I gently shook Edward awake, knowing who was yelling for him as well as I knew my own voice?
"Mom? Dad?" Alice's voice was nearly hysterical and Edward bolted upright on the bed, blinking several times before standing up. While Alice continued to call for her family from downstairs I heard a low male voice speaking quietly behind her and immediately became worried for my friend.
"Stay here Bella." Edward hissed at me as I tried to follow him out of the guest room but his warning fell on deaf ears. If Alice was in trouble I was going to help my best friend.
"Thank God Edward!" She was only a blur as she flew across the kitchen and bounded into his arms and I stared in surprise at the tall stranger that was watching the scene warily from where she had just come from.
"What's wrong Alice?" Edward's eyes caught up with mine and in a second Alice was behind him and next to me, his stance protective as he eyed the boy – or rather man – up fiercely.
"You tell me Edward. What the Hell happened here?" She stepped around him, gesturing wildly to the grand foyer, the open front door and the mess of glass and blood that was still all over the floor. I realized then what had her panicked as I clued in to what it must have looked like.
"Long fucking story Alice…" I muttered as I wiped my eyes and she turned towards me as though just noticing that I was standing beside her, her tiny arms pulling me into a hug as Edward stood there watching us with his mouth wide open before I heard a faint buzzing.
Pulling his mouth into a tight smile he looked up from his phone seconds later. "Rosalie and the baby are alright… Mom and Dad will be home in a while." I felt my own lips turn up into a small relieved smile right before the pain hit my chest.
"Rosalie? What happened here tonight?" Alice had let go of me and I stumbled back, sitting down on a stair as I struggled to remind myself that I was happy for Rose and Emmett – just incredibly jealous.
"Tanya showed up." He didn't get another word out, Alice's anger unleashing on Edward with a hard slap to the cheek that left us both completely shocked.
"Alice…"
"What the fuck Edward. I thought you dealt with her?" She screeched as she raised her hand again just as the tall man in the kitchen stepped forward and grabbed her arm and gently lowered it, whispering in her ear while she fumed in front of us.
"Who the hell are you?" Edward's temper was flaring as he watched the intimate exchange between the two of them and I could see that he was about to lose it.
"My name's Jasper." He spoke with a slightly southern accent but didn't bother holding his hand out to Edward as he was still tied up with calming down Alice, but he did nod to me and I smiled over at him. His name was only vaguely familiar but it looked to me like he and Alice were already quite close.
"So?" Alice's face was still bright red as her icy eyes glared daggers at Edward but she was much calmer now and I couldn't help but to see that even though Jasper wasn't holding onto her any longer, his hand still rested on her lower back, as though he needed the contact with her.
"So. What. Alice?" Edward snapped back at her and she let out a loud huff, her fingers twitching at her side.
"What the fuck happened to Rosalie?" she pressed angrily and I decided to step in before the two of them really got into it.
"Rosalie and Emmett and I had just gotten here… we didn't see the entire exchange but we saw enough to know that she was trying to get to Edward, pretty much just begging him to take her back. He kept refusing her, Rosalie told her to leave and she pushed Rose back into the doors before Emmett quite literally picked her up and threw her outside." I tried to summarize it quickly and without thought, determined to remain calm for right now. I was tired of being emotional.
"Holy crap." I had never seen someone's face go from tomato red, to deep purple to as pale as a ghost within seconds before now.
She looked behind her at Jasper and as if he knew exactly what to do from just that one look he led her towards the living room and sat down with her on the sofa. Edward and I followed, sitting down across from them quietly until Alice looked up at me anxiously.
"How are you feeling Bella?"
A/N: So yay! Rosalie is going to be fine, our couple is at least speaking to each other, and Alice has a new boy toy and everybody's emotions are going completely nuts! Back to Edward's POV in the next chapter. As always, if you've read this far, please leave a short review to let me know! Thanks to all who have reviewed so far!