The Twilight Twenty-Five
thetwilight25 dot com
Prompt: Disheveled
Main Character: Bella
Rating: T
Word Count: 2185
I'm in my garage working on my latest project when I hear a knock on the side door.
Weird I think since all my friends and my dad just walk in.
I open the door and Bella, who I haven't seen in years, is standing there holding an infant.
She looks bad. Like she hasn't had a shower in days.
"Bella?" I don't know what else to say.
"Jacob, I'm sorry to just show up like this but my dad wasn't home and I didn't know where to look other than here. Is he here?"
"No. He will be in a few hours though. He's out fishing with my dad but I don't know where they went. Is that your baby?"
"I wish she was but no, she's Renee's. I take care of her though but Renee let her latest man move in and he's worse than the others. He's not just a jerk, he's violent and they are always drunk and I've been skipping school to keep her safe but he scares me. He looks at me… like well I couldn't take it anymore. So I took her. I used the money I had to get here. I was hoping… I shouldn't have come. I haven't seen Charlie in years. I was afraid to leave my mom for any period of time to come visit him. She gets herself into enough trouble with me watching after her. I'm just going to go, this isn't Charlie's problem." She turns to leave.
"Don't go. Charlie loves you Bella, he will want to help you." He's going to blame himself for this and do everything in his power to make it better.
"Can I wait here?" She asks quietly.
"Of course, come on." I lead her into the house, pour her some water and offer it to her. "What is her name?"
"Jenny. Um, I need to run out to the car and get her bottles." She walks out carrying the baby, I thought about offering to hold her but Bella seems very protective of her.
I'm trying to remember how old she is, older than me but not by much. Definitely not old enough to be kidnapping and taking care of her mom's baby.
She comes back in and seems to be trying to ignore I am there, busying herself in taking care of Jenny. She is good with her from I can tell. Not that I have a lot of experience watching people take care of their babies. I don't even know anyone with a baby.
We sit in silence for a long time but Bella is falling asleep holding the baby. That doesn't seem safe.
"Do you want me to hold her while you take a nap? You can use my bed or we have an extra room. You could take a shower if you wanted, I'm sure I could find something for you to wear."
"I don't know Jake; I mean I don't really know you. Not that I think you would do anything to her, just…"
"I get it Bella, you don't trust me. You just look tired."
"I'm so tired Jake, more tired than I have ever been. I just drove 4 days to get here. We had to stop at cheap little motels because I don't have very much money and they were so gross and she hates the car seat so a lot of times she was just back there screaming until she would exhaust herself and finally fall asleep. I had to stop every 2-3 hours to feed her and sometimes there was nowhere safe to stop and I'm just exhausted and I'm scared because I don't think Renee even cares about her but she likes to have control over things." Now she is crying.
I sit next to her and pull her close to me to half hug while she's still holding the baby.
The door opens and closes and Embry walks through the door. Bella lights up when she sees him.
"Embry?"
"Bella? What are you doing here? Is that Jenny? What is going on?"
"I took her. Rick was getting worse and I just couldn't risk it."
"But how did you end up here?"
"Charlie lives here, or in Forks actually but when he wasn't here I figured he was with Billy."
Embry walks to her and just takes the baby out of her arms and she collapses against me fully.
"I don't get it." I tell them both.
"Embry and I met this summer when he was visiting his dad with his older brother. His dad is actually my boss or was my boss. He gave me all the cash I do have. Do you live here?" She asks Embry.
"Yeah, Sam too, he's going to be happy to see you. This is crazy. So wait, Chief Swan is your dad?"
"Yes, I haven't seen him in like 7 years because I didn't think it was right to leave my mom on her own but I didn't know where else to go. I'm really happy to see you Embry."
"This is crazy Bella… I mean Sam and I just moved here. He got a job close by and I came with him because of my mom. We just don't really get along…"
"I remember."
"I wonder why my dad never mentioned it to you though when you told him you were coming here."
"I didn't tell him. I knew he wouldn't let me come this far on my own and I didn't want him getting involved."
"He really cares about you; he says you're like the daughter he always wanted." Embry tells her.
"Now that he's here will you go take a nap Bella?" I ask her hopefully. She really does look like she's about to fall over.
"Can I still take a shower?" She asks suddenly shy and quiet again.
"Sure, come on." I grab her some old clothes of my sister's and a towel and show her the bathroom which is connected to both my room and the extra room. "If you want to take a nap right after the shower either room is fine."
"Thank you Jake, can you please wake me if she fusses so I can feed her?"
"We could probably manage." I offer.
"Um, only if Embry doesn't mind."
"You two are close?" I ask her.
"Yeah we spent a lot of time together. With Sam too. They came to visit their dad so they would hang out at the store he owns and then once we started getting along he gave me tons of time off but paid me anyways so I could hang out with them."
She goes into the bathroom so I walk back out to the living room.
"She said you could feed her if you didn't mind, otherwise wake her up. She doesn't seem to like me much."
"She doesn't like anyone much. She and my dad are close because when they moved there he could tell something wasn't right and so he tried to help her out however he could and she slowly learned to actually trust him, then when we came to visit I think she trusted his judgment on us."
"So what's story? I mean I knew her when we were kids."
"Her story is she got a crap mom and a dad that is apparently so into his career that he didn't notice. I mean how do you go seven years without seeing your daughter and then let her think it's her fault?" He's getting pissed off.
"Calm down, I don't think Charlie is like that really. I'm sure if he knew…"
"Bella can lie and I'm sure she did because she thought somehow her mom was her responsibility but she was 11 when she last came. What kind of a father lets their 11 year old daughter just not come ever again? He better help her now."
"I'm sure he will, he's a cop. They help people. She's his daughter."
"His daughter who kidnapped a baby Jake. You know how he is about being a cop, I don't like this. Maybe she should go back and hide out with my dad. I could take her."
"Seriously calm down. It's not like he's going to arrest her. This is all too much for us to handle and Bella seems to think she can trust him, you said yourself… she doesn't trust easily."
Jenny starts fussing and Embry rocks her in his arms and asks me to make her a bottle. I stare at him like he's insane to think I would know how to make a bottle. He rolls his eyes and hands her to me. I hope Bella doesn't wake up and kill us both. I'm pretty sure Charlie would have to arrest her for that.
He makes her a bottle and takes her back from me.
Charlie and Billy walk in and the confused looks on their faces would be funny if this wasn't so messed up.
"Whose kid is that Embry?" Billy finally asks.
Embry looks at me and I look at the bedroom where Bella is sleeping and when Charlie asks the same question Embry finally admits it's Bella's half-sister who she kidnapped because Renee let some violent, alcoholic man move in and now she is sleeping in the extra room.
"How did she get here?" Charlie asks.
"She drove." I tell him and Embry adds that it wouldn't surprise him if his dad gave her money to make the trip even if he didn't know all the details.
"I talk to her on the phone. She's always like yeah everything is great daddy. Jenny is awesome and Renee is doing good. I'm sorry I can't come visit but with school and then work and then Jenny. So now my 18 year old daughter just kidnapped her sister?" I think he might go into shock.
"Are you going to arrest her?" Embry asks him.
"I don't think so. I mean no, but she can't just keep the baby."
"So you're just going to send them back into a probably even worse situation?" Embry demands. His protective over Bella has got to be more than a summer friendship I'm thinking.
"I don't know!" Charlie yells at him and we all look up as the bedroom door slams into the wall.
"Give her to me." Bella orders Embry quietly and calmly but pissed. He hands her over. "She has been in a car or a crappy motel for the past 4 days, she doesn't know any of you and you think it's OK to argue like this around her? I'm leaving, clearly this isn't the safe place I was hoping for."
"Bella honey wait." Charlie grabs her arm and she turns around and tells him not to ever grab her again. Embry moves towards her slowly and she lets him hold her against him while she calms down.
"I have to go." She tells him quietly as though he is the only one in the room who could possibly understand.
"You can't Bella. Not right now. You don't have the money or the strength. Just give this a chance and if it doesn't work out I promise you I will find something that will."
"I kidnapped her daddy."
"I will do what I can to help but unfortunately the best way is going to be to return her to your mother and then get the state involved."
"No! They aren't going to let me have her! I'm barely 18 and I'm failing in school because I have to skip to keep her safe. You'll come with me?" She asks Embry after screaming at Charlie.
"Where Bella?" He asks her.
"I will do whatever I can to help you keep her. Maybe I can get custody of her."
"Oh right because you were a magnificent father to me."
"Bella you came here for his help, let him help."
"I can't lose her. I'm all she has and she is the most important thing to me. Because of her I feel like for the first time my life has meaning. Everything I dealt with is OK now because even if I wasn't worth saving I can save her." Pretty sure she just broke Charlie's heart.
"Do you trust me?" Embry asks her looking at her like she and Jenny are the only ones in the room.
"Yes."
"I know Charlie and I think it will all be OK but if it's not then I will find a way to make it OK. I promise you, you will not lose her."
"She can't just stay here with the baby." Charlie tries explaining.
"She will kick me out daddy then Jenny will be all alone and I will run and hide forever before I let that happen. It's your choice. You help me or you be the cop and you make me go back."
"Your room is still your room honey. We'll deal with Renee if we need to." Charlie gives in and Bella hands Jenny to Embry and hugs him.
