Disclaimer: God knows I don't own Twilight.
Chapter Ten
"Inspired in their footsteps, we will march ahead.
Don't be shocked that people die.
Be surprised you're still alive."
~ Flyleaf
Bella Mercer
Monday morning found Bella skipping school again; instead of sitting through tedious classes, Nana drove Bella and Laila to the county hospital to be checked out again, especially since the bruising on Bella's back was causing more than a little discomfort.
The doctor assigned to Bella was older, near retirement, with large silver glasses over his eyes. He peered down at the chart curiously, his bushy brows peaking high on his forehead. "I see you have a blood disorder," he states, putting the chart down. "You should be more careful. Let's see your back."
Bella grits her teeth at his advising tone and shrugs off the horrible green hospital gown, holding the cloth against her chest, quietly glad that she didn't exactly need to wear a bra if she didn't want to – a bra would be torture against her back at this point. It hurt every time she breathed.
The doctor prods her back for a moment, examining the large bruises that covered almost every inch of Bella's back. The amount of deep bruising was shocking to the doctor, but it made diagnostic sense; the particular blood disorder Bella Mercer had made her especially vulnerable to easy bruising and profuse bleeding from minor cuts. "Have you thought about getting a disorder identification bracelet?"
"A what?"
The doctor pulls back from his probing, adjusting the hospital gown to cover the black and blue bruising. "It would be a little plaque to put on a bracelet that identifies your blood disorder, so if anything were to happen again, the ambulance would know the appropriate measures to take. Are you allergic to anything? I can write that on the script, too."
Bella nods in agreement, quietly mentioning that she's allergic to grapefruit and penicillin as the doctor quickly writes a prescription, instructing her to take it to the hospital pharmacy, where they would send a request to her insurance to fill the order; later on, the plaque would be mailed to her home.
Once the doctor leaves, Bella gets dressed as quickly as possible, pulling an oversized, thick black sweater over her skin along with her most relaxed pair of jeans, both knees ripped up and fraying light blue. Before finding Nana and the little girl that had a habit of clinging to her legs, she drops the prescription off at the hospital pharmacy, trying to be as quick as possible; an aversion to hospitals had grown on Bella, ever since she had to identify her parents not two weeks ago. It was too soon for her to be in the sterile environment.
Laila's appointment, it turns out, was very minor; her pink cast was replaced in favor of a blinding yellow that makes Bella wince when she looks at it. Maybe I can cover some of that with Sharpie. I've had lyrics in my head since last night, anyway, she thinks absently as Laila wraps her little arms around the teenager's leg, the hard shell of the cast pushing into Bella's leg.
Somehow, Laila manages to hold onto Bella's leg as the small group moves to Nana's car – the coordination of the child is beyond Bella's comprehension, especially given that she only seemed to have hand-eye coordination.
After Laila is settled in the car, Nana closes the door and looks at Bella with great intensity. "I see that look in your eye," she tells her granddaughter. "Your father used to get that look all the time. That little girl…" Nana trails off.
Bella lifts her chin. "I know," she says quietly. "I can't deny it. It feels like she's mine already."
"You're just seventeen."
"I know."
Nana gazes at Bella, a sad, soft smile on her face. "So much like your father," she says finally, patting Bella's cheek gently. "A good thing, probably. While you were seeing the doctor, I got a call from a childcare case manager," she announces. "Laila will be under my official care as a foster parent. The manager of Child Protective Services in our county happens to go to my church and she saw what you did for that little girl."
An invisible weight lifts off Bella's shoulder – she hadn't realized how much stress she was carrying around, silently worried that someone would take Laila away from her.
There was something about Laila that tugged at her heartstrings – something about that little girl called to Bella in such a visceral way.
She wanted to protect her, shield her from the world that had already harmed her.
Bella wasn't sure if it was maternal instincts or her notion that no child should be harmed; maybe it was her faith that connected her to the purity in the child's eyes.
She wasn't sure it mattered.
Sliding her hand into her back pocket, Bella pulls out a little black fold wallet, feminine but simple. Holding it up, she redirects her gaze to Nana. "Then we can shop for her."
Excitement lights in Nana's eyes. "You want to shop?"
Bella shifts on her feet. Truly, she hated shopping, even though she was rather girly in other ways – her nails were always well maintained, the polish rarely chipping, and her make up collection was a source of pride. Shopping, on the other hand, was tedious, mostly because Bella's taste in clothing usually wasn't offered by the stores near her; online shopping was her choice, by far, but she also understood that a small child like Laila would enjoy the touching of items.
Bella nods, glancing at the little girl in the car. "For Laila. It would be nice if we could decorate the spare room upstairs for her. And she needs clothes," she adds absently, flipping her wallet open and fingering the gold credit card that had been in her name since she was sixteen. "It's on me."
Nana smiles, moving around the other side of the car. "Alright. Then let's start this shipping spree."
As they were already in New Haven, Nana drove to the nearest outlet mall, one with a rather large store centered on children toys and furniture - Laila's face lit up as soon as they entered the store. She immediately releases Bella's leg and gravitates towards a fairly large stuffed panda, her small hand tentatively petting the soft fur. Large, cerulean blue eyes look up at Bella.
The teenager crouches down next to Laila while Nana moves to get a cart. "You like the panda?"
"Yeah," Laila says quietly, her voice soft with wonder only children can possess.
Bella stands, wrapping her arms around a stuffed animal that is almost as big as she is. "Alright. It's yours."
"Really?"
Bella smiles easily at the sound of Laila's excited voice. "Yeah. Now, let's go find you some other stuff."
Hours later, Nana pulls her car into the driveway of her dark home, Bella reclining carefully against the seat of the passenger door; in the back seat, squished between the giant panda and a series of stuffed bags, Laila sleeps, completely tired out from the day of excitement. Nana's admiration for her granddaughter only grew throughout the afternoon – the way Bella interacted with Laila was remarkable, reminding Ester of how Bella's mother treated her granddaughter when she was Laila's age. Bella dedicated the entire shopping spree to blatantly spoil Laila, not even flinching when her gold card paid for hundreds of dollars worth of clothing, bedding, stuffed animals and books.
And Laila – Nana frowns slightly, remembering how completely amazed Laila was that she could "have all of these pretty things". It was so contradictory to what Ester knew about Richard Ames; a wealthy man who donated money to the church, who wore hundred dollar suits to the service. Apparently, his darkness reached far beyond what Nana could ever imagine, given how the child displayed such wonder at having her own bedspread. As Nana shuts off the car, she sends up a silent prayer of thanks that Bella took the initiative to save the little girl before the darkness truly tainted her.
"We're home," Nana says quietly to Bella, her eyes flicking to her neighbor's porch, where a young man was pacing. Ester purses her lips, easily recognizing the beginning stages of courtship between her granddaughter and the son of her Pastor; it would be amusing, to say in the least.
Bella wakes Laila up, completely oblivious to Edward's eyes on her back as he makes a split-second decision to approach the other teenager. By the time Laila is sleepily stumbling up the stairs with Nana by her side, Bella is back outside, leaning into the car to pull out the bags, Edward is stepping behind her, a wave of déjà-vu hitting him; it was just like when he first saw her, except this time, he could almost see how much it hurt Bella to move.
"Hey," he says softly, shyly.
Bella jumps, her head hitting the roof of the car, letting out of curse and turning the full force of her irritated glare on Edward's bottle green eyes. "You have a nasty habit of sneaking up on me."
Edward scratches the back of his neck, wincing. "Sorry. I, uh, I wanted to see how you were. You weren't in Biology."
Bella sighs, pushing hair out of her face and leaning back into the car to extract her purchases. "Hospital," she says, her voice muffled.
Edward bobs his head, even though she can't see.
She turns around, huffing as she grasps the large panda in her arms. Bella quirks a pierced eyebrow at him, blue-grey eyes sharp on his face. "Well, what are you waiting for? If you're going to talk, you have to help. Grab some bags."
Edward smiles widely, reaching for as many bags as possible in an effort to impress her with his strength. "You have a habit of making me do manual labor," he says, following her into the house, hesitating for only a second when she motions for him to follow her up the stairs. He tries to stop his mind from wandering when he passes by the mess that is apparently Bella's room, her guitar resting against the wall and her dark purple bedding mussed.
Bella snorts. "You owe me. This is the second time I've hit my head because of you."
Edward doesn't argue, he simply smiles.
He was sure he'd be willing to do anything just to spend time with her.
A/N: Hey guys. Sorry I missed updating last week – midterms. I might not be able to update next weekend either because my mother is having oral surgery on Thursday and it's going to be a huge recovery; if I can get Chapter Eleven finished by Wednesday, I'll update, if not, then you guys get two chapters or more in two weeks. It's really a win/lose situation.
Shout out to the first ten reviews (plus guests) of the last chapter:
ParasiteGoddess – Last chapter was real important for the story. Thank you for reading it!
LunaKaleidoscope – Bella's character is pretty awesome like that. We'll see if the community opens their eyes!
Xmusecangelx – Ahhh I'm sorry you cried!
CdrIvanova – Our brave, rash Bella!
shea1223 – Thank you!
celia azul – Thank you for your perspective; and you're totally right. It's not completely improbable for something like that to happen in a church parking lot, given the abuser, of course.
Pumpkinmykitty – That's pretty much the overall message of the story! I've been trying to find the words to describe it and there you go, summarizing it all in less than 24 words!
Dinotopian – Ah, Bella, our young, idealistic natural leader. What trouble shall she find next?
Twilight Rocker 12 – Right! I'd like to think I would have the guts to do what Bella did, but you never know. Obviously, it's in my head since I wrote it, but if the opportunity came up? Eh.
Super special shout out to the first review of the last chapter – Nalia-R – oh, do I have plans for Richard! And then I have plans for poor Bella too. This'll come back to haunt her, unfortunately!
Anyway, I'm exhausted. Thanks for reading!
As always, be brutally honest. I can take it.
~cupcakeriot
Side Note: Blood has been nominated for Top Ten Favorite Fics Completed in March. Don't know if voting is still an option but show me some love, yes? It's on the TwiFanFictionRec's website.