HLAG Chapter 12

EPOV

I walk up the path to Bella's house and knock heavily on the door. After a few minutes have passed, and no one answers, I knock again adding more force. I look at the window to see if there's any sign of someone. As my eyes go back to the door, I see the curtain move.

"Ms. Clearwater? It's Edward Cullen, from over the fence. I came to talk to you, Bella got herself in trouble," I say loudly so she can hear me through the door. Letting out a sigh when no one comes to the door, I clear my thoat. "She's in jail and will remain there till Monday. Then she'll go to court." The door remains shut and I have done what I agreed to do, so I start to walk off.

"What was the charge?" I jump and look back to see the front door only open a little.

"Theft," I say walking back. When I reach the door, I know Sue has aged a little, but more or less is still the same shy woman.

Sue looks at me confused. "That's not something she's done in a long time. Are you sure?" I bob my head and she shakes hers.

"She owned up." Sue takes a long breath in and nods at me.

"I have to go. I have a very upset daughter to deal with." Sue's eyes go wide and I know I have spoken harsher than what I meant to.

"Was she there?"

"Yes, Alice took her home." As soon as I spoke, Sue's face hardens and the look of understanding comes over her face.

"Goodnight," I say walking away having spent enough time dealing with this.

I drive home, and park my car. As I look at my house, it looks quiet, but I am worried about what I am going to walk in to.

"Hi," I say as I walk through my front door. My eyes look around the living room, to see only my mom is there looking worried as she bites her nails.

"Jennifer is up in her room. I tried to sit with her, but she moved quickly to the bathroom, and locked it. I thought it was her way of telling me she wanted to be alone." My mom's voice is low and soft, but I can clearly see the pain in her eyes.

"I'm going to go talk to her," I tell her as I pull at my hair.

My mom stands up nodding. "I started dinner."

I groan, but she is off to the kitchen and I know she needs to do something to take her mind off of what happened.

Softly knocking on Jennifer's door as I open it, I look around. "Hi, honey." Jennifer looks at me and runs to her window.

I move to the window to see what Jennifer is looking at. I follow the line of sight to see what I believe to be Bella's bedroom.

"She's in jail," I say and Jennifer's head drops as her small body shakes. Before I can hug her, she lets out a large sob and runs back to her bed hiding underneath it.

"Jenny," I say keeping my voice soft, despite my hurt and worry. I lay on the floor next to the bed. "Tell me how I can help you." She shakes her head and turns away from me.

"Do you want me to call Tia so you can talk to her?"

Jennifer doesn't move or even acknowledge that I have spoken. I shuffle so that I am under the bed too, sliding my arm under her head pulling her to me.

"I'm here when you're ready," I whisper in her ear.

~HLAG~

A few days ago, my biggest wish was to hear Jennifer's voice, but after having no communication with her this past weekend, all I want is for her to sign to me. It pains me that still after nine months she doesn't trust me enough. I feel like I won't be able to heal her.

I walk out the back door to put the trash out, and I see someone walking around the garden.

Her head snaps up and she looks over at me. "Hello," she says in a husky voice as her eyes wonder over me.

"I'm Renee," she carries on sticking out her hand.

"Edward," I reply as I shake her hand.

"Isabella never told me about you." I give her a tight lipped smile feeling a little uncomfortable about her eye fucking me.

I hum out a response as she starts to talk again. "I'm sorry for the trouble she's caused you and your family. Being a single parent is so hard. I try to be here and spend time with her when I can. But it never seems to be enough." She stops and shakes her head. "This is all my fault, I tried to make up for my absence by giving her gifts and money, but this would make her behavior worse. It's my fault for rewarding bad behavior." Renee stops and sniffs. "Now, she's done this," she says waving her hand around. "And I think this may be the time she gets herself in to deep shit and doesn't come out unscratched."

Placing my hand on her shoulder, I give it a little squeeze as I start talking. "Bella's brought this on herself. You are not to blame. Where theft is a serious crime, I doubt she'll spend a great deal of time in jail. She may only need to serve this weekend."

Renee seems to just look at me and then lets out a long sigh. "I'm still sorry. I don't understand why she steals and takes from others. I have been poor, even lived on the street when I was a teen. But I never stole. Hard work is what I did to get myself out of the rotten mess I was in. I thought I raised her better." Renee shakes her head as she walks away.

I take a deep breath before walking back into my home. The anger I feel toward Bella seems to be increasing by the second, and I fear when I see her, I may blow up.

~HLAG~

On Monday, I am up early, dressed in my uniform, and taking Jennifer to school. I quickly inform Ms. Denali of Jennifer's weekend, and that she seemed to have shut down a little. She agrees to keep an eye on Jennifer, but says she will allow Jennifer to be for the most part and let Jen come to her if she needs to. I have already booked an emergency appointment with Tia, but it's not till later in the afternoon.

I arrive at the station and look around for Mike, who seems not to be here yet. I head to the small café to get myself a coffee.

"Edward," Mike says as he sits down next to me. "How was your weekend?"

"It was so, so, yours?" Mike just grins at me showing me that he had a good time.

The time seems to crawl by and Bella's case isn't called till eleven.

Mike and I both stand and make our way to the DA's desk.

The door opens and I see Bella has a guard on each side of her as she is brought in.

As I watch her, I can see she seems to be limping and is in need of the guards' help with walking. My eyes move to her face, but her hair is covering it. She stops moving and I look her over to see her hand is at her side as if she is holding her ribs in place. Bella stands at the door and her head moves up and my eyes hone in on the nasty looking bruise that covers her left cheek.

"Fuck," I hiss out under my breath.

"Ah, Miss Swan, it has been a little while since I last saw you," the judge says with a smile. "How are you, my dear?"

"I'm good, you Aro?" I blink and look between her and the judge who's just looking at her.

"I was okay till I saw your name pop up. I thought we agreed you would stay out of trouble?"

"We did, and I am sorry for not keeping to my word. But in my defense I didn't go looking for trouble, it seems to have found me."

The Judge, Aro, bobs his head and lets out a sigh.

"I can't just dismiss this," he tells Bella who just nods with a smile of understanding.

"What will be, will be."

Judge Aro just looks at Bella and after a few moments have passed, he lets out a long breath. "This is what's going to happen. For the next twelve weeks, you will help out at the art youth group, from ten o'clock till two. Mr. Ball, who owns the shop you stole from, is in need of something done with the wall outside his shop. You will dedicate two weeks of the twelve doing something with it. If that is done before the end of the two weeks, you will then use those hours to help your school with the redecoration that it is undergoing. In addition, to all that, you will meet once a week with a," Judge Aro stops and looks down at his paper, "Corporal Edward Cullen. He will make sure you are doing your services in a timely manner and sign off on your hours. Then you will spend an hour and a half of that day with him learning what officers deal with day to day."

"What!?" It comes out my mouth a lot louder than I intended it to come out.

"Is there a problem, Corporal Cullen?" Judge Aro asks and I shake my head at him.

"No, sir." He raises his eyebrow at me before turning away from me.

"Bella, there comes a time where every mama bird has to push the baby bird out of the nest, this may be that time. I'll see you in three months for your review." He hits the gravel and Bella is led away.

"What the hell just happened?" I ask and Mike chuckles.

"Yeah, I don't get it. I'm starting to think she sucks Aro off. He has always been lenient with her."

"Sir." I stop and turn to look at the court officer that is standing behind Mike and I.

"Judge Aro would like a word in his chamber with you," he carries on as he looks at me. "Alone that is." His eyes drift to Mike, but come straight back to me.

"Go, I'll deal with Swan," Mike says walking away quickly.

"This is his chamber," the officer says when we get to a door. He knocks and opens as he motions for me to go in.

"Please take a seat," Aro says. "That'll be all, Frank," he carries on as his eyes move to the court officer who is still standing at the door.

Aro sits and just looks at me. "Is there something I can help you with?" I ask him after a few minutes have passed.

"Yes, you see, I know I sort of put you on the spot earlier, but I need you to be Bella's police case worker."

"Why?" I just don't understand. There are cops at the station that deal with this sort of stuff everyday.

"Because you are new, and she needs someone that has not written her off."

I snort and look at him as I tilt my head. "What makes you think I haven't?"

"I saw you as she came in, you were worried because she was hurt." I swallow and frown as I wonder what he saw in my face to make him think I would care about her.

"Things aren't always what they seem. Sometimes one must look at everything and then re-look," Aro cryptically says.

"What?" I ask feeling confused.

"Just open your eyes and ears, and maybe Bella will show you a depth that no one has ever seen in her."

"What makes you think she has depths?" I ask him and he smiles.

"I have been in this job a very long time and I thought I saw all, until I saw her. I'll tell you she surprised me greatly with her turn around from her minor convictions. Maybe if you spend time with her, you'll see what I see." He smirks at me and as I sit there, lost for words, he changes the subject as he starts talking again.

"I would like to meet with you for a half hour every three weeks." I bob my head as I am still at a loss.

"Very well, call my office with your days off and I will work around you." Before I can even agree, he walks out of the room.

I walk out shaking my head. As I approach the main door, I can hear two females raising their voices.

"Stop all of this, Bella, and do as you are told! You need to do this!" Renee yells as her eyes land on me.

"No I don't! Stay out of my life, out of my town, and fuck off back to your whore house!" Bella yells in her mom's face.

Renee starts to sob and Bella snorts. "Go play your games somewhere else, no one here gives a fuck."

"Bella," I say and she looks around and chuckles.

"There is a fucking surprise," Bella mutters.

"I'll call you, honey," Renee says and walks away sobbing.

"She's been worried about you!" I say harshly to Bella.

"Yeah right, how do you know what she's been feeling?" she asks in her bitchy tone.

"I spoke to her last night. She was outside walking around the garden pulling her hair out over what to do with you," I reply as her face turn murderess.

I shake my head and keep my mouth shut as I walk away. "Hey, Edward," Bella calls as she goes as quickly as she can trying to catch up with me.

"You going home?" she carries on as she reaches me out of breath. I nod my head, but don't say anything to her. "Can I get a lift?"

I chuckle as I shake my head. "This is my day off, but I am here for this," I say waving my hand. "You think I am going to give up any more of my free time for you?"

Bella turns and walks away from me, which just makes me groan. "Fuck!" I yell out.

"She's really getting to you." I jump turning, seeing Mike and bob my head.

"She's so irritating," I grit out.

"Oh, I know. All I can say is sorry about you getting stuck with her. If it was any one but her, the guys would take her off your hands. Since they all hate her as much as you do, I doubt they will offer."

"I doubt that Judge Aro would allow that anyway." I pull at my hair.

"I'm going to go. I need to pick Jennifer up so..." Mike bobs his head and walks away giving me a wave.

I get a little down the road to find Bella hitch hiking. I pull in front of her, but she walks past my car with her thumb out. I push down my roof and sit up.

"Get in the fucking car!" I yell at her. She drops her thumb and gives me the middle finger.

I jump out my car and move to her, as I open my mouth to yell at her, I grip her arm turning her to me. I'm met with her tear filled eyes. She winces loudly and pulls away from me holding her side. Her breath comes out in sharp breaths that has me putting my arms around her.

"Bella, what happened? Have you seen a doctor?" I ask her.

"Yes and what the hell has this got to do with you? If you don't mind," she says weakly pushing away from me. "I have a long walk."

She starts to walk again and I move after her.

"Why aren't you catching the bus?"

"I don't have any money."

"Get in the car, I'll drive you." She stops and looks at me.

Bella just looks at me as she bites down on her lip as if she's trying hard to keep it closed. After a few minutes have passed, she walks to my car and gets in. I quickly follow.

I drive Bella and I back home, and despite the fact I spoke to her, she never spoke to me. When I pull up outside her home, she just gives me a small head nod and walks away..

Sorry for the long wait! Please have no worries, I know I'm horrible at updating, but this story will be done soon!