AN1: I seem to recall someone telling me to "find a way to post". Well, I found a way, though I gotta say that this will be the last until at least next Thursday. This chapter has a big old slug of SM right in the middle of it. Bella's POV of the accident. There were times in the Saga when I wanted to whack SM upside the head for doing some of the stuff that she did, and there are others, like the Meadow scene, where you just can't out do her, so you just have to go with the flow. The accident scene would be one of those times. Enjoy, and let me know what you think.
Bella's POV
I could already tell that this was not going to be a good day. How do I know this? Let me count the ways. For one thing, the temperature dropped over night and I woke up to a world covered in ice, which is the only thing worse than a world covered in snow. It takes my usual lack of coordination and makes it hazardous to my health.
For another thing, there was Kat. She was such a slow starter this morning that I thought I was going to have to use dynamite to get her out of bed. Once she got going she was okay, but that lack of energy this morning worried me. The one bright spot was that Charlie had delayed going to work so that he could take Kat to school for me. That trimmed some time off of my morning routine. When I asked him about the booster seat he smirked and said that, as Chief of Police he was entitled to a few privileges, like ferrying his daughter to school without a booster seat. Okay, I admit it. Some part of me turns to mush every time Charlie blithely refers to Kat as his 'daughter'.
Breakfast was cold cereal and fruit for me and Charlie, cinnamon toast for Kat, and orange juice all around. I had to practically sit on Charlie to stop him from making bacon and eggs, again. I made up my mind, at some point, that he was going eat healthy for every meal, even if I had to post his picture with a "Do not sell to this man" order at every doughnut outlet in the county.
Anyway, I fell getting out to my truck in the driveway, and getting out of my truck once I got to school was a challenge. The high point of my morning has arrived as I realized why my truck had handled the icy roads so well. Charlie apparently got up at some ungodly hour and put tire chains on my truck. So now I'm standing here, totally distracted from my surroundings; a breath away from crying over my truck tires. Ever since I can remember it's been like a natural law, Bella takes care of people; people don't take care of Bella. I wasn't used to this, but I loved it just the same.
So when this odd squealing hissing noise hit my ears it took a second to register with me and make me look up.
Alice's POV
I was standing there, trying not to look at Bella when the vision hit. I'd been a little guilty about this morning, because I already knew what a hard time Bella had getting Kat out of bed. Humans needed sleep, and children needed sleep most of all. I'd have to work on that with her. Perhaps, if I were a frequent visitor, the novelty would wear off and she'd sleep more readily. Anyway, I was having hard time not thinking when the vision hit me like a tidal wave with only a few seconds warning. I only had time for one terrified mental scream before I froze.
Edward's POV
Alice's control was wavering this morning. While I stood staring at Bella Swan, and debating the wisdom of walking over to speak to her, my inner eye was focused on Alice, waiting to pounce on the slightest lapse. I was walking a fine line as I tried to watch her, and yet not 'watch' as my brother apparently took her against a tree last night. Singing the 'Star Spangled Banner' in Hindi wasn't enough? I have to put up with 'Alice does Jasper' too? And I thought Emmett was evil with his mental porn show.
Just at the moment though I was distracted by Bella's face. She was standing at the left rear fender of her truck, staring down at her rear tire with a look of remarkable tenderness. What was it about a worn tire that provoked such emotion? Again I cursed my inability to read her mind. I was so intent that Alice's internal scream caught me off guard.
"NO!"
She wasn't blocking anymore, and I saw it all in a split second. I looked up at Bella Swan and only had time for one thought. "NOT HER!"
Bella's POV
I saw several things simultaneously. Nothing was moving in slow motion, the way it does in the movies. Instead, the adrenaline rush seemed to make my brain work much faster, and I was able to absorb in clear detail several things at once.
Edward Cullen was standing four cars down from me, staring at me in horror. His face stood out from a sea of faces, all frozen in the same mask of shock. But of more immediate importance was the dark blue van that was skidding, tires locked and squealing against the brakes, spinning wildly across the ice of the parking lot. It was going to hit the back corner of my truck, and I was standing between them. I didn't even have time to close my eyes.
Just before I heard the shattering crunch of the van folding around the truck bed, something hit me, hard, but not from the direction I was expecting.
My head cracked against the icy blacktop, and I felt something solid and cold pinning me to the ground. I was lying on the pavement behind the tan car I'd parked next to. But I didn't have a chance to notice anything else, because the van was still coming. It had curled gratingly around the end of the truck and, still spinning and sliding, was about to collide with me again.
A low oath made me aware that someone was with me, and the voice was impossible not to recognize. Two long, white hands shot out protectively in front of me, and the van shuddered to a stop a foot from my face, the large hands fitting providentially into a deep dent in the side of the van's body.
Then his hands moved so fast they blurred. One was suddenly gripping under the body of the van, and something was dragging me, swinging my legs around like a ragdoll's, till they hit the tire of the tan car. A groaning metallic thud hurt my ears, and the van settled, glass popping, onto the asphalt — exactly where, a second ago, my legs had been.
Rosalie's POV
What the hell is he doing? My goddamn idiot brother just vanished into the middle of a car accident; and for what? So he could save some mayfly 'here today/gone tomorrow' human girl?
"I'm going to kill him," I muttered venomously. "He's ruined everything."
"Shut up, Rose," Alice snarled.
I looked at Alice, startled. Usually she wasn't so assertive unless clothing was involved.
"Alice, do you realize what he's done? How much danger he's placed us in? Does he even know what he's doing?"
Alice smirked at me. "The answers to that would be yes, yes, and no. Yes, I know what he's done. Yes, I know how much danger he's placed us in, which is none to speak of. And no, I don't think he knows what he's doing, and I don't think he will for a while, but I have an inkling and I think he's doing exactly what he was meant to do."
I glared down at her, but she didn't appear to be the least bit intimidated. "There will be a family meeting over this, where we'll decide what to do. Until then, he's in deep shit with me."
Alice's POV
I love my sister, and as such I can say that she's a pompous overbearing pinhead, who thinks that the world revolves around her pretty face. That being said I still love her, because she's also fiercely loyal and would die to protect any of us, even if she was pissed at us at the time. Usually I just let her go her egocentric way and smirk behind her back when required. But this time I'm going to have to keep her in her place, for her own good. For our greater good.
We're standing back as the panic and melee ensue around the accident. No one paid attention to the fact that we weren't moving. I credit that to our ability to be unobtrusive, and the fact that Edward had moved so fast that no human had any idea that our brother was in there with Bella. The teachers have arrived, and the EMTs aren't far behind. Between them they managed to shift the van far enough to get to the 'victims'. We're downwind, so we'd know if any blood had been spilled, and we'd be elsewhere right now.
Edward is standing now, looking down at Bella, after looking over at us. I could see him surreptitiously using the back of his foot to rearrange the damage to one of the vehicles, hiding the outline of his shoulders in the metal.
"I'll get it, Eddie," I heard Emmett mutter.
Rosalie was still glaring at the scene, and I saw Edward wince. Rose could wield her tongue like a broken bottle in a bar fight when she was of a mind to, and Edward was probably getting the sharp edge of it right now.
I smiled, and, while shielding myself once again, I thought, "Relax Edward, I've got your back on this one."
He looked up at me quizzically, then over at Jasper, and nodded gratefully before turning to the sounds of another approaching siren. Apparently Charlie had finally been alerted. His car slammed to a stop and he jumped out.
"Bella!"
"I'm fine, Dad," she called from her position on the gurney, while managing to look embarrassed. "There's nothing wrong with me."
She nearly gets killed and has the wherewithal to look embarrassed about it. Five will get you ten that the neck brace she's wearing is Edward's doing.
Charlie kept up a barrage of questions all the way to the ambulance and then stood with his fists clenched as it drove away with Bella in the rear and Edward riding shotgun, seemingly unable to move for a long moment. Then he dashed to his cruiser and threw himself into the driver's seat, before he pulled out my hearing picked up his conversation with the dispatcher.
"May, you got your ears on?"
"I'm here chief."
"Have an officer swing by the elementary school and pick up my youngest daughter, on my authority. Right now I'll feel better if I have all my kids where I can see'em."
"Chief, they might not release your daughter to someone who isn't you or Isabella."
He made a frustrated noise. "Fine, I'll call them." He was already hitting the speed dial on his cell phone when he hit the sirens and squealed out of the parking lot.
A sudden vision of the immediate future made me smile. I turned to the others and said, "I'm going to the hospital."
Rose blinked. "Why?"
"I want to see what happens."
"What happens to who?" she shot back. "The girl wasn't hurt, and Edward can't be hurt. Unless…"she trailed off.
"No, sorry to disappoint you Rose, but no one is going to die of undetected injuries, as if there could be such a thing around Carlisle."
She shrugged. "Then I'm staying here. Call if anything develops."
Emmett nodded. "I'll stay too. I'm gonna go make a nuisance of myself around the 'accident' scene and clean up the evidence."
"I think I'll join you," Jasper said, as he leaned in and kissed me on the cheek. "Have fun," he whispered. He'd heard Charlie too.
Rose nodded and turned to huff her way into the building. Yeah, it'd take her a while, but I'd already 'seen' her downfall, and, to quote 'Bill and Ted', it was going to be excellent.
I walked over to the Volvo, fished out my keys, and was on my way to see our future take flight.
Edward's POV
I was confused. I was at a loss to explain my actions. And Alice notwithstanding, I was going to have to explain myself to my family. Oh, I had an excuse now. I'd had to prevent Bella Swan's blood from being spilled, or I'd have become a rabid animal right there in the parking lot. However, at the time, her blood had nothing to do with it. I wasn't even thinking of it. I was running completely on impulse, and I was at a loss to explain it.
The girl and I had this battle of wills going before they had ever moved the car. She wanted the truth, and I couldn't tell her the truth. In the end I had to do something that made me feel like a cad. I had to lie and promise to tell her the truth when I had no such intention.
Now I was faced with the unpleasant task of putting her off, and this was in addition to the inner turmoil engendered by listening to Tyler Crowley plan his campaign to woo Bella Swan. I'd been tempted to help him bleed some more, but Carlisle would have objected. Now Bella and I were standing here, scowling at each other. I'd just told her that I hoped that she enjoyed disappointment and she was close to tears with her anger and hurt. I felt ten times worse because, despite my cruelty and rejection she'd sworn, several times, her intention to keep lying for me - to protect my secret. It made my betrayal of her honesty burn my heart like nothing since the fire of my change.
I was about to turn and walk away when something tugged on my pants and a childish falsetto piped up. "Are you Eddie Colon?"
I froze, and I heard Bella gasping behind me. I glanced at her for a moment and saw that it wasn't surprise that had her trying to control her breathing, or at least it wasn't only surprise. Her hand was clamped over her mouth, and with tears caused by anger still glistening in her eyes, she was desperately trying to contain her laughter. Her eyes were dancing with it now. I looked down to discover that Bella came in a compact model too.
"Excuse me?" I said, trying to cover my shock that a child would dare to approach one of us. In my experience most children, more so than even adult humans, shied away from us.
"I asked if you were Eddie Colon," the little girl piped up. She gestured at the uniformed deputy standing watch next to the waiting room door. "Of'cer Tom said that Eddie Colon saved my Sissy, and I want to know if you're him."
I looked down into that earnest little face that bore its own recent tear stains and fought to keep from smiling. "Yes, I suppose that I am."
"Good!" she answered emphatically, as she wrapped my right leg was firmly in a little girl hug. "Thanks for saving my, Sissy. I been 'fraid ever since mommy got hurt."
I looked at Bella for help, and then realized that I'd just burned my bridges there as she stared back smirking. I was on my own, and while I could fake being a scoundrel well enough for the elder Swan girl, this child was another matter. There's a special hell reserved for those who are intentionally cruel to children in thought, word, or deed. So I looked back down at that little brown mop of hair as her cheek rested on my thigh and smiled.
"I'm glad I could help," I said. "You shouldn't be afraid, little one. There's no reason to be afraid." I was possessed by the strangest urge to stroke that hair. The sisters Swan were bringing out all sorts of strange behavior in me.
Bella finally came to my rescue by holding out her hand. "Come on Kat, Mr. Colon was just leaving and I need to get home and take some aspirin."
I glanced up at her intentional mispronunciation of my name, as she stared at me defiantly and said softly, "Considering how you were acting before she spoke up, I'd say she was close anatomically."
I winced as Kat took her hand. "Sissy? What's at…atan….amatonicy mean?"
Bella smiled at her sister. "It means that you got his name almost right, Sweetie."
I winced again. I had an uncomfortable feeling that the misnomer 'Colon' was going to become a recurring theme in my future.
I turned to leave again when I heard her call my name and looked back.
"Thank you," she said. "For me, for Kat, for my family. Just…thanks."
I didn't smile. "You're welcome."
As I walked out of the ER main doors Alice stepped from behind a parked ambulance.
"What are you doing here?" I growled.
"Just taking in the view," she said with a giggle. "Mr. Colon."
I sighed. "I'll give you $1000 not to tell Emmett."
Alice paused on the way to the Volvo, which I could see parked across the lot. Her chin was propped up on one finger as she seemed to give my proposal serious consideration.
"Ummm….let me think…no," she answered.
"$10,000?"
She grinned. "Edward, you're asking me to forego a lot of entertainment here."
"So, what do you want?"
"$10,000, and you keep an open mind for the next twenty-four hours. After that, you're on your own."
"What's going to happen in the next twenty-four hours?"
"I don't know, but something will."
I tried to put a headlock on her and she pushed me off. "You're annoying, do you know that?"
"As a matter of fact I do," she replied airily. "It's one of the things that you love about me."
Walking to the driver's side I unlocked the door. "Not that much I don't." Then I grinned. "But I do love you, Shorty, just enough. Twenty-four hours."
"And the cash."
"And the cash," I sighed as I got in and started the car. "Mercenary little elf."
She chuckled. "Let's go. If you hurry we can get back in time for lunch. Yum!"
I shuddered and pulled out of the parking lot. I hate high school.
Bella's POV
After Edward vanished through the double doors into the waiting room, I looked down at my sister and smiled. For the first time ever I was asking her opinion of someone, straight up.
"What'd you think of him, Kat?"
She shrugged. "He's pretty. There's so many pretty people around here."
"Mean or nice?" I asked.
"Oh," she replied brightly. "Nice, really nice."
I nodded. "That's what I thought," I muttered to myself.
Charlie emerged from form signing hell and announced that I was cleared to leave.
"Please tell me that you didn't call Renee about this?" I said abruptly.
He shook his head. "Oh, no, your mom has enough on her plate right now. Phil and I agreed before you ever moved here, that until she's back on her feet, that there's nothing that she needs to know about that doesn't involve one of you actually bleeding, and maybe not even then unless it's serious."
I relaxed and nodded. "Good," I replied.
Kat kept Charlie occupied on the ride home in his cruiser, while I considered the available information.
Edward Cullen had saved my life under incredible circumstances, and then went out of his way to behave like an egregious jackass to run me off. Why? Answer, he had a secret to protect. Presumably one that involved his family. He might have pulled it off too if Kat hadn't butted in and given him her unconditional blessing. Now though it was like he had 'USDA Approved' stamped on his butt. The image made me blush.
Bad Bella! Don't go there! Not for a guy who's clearly out of your reach and who can make you forget what day it is when he smiles.
No, I just wanted answers, and Edward Cullen was a good guy who was gun shy; who hid it behind the pretense of being a bad guy when anyone got too close. Okay, if that's the game, patience I've got. I'll make the Sphinx look like an ADHD kid – until he cracks. Move over Nancy Drew. One way or another, I'd get to the truth.
I smiled. I'd been right last night, just before I fell asleep. This place felt 'right'.
TBC
AN2: See the little feedback button? It's calling to you.
