LPOV Chapter 16
I woke up when it was still dark, but not so bad that I couldn't see Bella anymore. She did not look good. Every morning she always seemed like she got tinier and her skin didn't look the same anymore and her hair wasn't pretty and shiny anymore.
I really, really needed to go potty.
"Bella," I whispered in her ear. "Bella."
She couldn't hear me. I tried a little louder and then a little louder, but still she was asleep. She must have been really sleepy.
I tried shaking her a little, but I tried to be careful. But nothing was working. I tried to cross my legs and I was bouncing them on the leaves to try and not go pee-pee in my panties, but I really needed to go. When a big noise happened over our head, it made Bella jump awake. Finally.
"Bella, what was that? I've been trying to wake you up. I need to go potty really, really bad. I'm gonna have an accident."
She wanted me to pee on the ground. I was so sick of woods. "Ewww."
She tried to make it better with toilet paper and smiles, but she sounded so weird. I didn't even think she knew how weird she was talking. All her words were mixing up together and some of them were too soft to even understand. But then she wasn't talking at all and I couldn't go pee-pee in front of her without some water sounds or something.
"Bella? Can you talk to me or something? It's too quiet. I can't go. What was that noise? Where did it go? Do you think it's my real daddy?...Bellaaaa!"
She wasn't paying attention to me. But then it was getting lighter and I could see her sitting against the tree and she wasn't ignoring me. She wasn't okay.
"Bella?"
Something was wrong. She was looking at me funny, but she wasn't really looking at me. And she was breathing funny and hitting herself.
"What is it?" I cried after I finished going pee-pee on the leaves. "How come you're not talking? What's wrong?"
But she wouldn't answer me. It was raining and she was trying to say stuff, but it didn't make any sense. Why would I play in a bag? But I didn't want to make her more upset, so I climbed into it, sticking my head out the top so I could still breathe. It was nice to not be in the rain, but I couldn't help Bella this way. "Like this?"
I thought she winked at me, but she might have just been trying to go to sleep. Or not go to sleep. I wasn't sure, but the next minute she was sliding off the tree and she was on the ground before I could catch her.
"Bella!" I screamed, jumping out of the bag to try and help her up. But she was back asleep. She wasn't asleep like last night, though. She was breathing really weird. She was still really hot even though it was really cold with the rain and I tried to cover her up with the bag I was in. I didn't want to cover her face because I was afraid she couldn't breathe, so I just worked extra hard to keep the rain off her mouth and her nose. I kept wiping her face the whole time it was raining and singing our song so maybe she would wake up. She didn't sound like she was talking in her sleep, but weird puffy sounds were coming out of her mouth. Her eyes were closed, but they kept moving and she wouldn't stop shaking.
I was hoping after it stopped raining she would wake up, but she didn't. I didn't know what to do. My tummy hurt and my throat was scratchy and she wasn't awake to make me feel better. What should I do if Bad Daddy found us?
This was too scary. She needed to go to the doctor, but she couldn't go anywhere. What would happen to me if she didn't wake up? And then when I ran out of food? Was I supposed to go look for help by myself? What if I got lost?
Bella was wrong. Real Daddy wasn't coming. Thinking about him made me start to cry. I thought he was going to find me. Didn't he miss me? What about everybody else? I thought my Nana and Papaw loved me. And I used to play with Aunt Ali everyday. Uncle Jazz said I was his cowgirl. How come everybody forgot about me?
It was just me and Bella now. She had to wake up.
"Bella," I said, crying and sniffling my nose and poking her a little bit. "Please wake up. I'm scared. C'mon, Bella. Wake up. It's morning time. You can eat breakfast. It'll make you feel better. Please, Bella. Please."
She just kept laying there.
Oh no.
The loud noise was back. It sounded kind of like an airplane, but not the same. What if it was Bad Daddy?
"Bella, come on! You have to wake up! We have to go!"
Oh my gosh.
Now I could hear lots of people yelling from far away. But the yells were coming close. And there were dogs barking. What if it wasn't dogs? What if was animals coming to eat me?
And it was. A big, bad wolf was coming to eat me. He was barking right at my face. And he had big teeth. Really big teeth.
I screamed so loud, and he was right in front of me and I was too scared to move and hide. I was in front of Bella so he couldn't eat her, but I didn't want to get eaten either. I was trying to be a statue so he couldn't see me, so maybe he would go away. And he did, but only because a big, giant man was yelling at him.
I don't want to go to another Bad Daddy.
There was noises everywhere and people coming all around us. But somebody was next to the new man that kind of looked like…
"Real Daddy?"
Did he really come? He didn't forget me?
He started crying and that wasn't something my real daddy ever did and he wasn't even trying to hug me.
"Lily."
It is him! He did remember me! He did come! He did!
I was so happy until I moved a little bit and my foot touched Bella. I almost forgot.
"Daddy, you have to fix Bella!" I yelled, practicing my mommy voice. I saw another man who started crying when he saw her and he looked kind of like Bella. That was probably her daddy. She said he would come, too. And she was right about my real daddy.
Real Daddy came over and hugged me really tight. I missed his hugs so bad. And he brought Snuffles!
"Daddy, please. Fix Bella now!" I yelled at him, because he wasn't being a doctor yet. He was trying to check me, but he didn't understand. "I'm fine, Daddy. Fix her! She's been sick for days!"
I shook my head and walked over to Bella's Daddy with Snuffles.
"Can you take care of me until my real daddy is done fixing your Bella? And keep Bad Daddy away?"
He was so nice. He gave me a big hug right away. Bella was right. He was a good daddy.
"Somebody bring me a blanket and some water!" he yelled, a little bit too loud in my ear, but I didn't care when he snuggled me up and gave me a drink.
There was lots of yelling and Daddy and Papaw were being doctors for Bella while Bella's Daddy was holding me and looking really sad.
"It's okay," I told him, giving him a pat on the cheek. "My daddy's a doctor. He can fix her."
"I-"
"Charlie!" Papaw yelled. "Does Bella have a history of seizures?"
"No," Bella's Daddy said fast.
Papaw went back to work while Daddy kept doing weird doctor things all over her mouth and her tummy. He ripped open her shirt. He was almost touching her boobies. He better not.
Bella's Daddy phone beeped.
"Fletcher! What's your position? Over."
His phone beeped again and somebody was talking out of it.
"North end of the forest on the Lower Elwha reservation. About two-hundred feet east of the river. Leaving a flare for position location. Over."
"We need the stretcher. Over."
"Coming now. Over."
Bella's Daddy was watching them really serious and he walked over there when Bella woke up. Finally.
Daddy was talking to her but she couldn't talk, because they had a giant straw in her mouth.
"Charlie! Where's Stan?" Papaw yelled.
"He's landed on the north end of the forest on the Lower Elwha reservation. He's making his way in now with a stretcher for transport. Uley! Emmett! Go intersect and help him carry it in!" Bella's Daddy said, using a really good daddy voice.
I didn't know Uncle Em was here…They all remembered me!
Daddy and Papaw were poking all over Bella, checking stuff and asking for blood to put it back in from where Bad Daddy took it out. I didn't want her to have to have any more needles, but Real Daddy knew how to do it the right way. But then he did something bad. He was trying to bad touch her.
"No! You can't touch her there!" I screamed, throwing Snuffles down on the ground and trying to wiggle out of Bella's Daddy's arms.
"Shh, Lily. It's okay. Your daddy's just trying to help," Bella's Daddy kept saying, but couldn't he see? Finally, he let me go and I got in front of Bella so he couldn't touch her there. Nobody's allowed. Nobody.
Uncle Jazz and Aunt Rose came over to me, but I was not moving.
"Lily, listen to Uncle Jazzy. They need to open her pants so they can give her an IV. She's very sick, and this is the only way she's going to get better. No one is going to hurt her, I promise. Can you let them do that, please, Lily?" Uncle Jazz said, soft and nice.
But Bella said…
Aunt Rose was talking nice and soft, too. "Lily, we can watch from over here while they work. You'll see that they won't hurt her. Her daddy's here. He wouldn't let them hurt her."
I looked back at Bella's Daddy and he was nodding, holding his arms out for me to come back for a hug.
"Just watch out for her foot. It's hurted," I told them, because they weren't even fixing that yet. Aunt Rose took me back over to Bella's Daddy and he gave me a big hug and gave me back Snuffles and held my hand while Daddy and Papaw kept doing more stuff to her.
Uncle Em came back with another big man just like him except darker and they put Bella on top of a bed while lots of people helped hold all the straws coming out of her everywhere. Bella's Daddy smiled and squeezed my hand before he let go.
"I've got to go with Bella now. I'll see you in a minute, Miss Lily. Thank you for taking care of my Bella."
He walked after all the people with Bella and I turned around to look for my daddy. He looked ready for a big hug. I ran all the way over to him and jumped on him, making him fall onto the ground. Landing hard on him made me be coughy again and Daddy was worried.
"Lily, are you feeling okay?"
Silly Daddy. "Yeah, Daddy. My throat's itchy from the smoke, but I'm okay. C'mon! We need to hurry so we can go to the hospital with Bella!"
We had to go with her so he could marry her at Disneyworld. It felt so good to laugh with my real daddy again. But he wasn't going fast enough.
"Come on, Daddy! We have to make sure she's okay! Hurry up!"
He carried me so we could go faster and Uncle Jazz was right there with us carrying Snuffles for me. I wanted to give him a hug, too, but I didn't want to let go of Real Daddy yet.
"Lily, when we get to the hospital, we're going to need to get you checked out, okay? And then maybe someone could come in and talk to you if you're feeling up to it. About while you were gone."
Well, now I don't want to hug him.
"No. I want to see Bella. I'm fine. Bella tooked care of me."
"You'll get to see Bella. But they'll be working on her for a while, and we need to just double-check and make sure you're alright. I think Bella would want you to listen to what the doctors say," he argued.
So rude.
Even Daddy was on his side. "Daddy just wants to look you over once, okay, baby?"
"Come here, baby."
"Be a good girl, baby. Or I'll hurt Mommy."
"Daddy loves you, baby."
"Please don't say that," I whispered to him, scared.
"Lily? What's wrong? What did I say?" Daddy asked, stopping walking.
You sound like him. Please don't talk like Bad Daddy.
"Please don't call me baby. I don't like that. Not anymore," I sniffled, crying because it made me so sad and scared and now I wanted Bella again.
He looked sad, but he didn't look mad. "Is Lilybug still okay? Or princess?"
Those were good names. Bad Daddy never called me those names. "Yeah, Daddy. Just not…the other one."
"Lily," he said, pushing my hair out of my face. "I love you."
That made me smile. "I love you too, Daddy."
I hugged him while he carried me to where the noise was getting bigger and bigger. It wasn't a airplane, it was a helicopter. I'd never seen one of those up close before. Daddy carried me into it and put headphones on my ears and then let me sit in his lap all the way in the sky. I held Snuffles in my lap and covered his ears, too.
When we landed at the hospital, right on the roof, they took Bella right away and Papaw was telling them all of his doctor stuff while they went downstairs in the elevator. Bella's Daddy stayed with me and Daddy and Daddy was trying to tell him more doctor stuff.
An old lady nurse was trying to take me away from Daddy and I was about to scream when Daddy stopped her.
"Um, hi, excuse me. Can I ask what the fuck you think you're doing?"
Ooh, Daddy. Nana's gonna be mad at you.
"I'm just trying to place her on a stretcher so we can take her downstairs to have her examined, sir."
Please don't let her take me away, Daddy.
"Look, lady, um, Nurse…Madison, I know you're just trying to do your job, but I haven't seen my daughter in over three weeks. There's no way in hell she's leaving my sight or arms, so I would appreciate if you could just point us in the right direction, and we'll be glad to go wherever you need us to so she can be examined."
I knew he wouldn't let me go again.
So we went downstairs while Daddy told Bella's Daddy all the doctor stuff. He looked so worried, but I didn't understand why. Bella said she was going to be fine.
Bella's Daddy had lots of questions that even my daddy couldn't answer.
"What was that Carlisle was saying about sepsis? And that seizure that happened?"
Daddy didn't know. "Charlie, we really won't know until we get some of the labwork back. The seizure could have been in reaction to her fever, any medication he's given her,-"
They don't know about her medicine.
"He makes her take lots of medicine," I told him, because they shouldn't give her anymore or she'd be more sicker.
"Do you know how much?" Daddy asked soft.
"I don't know, a lot. Every time he makes her make food for us. They're really tiny, and she said the red ones are bad, and expecially the black kinds. They make her sleepy and she forgets stuff. It gets her in trouble…" I didn't want to talk about this anymore. This was making me sad. I remembered the sounds when she got in trouble.
"Okay, Lily. You don't have to talk about it anymore. Thank you for telling me. That helps a lot," Daddy said, giving me a big hug for my help.
"Thank you, Lily," Bella's Daddy said. "You really are a great helper."
He's just like Bella!
"That's what Bella calls me when I help her. Her big helper," I said, giving him a happy smile. "I helped so much, Daddy. Bella said you're gonna be so proud of me to hear how much I helped. And how good I listened. I listened to Bella so good, Daddy. To everything she told me, even when it was hard."
He was so proud of me. "I want to hear all about it, princess."
"I can't wait 'til Bella's better so we can go to Disneyworld. It's going to be so much fun! Bella's gonna carry me everywhere, she promised."
"Disneyworld? Who's going to Disneyworld?" he laughed. This was not a joke.
"We are, Daddy! Everybody! Bella let me plan my very own perfect day, and we're going to have her family and my family and we're all going to go and meet all the princesses. Daddy, Bella tried to say that Eric would think I'm Ariel 'cuz we're going to be so beautiful after Aunt Ali does our makeovers. You don't think he'll try to kiss me, do you?"
Kissing is sooo gross.
He laughed at me all the way into the hospital room. "I hope not, Lily, because I'd hate to have to punch a prince."
He wouldn't.
"Daddy! You can't punch Prince Eric!" I cried. Ariel would be so sad.
"Do you mind if I stay in here until the doctor gets in? I'll pace a hole in the floor if I don't stay distracted…" Bella's Daddy said.
"Of, course, Charlie. You're fine," Daddy told him.
Bella's Daddy was being bouncy and worried, but he didn't look like what I thought he'd look like.
"Where's your uniform?"
He looked at me funny, like he didn't know what I said. I hoped he wasn't sick, too. "Huh?
"Your uniform," I said slow, so he'd understand. "I thought police ossifers were supposed to wear a uniform."
"How could you tell I was a police officer?" he smiled.
How did he think?
"Bella told me. Bella told me all about you. Where is Bella?" I hadn't seen her since we got here. Couldn't she stay in the room with me?
But then Nana and Aunt Ali came in. I didn't know Nana came too!
"Nana! Aunt Ali!" I smiled, ready for big hugs, but Nana was crying. "Nana, what's a matter? Why are you sad? Don't you wanna see me?"
Nana stopped hugging me to shake her head and wipe her nose. "Of course I do. These are happy tears. I just missed you so much, baby."
"That's not right, baby. Don't be stupid like your mom."
"You better hurry up, baby."
"You love daddy, don't you, baby?"
"What? What is it? What's wrong?" Nana cried and then that made me cry more.
"I don't like to be called baby. I don't like that name! Don't call me that name!" Why didn't they understand? Bella would make me feel better. "I want Bella! Where's Bella?"
Daddy tried to help, but he just made it worse. He wasn't listening.
"It's okay, sweetie-"
No! That's Bella's name for me!
"That's what Bella calls me! I want Bella!" I cried.
Somebody, please! I need her!
"Bella! Mommy! Mommy!" I screamed. Maybe if she heard me, she would come. She always took care of me. "Bella! Mommy! Mooooo-mmmmmy!"
It got really quiet after a while and I figured out that my daddy had me on his lap and he was rocking me like a baby to make me feel better.
"I love you so much, Lily. It's okay. You're going to be okay. Please, Lilybug. Daddy's here. I've got you. I love you. I love you…Are you okay, Lily?"
Everybody left. Did they go to get Bella?
"Can I see Bella now, Daddy?" I asked him soft, because now my throat was hurting again.
"Not yet, Lily. As soon as she's stable, I'll take you to see her, but right now, we would just be in the way. And we still need to get you checked out, too. You're going to need to be all healthy to go to Disneyworld, right?" he said, sounding sad and crying, too.
But that made me feel a little better. I forgot about Disneyworld again. "So we'll really go? All of us? What are you going to do while we have our sleepover?"
He didn't look like he understood. "Sleepover?"
Maybe he never had a sleepover before. "Yeah. No boys allowed. Just girls. Are you going to have a sleepover, too?"
He nodded and gave me a daddy smile. "Yep, that sounds good."
Then a man came in the room. I hid in Daddy's shirt to keep him from seeing me.
Please don't let him take me away this time.
"Mr. Cullen, Lily, my name is Dr. Robert Smith. You can just call me Dr. Bobby like everybody else does, okay?" he said, sounding maybe nice.
"'Kay."
"I understand you breathed in a little bit of smoke recently, is that right?" he asked and I wondered how he knew. I nodded yes, but I didn't want to look at him.
"Well, my nurse here, Nurse Sam, has a fun game for you to play. We need for you to blow in this tube and try to move this little ball here. If you can get it all the way to the top, I'll give you a lollipop," he said, but he didn't tell me if I'd be punished instead.
"What happens if I can't?" I asked, but I didn't really want to find out.
He smiled nice. "Nothing bad, my dear. We'll just need to give you a little oxygen to breathe in for a while. After you finish the breathing game, we're going to give you a little look-over to make sure you're A-ok."
I nodded okay and the nurse lady came over and put the big straw in my mouth and told me to blow. The little ball inside went all the way to the top and she took the straw out of my mouth and gave me a lollipop out of her pocket. She binked me on my nose before she left, taking her machine with her. The doctor came over while I was licking it with his stethoscope in his hand.
"Well, Lily, this is kind of my heartbeat telephone, and I'm going to use it to listen to the heart inside your body for a minute."
That's ridiculous.
"That's a stuffoscope. Are you sure you're a real doctor? My daddy's a real doctor. Maybe he should look at me." I liked my daddy better anyway. Especially when he laughed, like he was right now.
"I can see I'm dealing with somebody who knows their stuff. I'm used to little girls who are scared of the doctor. I didn't know I was dealing with such a big girl. Yes, I am a real doctor, and I'm going to use my stethoscope to listen to your heartbeat and your lungs. Is that alright with you?" the doctor laughed a little bit. I guess he thought he was making a joke. I nodded that it was okay while he checked my air and my heart and I did so good he gave me another lollipop.
"Well, Dr. Cullen, Lily here sounds just fine. A special doctor's going to come in a moment to look you over some more, so if I don't see you again before you go home, it was very nice to meet you. Can I talk to your daddy outside for a moment, Miss Lily?"
"Can I go see Bella while you talk to him?" And then we could go home.
But he frowned at me and shook his head. "She's not quite ready for visitors yet, but I saw your grandmother waiting right outside. Would you like me to send her in?"
I already saw her. "Okay."
I watched Daddy go out with the doctor and talk to Nana for a little bit, and she still looked like she was crying. Aunt Ali and Uncle Jazz were there, too. I started to get excited again when they all came in.
"Hi guys!" I giggled as they all came over to hug me.
"Oh, Lily! We missed you so much!" Aunt Ali said as she squeezed me tight.
"I missed you, too, Aunt Ali," I sniffled. I missed Daddy the most, but I loved everybody else, too. "You guys took a long time."
Nana made a funny noise, but Aunt Ali stopped hugging me to hug Nana and then she seemed better.
"I guess we sorta did, short stuff," Uncle Jazz said as he messed up my hair. "But tell me the truth…You missed me the most."
I shook my head, giving him a big smile.
"What?" he said, acting all surprised and holding his heart.
"Broccoli?"
I shook my head again, trying not to laugh.
"Stinky Uncle Em?"
I giggled, but I shook my head.
"I give up. Tell me."
"I missed my real daddy the most," I giggled. Uncle Jazz looked at me kind of funny, but then he smiled again.
"You mean to tell me you didn't miss my horsey rides the most?"
"I missed horsey rides!" I said, getting excited.
"How now, brown cow?" Uncle Jazz said as he poked my nose. "What about that horsey ride?"
"Have you seen Bella?" I wanted to know. That was more important than a horsey ride.
"We can't see her quite yet, Lily," he said softly. "The doctors need a little more time to help her get better."
"She was really sick. Are they gonna give her her blood back?"
Aunt Ali made a funny noise with Nana, but Uncle Jazz wrinkled his nose at me so I didn't look.
"They are giving her everything she needs to get better. Try not to be too worried about her, okay?"
I looked at him sad, trying not to cry again. "But I love her. I have to worry about her if she's still sick."
"I didn't say you couldn't worry about her, Lily," he said as he sat down next to me on the bed. "I just don't want you to worry too much. She's got doctors and your Papaw and her daddy to take care of her right now."
"You're gonna love her," I told him, bouncing a little bit because I was too still. "You are. She's sooo cool. She writes books and she knows how to cook everything and she knows Little Mermaid songs and grownup songs and she makes stories and she's gonna carry me at Disneyworld. All day. And I think maybe she'll help me get Daddy to let me have ice cream for breakfast if we can find banana."
"We already do love her," Aunt Ali said as she crawled into the bed behind me. "How could we not? She's soooo cool and she brought us back you."
"Did you know I'm her sweetie and her big helper?" I asked turning around as Nana sat down at the bottom of the bed.
"You are?" Nana asked, surprised.
"Yeah!" I nodded. "I can help cook and clean and pinch and tell stories, too! And I can even sing a grownup song."
"Can we hear it?" Aunt Ali asked, with a big smile.
But I couldn't sing it without Bella. That was our song. I needed to sing it to her.
"Where is Bella?" I asked again.
"Upstairs, Lily," Uncle Jazz said. "Did you forget about that horsey ri-"
He stopped talking when I heard Daddy outside my room yelling at the doctor.
"I think Daddy just said a bad word," I told them.
"Hey, short stuff!" Uncle Jazz said, loud and bonked my nose. "I keep trying to give you a horsey ride and you keep turnin' me down. You're gonna hurt my horsey's feelings if you're not careful."
He started bouncing his leg up and down really high while Aunt Ali picked me up and sat me down on it. The whole room was going up and down and up and down and it was so, so funny.
I didn't even see Daddy come back in until somebody started talking at the door.
"Hell, Lily! My name is Ann. Can I come in and talk to you for a little while?" she asked, with a weird smile.
Daddy didn't make me answer her, because he had Nana and Aunt Ali go get me some breakfast, even if I couldn't have ice cream. Bella would help me get some.
Daddy came over and pulled me into his lap and Uncle Jazz stayed next to me while that lady sat down in front of us.
"So Lily. I'd like to talk to you for a little bit. I'm going to ask you some questions, and there's no right or wrong answer. You won't be in any trouble for anything you say, do you understand?"
I snuggled into Daddy, getting comfortable. "I think so."
"So, let's start with an easy one. What's your name?"
She just said it.
"Lily Autumn Cullen." Duh.
She did that weird smile again. "Such a beautiful name. You've been away for a few days. Are you happy to be back with your daddy?"
Duh.
"Of course. I knew my real daddy would find me. Bella promised he was looking for me. Can I see Bella?" A lady with brown hair walked by the window, but I was pretty sure it wasn't her.
"Not just yet, Lily. The doctors are still with Bella right now. You said your real daddy would find you. Do you want to tell me a little bit about the man you were with?"
"No."
Never.
"That's fine. Thank you for answering me. I do need to ask you some questions about what happened while you were there, though. Can I ask you a couple of questions?"
You already did.
"I don't want to talk about it. I want Bella," I said, because I didn't like her and her weird smile and her questions.
"Alright, Lily," she said, soft but not nice. "I don't want to make you upset. I'm just trying to find out if you've been hurt."
"He never hurt me. He always hurt Bella. I need to see if she's okay! Daddy, take me to Bella! Please!" Why couldn't I just see her a little bit?
Daddy held me and made it better while Uncle Jasper got rid of the weird smile lady. But then he came back in with a new one. But at least she wasn't smiling weird.
"Lily, I'm sorry about that. Are you feeling any better now?" Uncle Jazz asked.
I'd be better as long as she didn't come back. "Is that lady going to come back? I don't like her."
He shook his head no. "No, Lily. She's not going to come back. This is my new friend Beth, and she's going to stay in the room while we talk some more, if that's okay with you?"
Hmph. I never met her before.
"Are you nice?"
She had a good smile. "I think so. I see you're holding a friend in your lap. I brought you a present, but you don't have to play with it if you don't want to…"
I like her.
"A present? What kind of present?"
She pulled out a dolly from behind her papers. "A baby doll. Would you like to see her? Her name is Lily, too."
No way.
"Like me! Like me! I want her! Please!"
She gave it to me right away and she was so pretty.
"Here you go, Lily. Do you like her? She's not quite as pretty as you."
"She's so pretty! She's new. The other dolly I played with was-" I stopped talking because Daddy had a sad look on his face.
New Lady smiled a nice smile. "It's okay, Lily. You don't have to worry about upsetting anyone. Nothing you say will make anyone mad at you. Go ahead and finish your sentence. The other dolly you played with was…"
I didn't really want to talk about it. "She was old. She wasn't very pretty."
New Lady smiled and nodded and didn't make me talk about it anymore. "Well, this dolly is yours to keep now. I'm glad you like her. Are her clothes okay?"
They were. But she'd look better in my pink one at real home.
"So…does your Lily doll have any owies she wants to tell me about?"
Well…if the dolly was my name and I was the dolly…
"She's a little bit hungry. And thirsty. Her throat is still kind of itchy. There was a fire."
New Lady nodded her head. "That must have been scary. Is she okay?"
If the dolly was me and we were playing pretending…
"Yeah. Her mommy got her out in time."
New Lady put down her papers and looked kind of serious and sad. "When your daddy found you, and he was trying to help Bella, you got upset when he tried to touch her pants. Can I ask you why it would be bad if someone tried to touch there?" she asked, pointing at one of the spots nobody can touch.
"Bella told me. Bella told me that nobody's ever supposed to touch there. That's private spots. She told me how to fight if somebody ever tried. He hurt her that night…" I didn't want to talk about that night. That was the worst night ever. That was the night when she started to get sick.
"That's alright, Lily. We don't need to talk about that right now. You're doing such a good job. Can I ask some more questions about your dolly?" she asked and I didn't know why we had to play this game.
"Yeah."
"Does your dolly ever have to take medicine?"
"I hate medicine," I told her, mad and getting madder. Medicine ruined everything.
New Lady sat back and Uncle Jazz leaned forward. "What's bad about medicine, Lily? If your dolly got sick, wouldn't she need medicine to get better?"
I never had to take the medicine. Only mommies had to take the medicine. And they didn't want it.
"No, my dolly never gets sick."
He looked at my dolly and asked some more. "But her mommy? Does her mommy ever need medicine?"
"No," I cried. They didn't understand. Medicine was bad. "Not that kind. It made her sick, and sleepy, and it made her get in trouble, and forget stuff. I tried to pinch her to help, and she said I was her big helper. And then she couldn't eat sometimes, and I know she was hungry. And then when she got really sick, he kept giving her medicine, but it wasn't making her better, and she couldn't waked up for a long time and then he made her bleed…"
And it was so scary and I thought she wasn't going to wake up and-
"Alright, Lily. We don't need to talk about this anymore today. You did a really good job. Nana should be back with your muffin soon. And then we'll let you take a nap," New Lady said.
But I needed to see Bella!
"No! I can't sleep without Bella! She needs me! I help her! She has bad dreams, and she cries! And when I'm sad she sings to me, and she helps me make stories so I can be an Arthur like her, she promised she wouldn't leave me! Please let me see her!" I asked her, over and over again.
She stood up and nodded her head. Finally. "Okay, Lily. Let me go check and see how Bella's doing. I'll be back in a little while to let you know. But you have to calm down for me. I want to be able to tell Bella how good you've been while she was sleeping."
I tried to stop crying to be good so I could go. "Yes, yes, I'll be good, I promise," I promised. I meant it. She just needed to hurry.
She smiled one more time at me, nice. "You take good care of that dolly for me, okay? I'll be back soon. Bye-bye for now, Lily."
Nana, Aunt Ali, Aunt Rose and Uncle Em came in and Nana had food. While I was eating, Daddy went outside with Uncle Jazz and Uncle Em.
"Nana, did you know you can make chocolate-chip muffins?" I asked her while I was drinking some chocolate milk.
"No, Lily, I didn't," she said, taking a brush out of her purse and brushing my hair. "Have you had them before?"
"No," I shook my head away from the tangles in her brush. "Bella told me about them. She's gonna make me some someday. Did you see her yet?"
"No, but I did see her daddy and your Papaw. Papaw said they're working very hard to make her better."
"How are you feeling?" Aunt Rose asked me.
"Uh…I don't know," I said.
"I think Aunt Rose just wants to know if you need anything, like if you're cold or still hungry, Lily," Aunt Ali said.
"Oh! No, I'm not cold. It's a lot warmer here than it was in the rain. I'm all dry now. Did you know they make banana ice cream? Bella told me," I said, watching Aunt Rose watch Uncle Em through the window. "What are you lookin' at?"
"Your uncle," she said, breathing out all heavy. "I'll be right back." She got up and walked into the hall for a second and popped Uncle Em upside the head. He must have said a bad word. How did she hear it?
She came back in and then Daddy came back with the other boys.
"Lily, do you want to lie down and take a nap?" Daddy asked.
This is ridiculous.
"No way. I am not going to take a nap until I know how Bella is. Will you go check on her, Daddy? Please? I'll wait here and be good, I promise, just go make sure she's okay. That other lady's taking too long," I begged. I turned on my face that always made Bella do what I want.
"Okay, Lily. I'll go check on Bella, and when I come back, you and I are going to take a nap. Deal?"
"Yes, yes!" I gave him my pinky to promise it. "Thank you, Daddy! I promise!"
He pinky-promised me and he even kissed it, but then he got all weird about it.
"What? What is it?"
"That's what Bella does, too!" I smiled big. "How'd you know?"
He smiled our special grin. "I dunno. I guess she's just cool like me."
"She's so cool, Daddy!" I bounced too much and fell off of Nana's lap. "Oops! Oh, Daddy, come here."
I made him bend down so I could explain. "Tell Bella I love her, Daddy. Even if she's sleeping, it'll make her feel better. It always does."
He said yes and then left, so I was still with Nana and everybody.
"Lily! I've been in this room for two whole minutes and you haven't laughed at me yet! What's the deal?" Uncle Em asked, acting all sad and stuff.
"You didn't do anything funny yet," I said, and then everybody laughed.
"Oh, yeah?" he asked. "Well, watch this."
He started jumping around and doing stupid chicken dances while Daddy was gone until he finally came back.
"Daddy! How's Bella?" I asked, bouncing around, but not a big bounce, because I was getting tired.
"She's doing well, Lily. They're giving her medicine right now, the good kind, that's going to make her better. In a little while, they're going to take her to fix her ankle, and once they do that, she should wake up a few hours later."
That made me so happy.
"Can I see her when she wakes up?"
He smiled, hugging me. "Yeah, Lily. But only if you get some sleep now, okay?"
He laid down with me on the bed and everybody got quiet or left or something.
"Okay, Daddy. Did you tell her?"
It was really important that he remembered.
"I did, princess. And…"
He was saying stuff, but I was feeling all soft and sleepy. If Bella knew I loved her then she would be okay. I thought I felt Daddy give me a kissy on my head, but then I didn't remember anything else. It was just warm.
Real Daddy.
A/N: Next outtake will be posted on Monday. ChPOV of his first night back in Forks (The Breakdown) It's the last sad one. :)