a/n: hello! i have so much to tell you guys! first i went to Best Buy a couple of weeks ago and i saw a Volkswagen rabbit! of course i shrieked and started laughing and my family looked at me like i was crazy (i'm the only one that likes to read in my family so they wouldn't understand) then a couple of days ago i was driving down the road and i look to my left and there is a silver Volvo driving beside me! i wanted to stare but i probably would have had a wreck. My mom got a package in the mail and whoever it was from had the last name Cullen! so of course i asked if she knew if the person had a son named Edward and she just looked at me like i had lost my mind...so many wonderful Twilight reminders. anyway if you read my entire author's note, then kudos to you! here's the next chapter (finally!!)

Bella didn't unclench her fists that were holding the fabric of her shirt.

"Bella, please, I need to see," Carlisle coaxed.

Bella turned her head to the side so she wasn't looking at any of them. She slowly lifted the bottom of her tank top to expose her stomach. She heard Esme gasp and could picture her hand covering her delicate mouth. Edward jumped up from his seat and tore his hand through his bronze hair as he looked at Bella. There were cuts all over her stomach that looked horrible and were even more off set by the yellowing bruise that ran the width of her abdomen.

"Bella," Carlisle even gasped, "how did this happen?"

She turned back to look at them and took in their horrified expressions. Esme looked like she would cry if she could. This made tears well up in Bella's eyes but she refused to let them spill over. She rushed through the explanation, hoping to get it over with soon, "He grabbed my arm," she pointed to the hand print on her arm, "then shoved me into the table. That's how I got the bruise. Then I had picked up a bowl and he pushed me again My foot got caught on the chair leg, and I dropped the bowl, then I fell in the pieces of glass on the floor."

Taking a closer look at the cuts, Carlisle, after regaining his composure, stated, "None of the cuts look infected, and that's good. I'm so sorry, Bella."

"It's ok," she whispered, pulling her shirt back down.

"You are one tough little girl, Bella," Emmett said, shaking his head.

"Tough? I don't think so," she said.

"Stupid is more like it," Rosalie spoke up, standing. "Just like a human to let herself be beaten every other day."

As soon as the words left her lips, Edward rounded on her and a menacing growl erupted from him. Emmett stood protectively in front of Rosalie, and Jasper grabbed Edward to restrain him. Rosalie smirked over Emmett's shoulder.

"Edward, you promised!" Bella yelled over the noise of the scuffle, but everyone's attention turned to Alice.

"Shut up, Rosalie!" Alice yelled. Everyone stopped moving. "Everyone always overlooks how mean you are to Bella, even Bella herself, but now is not the time. So stop acting like such a bitch!"

Rosalie's mouth dropped open as she stared at her sister in disbelief. She closed her mouth then lifted her chin and stalked off to the garage. Emmett gave them an apologetic look then went after his wife. Everyone else was still staring at Alice. She didn't seem phased however as she walked over to Bella and took her hand. She led her to the couch and sat her down next to the seat where Edward would sit.

"Now isn't the time to deal with Rosalie. We have to figure out what we are going to do about Charlie."

"Why don't we report him?" Edward said, taking his seat beside Bella.

"To who?" Bella asked. "Don't think I have completely lost my mind and not thought about this. My dad is the police chief. Deputy Steve is out of town, and the only other cop we have is a rookie who had a tendency to lose paperwork," she finished, gesturing to her multitude of bruises.

"We could still try," Edward said, his eyes darkening.

"Charlie would stop it before you even filed the report."

"She's right, Edward," Alice said sadly. "It won't work."

Edward's jaw went rigid. Alice was right. She would have seen it...Wait! Why didn't Alice see Charlie hurting Bella? "Alice? Why didn't you ever say you saw Charlie abusing Bella? We could have stopped it!"

"I...I never saw it happening," Alice whispered.

"How could you not see it happening?"

"I have a theory about that," Bella said. They all looked at her again. "Well, Alice sees things when they decision to do whatever it is has been made, right? Well, to me, it seems like Charlie doesn't really make the decision to hit me -" Edward growled, "- until after he's already done it. Like a spur of the moment thing."

"What do you mean?" Carlisle asked, sitting across from her.

"His mood changes so quickly sometimes, it's scary. He can be perfectly happy one second, then can be really depressed or angry the next. It's like he can't control his emotions and the way he reacts to them. So I don't think Alice would have seen anything. Sometimes he'll be the same emotion for a while, but other times it can change several times a day. That's why I didn't tell anyone at first. It just doesn't seem like it's his fault, and he used to apologize later after he had gotten too angry, but lately...lately, it's been getting worse."

"Have you tried talking to him about it?" Jasper asked, interestedly.

"I tried, yeah. He had just apologized and told me he didn't know why he acted the way he does sometimes. I told him maybe he should talk to a doctor or something, but he just got angry and told me not to make it into something it's not. Which, I guess, is also a reason I didn't say anything. I didn't want to make a big deal out of something that could have been nothing. Every time I've tried to bring it up, he just gets really angry."

"But, Bella, he's hurting you," Alice said, concerned.

"I know. I know. I really have been stupid. I just couldn't think of my father as being abusive, so I would try to rationalize what he was doing so it wouldn't be so bad. I would think that if I hadn't done something to make him mad, then he wouldn't have reacted that way. It was my fault," she finished in a whisper.

Edward sat looking at his poor, broken Bella. She sounded like she really believed that it was her fault. He hadn't said much up to this point because his anger was keeping him from thinking of anything logical to help, but he couldn't stand seeing Bella this way. It broke his unbeating heart.

"Bella," he said, taking her face in his hands, "this is not your fault. Do you hear me? You have done nothing wrong." Bella nodded her head as much as Edward's hands would allow. "It sounds to me like there is something seriously wrong with your father."

"I agree," Carlisle voiced. "From what you've said, it sounds like Charlie has symptoms that point to Bipolar disorder."

a/n: yay to those who knew it was bipolar disorder! my best friend was recently diagnosed as being bipolar so she kinda inspired this story. she has some of the same symptoms as Charlie does in the story except the anger issues and abusive tendencies. i just added those for more drama we all crave. Most of my other info. will be fairly accurate, based on my best friend anyway. please review! much love!!