Edward and the rest of the Cullens decided it was best that they go hunting this weekend, considering the wedding was next week. I didn't want him to leave, but I knew he needed it. His eyes had grown incredibly hungry in the past few days.
"We'll be back early Sunday, call Jake if you need anything. He's on standby," Edward said with a wink. Of course he would have someone on standby, I'm an accident waiting to happen.
After they left, I decided to give Jake a call. He and Mary Ann were hoping to go out tonight, but apparently their babysitter had cancelled. This was my perfect opportunity to spend some time with Maddie.
"Please Jake, I can handle this. She can even stay until tomorrow morning so you guys can have the whole night to yourselves. You deserve it," I said.
He reluctantly agreed. I knew it had nothing to do with me or my ability to take care of his girl, but it was just a new parent fear. I would have a hard time my first night away from her too.
Jake was on my doorstep less than an hour later with Maddie and all of her stuff. We set up the makeshift crib before he jetted out again.
"Lookin spiffy Jake," I said as I nodded to his dressed up attire.
"I try," he said with a smile, he turned to Maddie. "Okay now Mads, you take care of your Aunt Bella. Keep an eye on her and don't let her near any electrical outlets or sharp objects."
"Very funny Jake," I said sarcastically. He chuckled.
"Alright so I guess that's it…" he said as he looked reluctantly at the door. He was stalling.
"Jake," I smiled. "Just go, enjoy yourselves. Us girls will be just fine." I gave Maddie a smile before glancing back at Jake. He finally made his way out the door, stealing about ten looks back at the house before actually getting in his car. Maddie and I watched, very entertained, from the window.
"You miss," I began as she took my finger in her little hand, "you have your Daddy wrapped pretty tightly around your finger. Your mom didn't even have that much trouble leaving you here. This is a good thing. A very good thing. Use it to your advantage."
She giggled as if she understood. It was close to 7, which meant she should eat soon. I headed to the kitchen to warm her up some formula. I hummed to myself as the stove heated up. She sat silently waiting for her food, occasionally giggling my way. I danced towards her, an awkwardly nerdy dance, and she seemed to really like that.
There was a knock on the door.
"Stay here sweetie, I'll be right back, your Dad really needs to cut the cord," I said as I headed out the doorway. I peeked back at her to make sure she wasn't attempting to escape. I heard my phone vibrating on the kitchen table so I ran back to get it before answering the door. It was Edward.
"Hey," I answered heading back to the front door. I grabbed the doorknob as he began speaking very quickly.
"Bella listen to me, Alice just saw something, don't-." My phone cut out. Damn battery. I really need to start charging it more often.
I opened the door, suspecting Jake either forgot something or just wanted to check on us "one last time." I froze when I saw who was on the other side of the door.
"Danny what are you doing here?" I asked, stepping out on the porch and closing the door slightly behind me. I didn't want him anywhere near Maddie.
"You know," he started, this was not a friendly visit. Not that anything with Danny was friendly, but I didn't like the tone in his voice. "I wasn't one hundred percent positive that you'd come back here…until I saw your picture in the paper. You know, your father's funeral."
"Danny I think you should leave, Edward is upstairs and I don't think he'd appreciate you being here." I lied; it was all I could do. I wanted him out of here now.
"No he's not," I watched them pack up their stuff and leave earlier today. And your other little friend Jake left about a half hour ago. I know you're alone." He took a giant step towards me.
"Danny-" I started to say, but I couldn't finish. He pushed me back into the door, forcing it open and causing me to fall on the floor. I heard the baby start to cry from the other room.
"Who's that?" He said with a sadistic smile as he started heading towards the sound.
"Oh no you don't!" I heaved myself up at him, tripping him and bringing him down to the ground with me. He was shocked initially but then he realized what I soon did. He was bigger and stronger than me. He took both of my wrists in one hand, squeezing them tightly together. I heard something snap, but I didn't pay attention to the pain. All of my focus was on keeping him away from the baby. He stopped when he noticed the ring on my left hand.
"Aw, isn't that precious?" He laughed at himself. "What did you have his love child too?" He nodded towards the kitchen. Obviously he can't do math or doesn't have knowledge of human biology.
"Stay away from her!" I shrieked. I could feel my motherly protection instincts starting to kick in. "You can do what you want with me, just leave her out of this!"
"Good! I'll take you up on that!" He said smiling, pulling us both to our feet. He started pulling me towards the staircase. This was bad…very very bad. The only good thing about the situation that I could think of at the moment was that he wasn't going to be near Maddie.
Dragging me practically by my hair, we both stumbled up the stairs. He pushed me into the first bedroom, my bedroom, and slammed the door behind us. I heard the lock click before he looked back at me.
"Danny….what are you doing?!" I cried at him. He didn't answer, he just stalked towards me. I fell back on the bed.
"Bella, Bella, Bella…did you really think I was just going to let you leave me like that?" He slowly climbed on the bed.
"No! Get off!" I tried to push him back.
I felt his hands on my shoulders and heard the rip of my shirt. He dealt a blow to my cheek, pretty similar to the last one. It hurt like hell and I let out a scream. He stepped back and unbuttoned his jeans. His hands reached for the hem of his shirt and he tried to pull it off. He was in such a hurry to take it off that he got all tangled up in it, completely blinded as the shirt got caught around his face. It was my chance.
I quickly reached in my nightstand drawer. I felt around, my hands desperately grasping for my target. When they wrapped around the can of pepper spray, I brought it back out, concealing it in my hands. Once Danny got his shirt off, he started fuddling with his pants again.
"Let me help you," I said, trying to act flirty, with tears still streaming down my face.. It was all a mask, and he knew it. He just didn't know why. He smiled and made his way towards me. I mustered a smile back up at him as my fingers pulled his zipper down. I stood up off the bed and pulled his jeans down to his ankles. He closed his eyes.
"Bella I'm so glad you're cooperating. I didn't want to make this…painful for you."
As I began to rise from the floor, I swung my leg back hoping to get some good momentum. I used all the power in me to give a swift kick between his legs. He cowered back in pain, pawing at the affected area. I brought the pepper spray out and gave him a good spray in the eye. Now he didn't know which area to tend to, his eyes or his manhood. He leaned back against the wall.
"I hope you rot in hell!" I screamed as I whipped my fist back and swung it forward, connecting squarely with his nose. I heard it crack, definitely broken. He fell down on the floor, his hands covering his face. I gave a swift kick to his ribs, and then did it again starting to cry hysterically. I didn't even notice the door burst open.
Edward's arms wrapped around me and pulled me towards the bed. He cradled me as I rocked back and forth, completely breaking down. I could barely see Emmett, who was standing over Danny.
"God Bella I'm so sorry, we got back here as fast as we could. Did he hurt you?" Edward said, falling back to examine me a little better. His fingers perused over the abrasions on my cheek before bringing his lips to it. I tried to pull myself together. Edward started wiping the tears from my eyes.
"Look at my girl, kicking ass and taking names," he said trying to stop my crying. I laughed a little. I wasn't in the best shape, but the situation could have been a lot worse.
I looked down at Danny, throwing daggers at him with my glances. He looked anxiously from Edward to me to Emmett, and finally towards the door.
"You make one move and I'll make a tack-filled wedgie sound like a good time," Emmett snorted towards him.
"Where's Maddie, is she okay?!" I asked frantically, my sobs returning.
"She's fine, she's with Esme and Alice," Edward answered, pulling the hair back from my face. I shuddered away.
He looked at me apologetically.
"I'm sorry Edward, I just…" I nodded towards Danny. I'd had enough physical touch for the day, even from Edward. It sounded horrible and I didn't even understand why I felt that way. It was Edward; he was the love of my life, why was it so hard for me to have him touch me? He instantly released me and kept his distance. He looked pained to do so, but I hoped he understood that it wasn't him that I was pushing away.
After I calmed down a bit, Emmett and Edward led Danny back down the stairs. I heard various threats towards him if he ever so much as set a foot in Forks again, or even thought about my name. I felt like this time he would pay attention.
Alice came up to check on me. I couldn't talk, to any of them. I felt oddly paranoid of everything. She looked at me worried, not judging how I was acting. She floated to the bathroom, grabbing a washcloth and some bandages.
"I called Jake, he just picked up Maddie," she said as she began cleaning and bandaging my cheek. She must have seen the question in my lifeless eyes.
"No he's not mad at you, he's grateful that you got Danny away from Maddie. And he's so glad that you're safe. He wanted to check on you himself, but I convinced him that you were fine and needed a little time."
I didn't respond.
She helped me change into my pajamas and pulled back the sheets. I crawled in, still thinking over my strange reaction to Edward's touch earlier. What was my deal?
Alice must have left, because I suddenly realized I was alone in my room. I stared out the window at the moon as it rose above the horizon. There was a soft knock at the door.
"Bella, love? Can I come in?" Edward said softly peeking his head in. He must have taken my non-response as a yes. He closed the door behind him and sat on the bed. He seemed hesitant to touch me, but he reached a hand out and set it on my shoulder. I involuntarily jerked away from him. "Sorry," I heard him whisper.
I didn't want to do this to him. He wasn't doing anything wrong. Something just snapped in me today, like anything that touched me was going to hurt me. I was fearful of every caress, every gesture, every touch. I couldn't be like this, not now. Everything was falling into place. I was marrying the man of my dreams and we were going to start out life together, and now I can't even stand for him to touch me.
"Edward," I started. My voice cracked a little from the crying and the lack of speaking. "I need to go, I need to leave."
"Okay where do you want to go? We can go anywhere, we can go back to Mexico." He said kindly. He was grasping for anything that would help me. I could tell he was desperately trying to avoid the Bella from pre-vacation.
"No, no Edward. I mean, I need to get away. Alone. Without you. I just need to…go," I said looking down. My eyes were starting to tear up again. I didn't want to leave him. And this didn't mean I didn't love him or want to marry him, I just obviously have some serious issues to deal with and I have to deal with them alone.
"Oh," he said sadly. "How long?"
"I don't know," I whispered.
"I'll get you the keys to the extra car, you can take it and leave tonight," he said, trying to accommodate my needs. I could tell I was tearing him apart inside and I felt horrible about it. I waited for him to come back, but he never did. The house became silent. After I waited for over an hour, I made my way downstairs. Everyone was gone. There was a pair of keys and a note on my kitchen counter.
As long as you need, I'll be here waiting.
I was hurting him. I knew he was trying to help me, give me what I needed, but it was, for lack of a better word, killing him. I hoped with all my heart that I could get myself sorted out and back together soon so I could come back to him. I ran back upstairs and packed a bag before grabbing the keys and heading out the door. I didn't know where I was going, or how long I would be gone, but I was on my way somewhere. As I drove past the Forks city limit sign, a single tear ran down my cheek. I'll come back to you, I promise. I love you. And then I left my heart there, with him, as I drove out into the night.