A/N Mostly in Forks this one, a little back story, a little love, a little rainfall. Am away at the weekend but will try REALLY HARD to get another chapter out before then. As always forum link on my profile, review, ask questions, tell me your life story, anything...

Disclaimer: Seriously. I don't know why you think I am but I'm not. Honest.

Chapter 14 - Worry About You

APOV

The clouds were hanging low in the sky blocking out any chance of the sun breaking through and ruining my day. The rain would start about 5 minutes before the plane taxied to a full stop and I would get my hair wet when the hopeless umbrella I had brought with me would blow inside out. Rosalie was telling Emmett that she was not going out for a quick hunt in this weather and he would go without her. I must tell him that...

"Miss Cullen?" The nervous lounge attendant was wringing his hands trying not to run away. His danger sensor must be set to over sensitive. I smiled at him and he dropped his hands to hold onto the chair in front of him. His knuckles turned white as he held himself up.

"Yes?"

"I have just been sent to advise you that we have had notification that your flight will be landing as scheduled."

I let him finish his little speech even though I knew it was actually arriving seven minutes early.

"Thank you." Mmm, I wonder. "Is there any chance you have another umbrella back there? This one is very unreliable in wind gusts." I waved the Hello Kitty umbrella that Carlisle bought Rosalie as a joke.

"Er... I can check." He raced off, happy to have an excuse to leave, all but tripping over his own feet in his haste to escape. Ah, good. Dry hair.

I stared out at the first drops of rain hit the window and watched the future shift slightly. Emmett wasn't going hunting either now. Just as well I bottled some deer for them before I left. I had it and the changes of clothes in my case that I would have to remember to let Emmett carry on to the jet.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and opened it before it had the chance to ring.

"Carlisle"

"Did you see?"

"Yes, I was unsure so I didn't say anything. I'm sorry."

"No, it's fine, but I need to know,"

"His future is unsure." I sighed as I watched the image of Charlie flicker in my head like a badly tuned television.

"But either way you have to get him out of the hospital."

"Yes. Do the Volturi know?"

I laughed and shook my head.

"What is it Alice?"

"Emmett and now you - everyone is so obsessed about whether or not the Volturi are coming."

"So that's a no."

"Yes"

"So..."

"Oh. As soon as he sees you Charlie is going to get a little agitated. Just tell him Edward isn't coming back and he will calm down."

"Why would he be concerned about Edward coming back?"

Ah. I had never told Carlisle about what I saw of Bella after we left. "Er... normal father protecting daughter form evil ex-boyfriend stuff."

"Are you telling me the whole truth?"

"No."

"Do I want to know?"

"Not right now."

I knew Carlisle wouldn't be happy about that but we had enough going on without Carlisle and Edward at each other's throats.

"Anything else I should know?"

"Yes. Tell Esme when she drives through town to drive through the stop sign at the end of town. She will be fine and no one will care, but if she stops... well..."

"Well, what?"

"She kind of disappears at the edge of town..."

"Disappears?"

"Yes, I don't know why and I can't see anything else..."

"No stopping for Esme then."

Carlisle paused. It was enough to drive me mad when he did this. He had already decided what he was going to ask me, just searching for the right words, and I as running low on patience today.

"Everyone will arrive in Forks unharmed. We will all be together in about 12 hours. Bella will be alive then, as far as I can tell. There are gaps in all of our futures but that is the one thing I can guarantee... at the moment... we will all see Bella alive again." I stopped there not wanting to tell him the rest of it. If I said it out loud would that make it more true?

"Edward?"

"By the time he arrives in Forks he will be determined to save Bella but..." Oh sod it. "His future is hazy after that."

"In what way..."

"In an unclear way. He is very much avoiding making a decision. It's worrying me."

"I'll talk to him soon."

"Thanks Carlisle. Jasper is going to call me in 28 minutes and as soon as I know it I'll send you his airphone number."

Carlisle chuckled, "No catching you unawares."

I sighed, "Today, Carlisle, I am learning what it is to be surprised."

EsPOV

The ride to Forks was excruciating. No windscreen, a slight imbalance in the front axle, and an odd rattle somewhere meant the ride was not the perfect experience Carlisle had probably had before. At least it will give Rosalie something to do. I just wanted... It didn't matter. Carlisle had been deep in thought since Dr Snow's phone call. He had called Alice to get what answers he could and that seemed to relax him a little for a moment; but now he was back to the silent brooding. He knew, we both did, what he was going to find when he got to the hospital and no amount of hoping was going to change that. But Carlisle was lost. He always wanted to protect me and the family and he was afraid he might have to do something that would, at the very least, inconvenience us.

His overprotective streak came out in a flurry of stupidity whilst I was carefully turning over the car, placing it back on the ground as gently as possible so as to not cause it anymore damage. His leg hadn't even really begun to heal and he decided to hop over to give me a hand. I had to point out that I had lifted much heavier things in my time without any help from him, thinking primarily of the huge marble fireplace I had installed in our holiday home on my island. I promised myself that when all this was over Carlisle and I were going to spend some time there reconnecting with the family. Enough was enough. I wanted all my children together with my arms.

Carlisle was fidgeting, turning his phone over and over in his hand at a speed which would alarm any human that could see. I took my hand off the wheel and placed it in his to try and get him to relax. he squeezed it gently and whispered, "Sorry."

He and Edward were so similar in this way - always apologising for things that didn't require it. I rolled my eyes at him and he smiled,

"No really. This whole mess. I am going to have to do something that will undermine our standing here in Forks - it might mean us having to go through a name change, or a move to another country or..."

"Carlisle, stop anticipating the worst. Who knows, Charlie may not be as bad as Dr Snow suggests. He may just be badly hurt or it may really be an 'animal attack' this time." I offered a silent prayer. "Maybe Alice is wrong."

We both smiled wryly at that. If I was suggesting that desperation really was taking hold.

I pulled off the highway and into the car park of the hospital, a million memories, good and bad running through our heads as we both stay sat staring at the familiar front doors.

"Do you want me to come in with you?"

Carlisle shook his head, "With all of my heart I don't want to leave you side right now, but no, Esme, it's going to be hard enough to make the decisions I have to make without your legs distracting me."

He winked at me and I playfully punched his arm before the emotions we were both avoiding overwhelmed me and I grabbed him pulling his lips to mine. I was scared, not knowing what was going to happen, not having my family round with me, the chances of exposure greater than they had ever been. I closed my eyes and gently pulled his bottom lip into my mouth concentrating hard on the feeling of every millimetre of his perfection. I slowly pulled back and as we parted licked my lips to take his taste into me. His hand was on the back of my neck, stroking gently and my hands were holding onto his shirt like he was the only thing stopping me falling down the rabbit hole. His eyes begged me to make it okay and I let go of all the tension for a moment.

"Promise me..."

"Anything."

"Promise me that you won't let Marion steal you away."

He kissed my forehead. "I swear it."

I dropped my eyes so he wouldn't see the fear beginning to build. He chose to let me have me privacy and kissed my hands before placing the house keys in them.

"I'll call you as soon as I can. Let me know if there are any new emergencies." He exited the car and closed the door. i watched him try to walk properly into the hospital but noticed the limp was still pronounced. It would be at least an hour before it was properly healed. Before I was tempted to run after him I quickly pulled away.

I had a sudden urge to get back to the house and get things ready for everyone else. I knew it would mostly be a case of pulling sheets off the furniture and maybe cleaning up a little. When we had left we had all packed up only that which we couldn't bear to leave behind. The furniture and many of our personal items where still at the house as we had all firmly believed Edward would come to his senses and rush back to his world.

I smiled to myself as I remembered Emmett teasing Rosalie that she would have to take over the reconstruction of our wardrobes seeing as Alice was busy looking after Jasper. And then when we had arrived at the house in Sycamore there was a constant stream of deliveries from Alice. Rosalie hadn't needed to do a thing.

Rosalie. How I wish we could be reunited under different circumstances. It just didn't make sense to me to hold onto that much anger. The logical part of my brain understood that she was envious of Bella and what she had with Edward, but not of having Edward himself. Oh Carlisle, did you ever get that one wrong. Edward and Rosalie would never have made any sense. We all knew that if there was some way of reversing the process and becoming human again Rosalie would kill us all to attain it.

I had never let Carlisle see the extent of Rosalie's pain. After the transformation she had at first not wanted to be around Carlisle accusing him of destroying her; and, of course, Edward was no where to be seen. So neither of the men saw her cradle the dark haired doll in her arms, her body convulsing in sobs for the child she would never have. I had tried to speak to her about it once but she had cut me off telling me there was no point dwelling on the impossible. The next day she had found her dark haired love and everything changed for her. I was hoping that when she returned we would be able to find a compromise. I was hoping that she would accept the whole family with all their foibles, including Bella. Yes. Enough was enough.

Forks was quite busy for the time of day. The car was getting quite a few stares. I suppose it wasn't every day that a car worth nearly half a million dollars tried to unobtrusively creep through town. Especially not looking the way it did. I had tried to smooth out as many of the big bumps in the body work but there was nothing I could have done about the missing windscreen and the other cracked windows. And there really was no hiding the front end and the fact that half of it was missing.

A few people tried to look in to see who was driving but there was no one paying any undue interest. It would just be another piece of gossip, relatively unimportant when the news of Chief Swan and the 'La Push incident' was doing the rounds. There was a little gossip about Bella but it seemed to centered around the fact that she had run off with 'that nice Mike Newton'. I heard a mention of a search party as I slowed down at the stop sign. I didn't stop though, heeding Alice's warning and continued through without any interruption.

I breathed a sigh of relief when I pulled off the highway and into our old driveway before I knew it. The plant life had done it's best to reclaim the land and I could see straight away that some serious time would be needed to straighten out the garden in a quiet moment. I pressed the garage remote on the set of keys Carlisle had given to me and waited for the door to open. Edward's Volvo was the only car still here. He had driven away in the Vanquish that night muttering that the Volvo had too many memories. I let my mind wander for a moment seeing a possible future when Edward drove the Volvo up to the front door bringing Bella back to the fold. Happy, healthy, together, all forgiven, the way it is supposed to be. I shook my head to disengage the fantasy. Nothing was that easy. I didn't want to have remnants of these thoughts in my head when Edward returned - he was going to make things as difficult on himself as he could. He didn't need anyone else's help in torturing himself.

I left the garage door open and unlocked the adjoining door into the house. The stale air hit me the way it always did when we opened up an old residence but that wasn't what made me growl.

CPOV

The smell. That's what I loved about returning to each place. Every hospital I had worked in had it's own tone. They all had the overtone of bleach and disinfectant but it was the undertones that made it interesting to me. Forks Community General was all earth and freshly cut wood brought in by the frequent visits by the local lumberjacks. I tasted the flavours for the briefest moment, enjoying them before stepping inside knowing as soon as I did I would be hit by the overpowering scent of cheap perfume.

"Dr Cullen!"

"Marion Mallory." I smiled politely as she none too subtly fluffed her hair and thrust out her chest. She walked towards me quickly swaying her hips in what she clearly thought was a sensuous fashion. How I wished I could just put down the mask I wore for a moment and tell her to... go away.

I walked further in waving back at the other nurses who smiled in my direction.

"Have you hurt yourself?"

Of course Marion would notice. I had all but forgotten about my leg for a second; I thought I was walking better but it must still be a fairly pronounced limp if Nurse Mallory was noticing. Her shocked expression brought back the pain and I swear the throb got momentarily worse as if making itself known when attention was placed on it.

"Oh. yes. Not to worry. Small bump."

She was looking around and headed off to the side as she spoke, "Maybe we should get someone to look at that for you."

She started pushing a wheelchair towards me, "Someone should take care of you."

"I think there are more pressing matters at the moment, don't you Marion?" She looked a little put out, "But thank you for the concern."

I flashed her my friendliest smile and then breathed a sigh of relief as Dr Snow came round the corner. He half jogged up to me and shook my hand.

"Carlisle. Thank God you are here. Please tell me you have answers." Oh how I wish.

"William, let's go see the patient and I'll give you my thoughts."

"We've moved him upstairs, away from prying eyes."

I heard the sounds coming from him as soon as we entered the corridor. I had heard them when we entered the hospital but hadn't realised they were Charlie. Now we were closer I knew I had heard them before. Of course I had - the low growl, the screams, the begging sobs. I was reliving the first day of Emmett's transformation again. His wounds had been so severe that I wasn't sure that he would have the strength to make it through the first hour but I did what I could for the man Rosalie had chosen.

Dr Snow opened the door and stepped aside; and as I looked upon Charlie Swan for the first tome I knew he wasn't going to make it through this alive.

"Oh Charlie."

I didn't want to move from the door. I didn't want to go through the charade of looking at the chart, checking his pulse, examining blood work and any other kind of report. I know what was happening. There was no hope. One way or another Bella was going to lose her father.

Dr Snow had been going through the few facts he had but they were nothing but numbers. None of which could help him now. I listened to his heart beat - it was racing but no where near as quickly as it would be. He still had visible wounds on the exposed skin he had,meaning the venom hadn't been in his system long enough to completely repair him. I had to get him out of here before the miracle of his gaping chest wound closing up and disappearing became front page news. But how to get him out of here? More importantly what then? Back to the house to complete his transformation into one of us?

"...it was quite amazing the paramedics said." Dr Snow was trying to explain the details of the Chief's rescue. "He was quite dead - no pulse at all and then bang - heart pumping as strong as an ox and then the screaming started."

"He was dead?" This is new.

"Yep. They've even arrested someone for his murder."

Please tell me they don't have a vampire in custody, "Oh, anyone we know?"

I picked up Charlie's file and pretended to read it as Dr Snow continued,

"I don't know if you would have had dealings with him - the La Push kids didn't used to come to the hospital."

One of the wolves finally snapped.

"It was Billy Black's son"

"Billy Black?"

"You know him?"

"A little." From afar.

"Well I'm sure he'd be happy to see a friendly face."

"He's in the hospital?" What on earth was going on round here?

"Oh yes. He was brought in last night. He was attacked too - looks like an animal got him. The police think his son did it before turning on Charlie..."

I moved to the side of Charlie's bed as he let out a mighty scream. I watched a deep scratch begin to heal. I had very little time left to get him out of here before Aro had an excuse to let him exterminators of the leash. I knew he would not be beyond taking out this entire town to keep the secret; and I just couldn't let that happen.

"I'll go and say hello as soon as I can."

I knew I had to look like I was trying to save Charlie, and laid my had on his arm. Charlie focused on me and he shook his head.

"No."

"It's okay, Charlie." Please Alice be right. "Edward is not coming back."

Charlie slumped in his bed passing out.

"I'll go and see if Mr Black can tell us about the animal. It may give us some clues to help Charlie."

JessicaPOV

I can't believe my parents wouldn't let me go - that's my ex-boyfriend who is out there somewhere, definitely in trouble if he is with Weirdo Swan.

I could hear my phone ringing in my room and ran to the foot of the stairs to get it but Kiazna came down carrying it.

"This is Mike on the phone."

I answered, "Mike?"

"Oh Jess, help me. Bella has freaked out and left me here Jess. Please come and get me."

"Where are you?"

"In a warehouse on the docks somewhere."

"Can you see an address or something?"

"Yeah, er, Neah Bay."

"Has Bella gone?"

"Yeah, she was talking about killing people or herself..."

Kiazna walked in carrying keys which she placed in Jess's hand.

"Don't move Mike we're coming."

Jessica hung up and then smiled at Kiazna as the front door opened and Lauren walked in. Jessica threw her the phone.

"Mike called. Let's go and get him."

EsPOV

Blood. Human. There was something very wrong here. It wasn't a human I was familiar with. A small part of me acknowledged it wasn't Bella and was grateful for that but the animal inside of me roared with delight that somewhere in the house was a human, they were alive, and they were bleeding.

I felt my venom pool in my mouth as I ran up the steps to the kitchen and wheeled around into the living room. One shaft of light illuminated the white room but I didn't need it to see the sight that took away what little breath I had.

Pinned to the wall by large metal spikes in his hands was a young man who looked like Edward would have when he was human. His unruly bronze hair was matted against his face which was covered in sweat and dried trickles of blood. He had been dressed in clothes that Edward had left behind and the message was quite clear enough even without the crudely painted words over his head.

Revenge is sweet.

I ran out of the room and dialed Carlisle.

This was a new emergency.