Chapter 12

She woke to someone speaking Quileute softly in her ear.

When she opened her eyes, all she could register was that voice and…pain.

Intense pain.

A lot of it was actually coming from her jaw. Speaking of…

"Mmmm…" she tried to test out her voice.

The Quileute stopped abruptly.

"Bella?"

She slowly tried to move her head to the side. It was difficult, but she just managed to see who was sitting beside her. She was horrified.

"Bwiyy?" Damn, her jaw was hurting. But not only that, she just had a wet dream about his son, and not only THAT but his son and another guy…at the same time! She was really happy he wasn't a wolf with super senses that could sniff out her arousal. What if one of them walked in and smelled that? What would they think? That she was getting aroused by Billy? Oh God, they were going to think she was a nursing home robbing freak!

Billy chuckled a little and gave Bella a big smile. "Welcome back, Bella. You were out for quite some time." He grabbed a glass of water, placed a straw in it and held it to her mouth. She took a small sip.

"Tank oo." She tried to pout but it took too much out of her. Billy smiled gently in pity. "I'll go get the doctor, sweetheart." He wheeled out of the room.

Bella wondered how long she had been out of it. Maybe it had been a month. She wondered how much she had missed. Wow, this might actually be kind of fun.

The doctor walked in.

"Well good morning, Bella. How are you feeling? I heard you're having a bit of trouble talking."

"Ya."

"Where are you feeling pain?"

"Jaw…head…eeywhee," Bella mumbled. The doctor smiled a bit. "That's to be expected. I'll have the nurse give you some medication to ease the pain. I'm just happy you're back and I'm sure all of those people who have been in and out of here will be happy, too. Do you know what day it is?"

Bella thought about it. The last thing she remembered was slapping the shit out of Vanessa, and that was…Saturday! "Sauday."

The doctor wrote something down. "Well it's actually Tuesday, Bella. You were admitted on Sunday morning. Do you know what year it is?"

Wow, maybe she didn't miss as much as she thought. Unless…

"Twele." The doctor nodded and smiled a little. "I assume you mean 2012. But just to make sure, who is the current president?"

Bella tried to smile. This doctor was kind of cute. "Bawa," she murmured. The nice doctor held in his laughter. "I'm going to guess you mean Obama. Is that right?"

"Ya."

He nodded. "Okay, the nurse will be right in with something to help with the pain. Hopefully you will be talking normally soon. Would you like to see your father? He's sitting in the waiting room."

"Ya. Tanks." He smiled and walked out. She tried to see his butt through his white doctor coat. Damn.

Charlie walked in and smiled.

"Hey, sweetheart."

"Hi."

"How are you feeling?"

"Ine."

Charlie smiled. "I'm so happy you're okay, Bells. I was going stir crazy. And so were a lot of other people."

"Uh."

He chuckled. "I kind of like you like this. It's like you're one again."

Bella squinted. He knew she was trying to give him one of her looks.

He ran his fingers through her hair. "God, Bella…I'm so sorry." She looked at him in confusion but before she could attempt to question him, the nurse walked in and administered her medication.

"I always knew there was something wrong with that bitch," Jared murmured as they all sat in Sam and Leah's house.

"I should have helped Bella kick her ass the other day," Leah murmured as she sat in Sam's lap.

Paul paced back and forth as Jake rocked back and forward in his seat. Quil was biting his fist and Embry was rubbing his forehead. Seth and Jared sat fuming on the floor while Collin and Brady patrolled.

"I really hope she goes to the police," Seth whispered, "this is wrong. So wrong."

"If not, we'll have to make her," Paul said as he clenched his fists. Sam knew that he was yearning to get out but his alpha command prevented him from doing so. He needed to stay there because Sam knew that if Paul let his wolf out, he might hurt someone and although he thought he wanted to do that, Sam knew that he would feel like shit about it in his human form. So he couldn't let him go out there when he was this angry.

"I think she'll do it," Jake murmured. "I made her feel pretty guilty. But I made sure she knew never to come back. I can't believe I was ever interested in her."

Before anyone could respond, Jake's phone rang. He saw it was Charlie so he immediately answered. "Hey Charlie."

"She's awake." Everyone but Leah knew what was said. Paul was out the door before Jake could hang up.

A couple of hours later, Bella woke up feeling groggy but kind of refreshed at the same time. Well, as refreshed as can be without having taken a bath or brushing her teeth in a couple days. Ahh, squeaky clean.

Bella tried to move her jaw and noticed that it felt much better than it had earlier.

When she looked to her side, she was surprised to see a smiling and tearful face next to her.

"Mom?"

"Bella, honey." Renee smoothed the hair out of Bella's face. "How are you feeling?"

Bella shrugged. She was finally able to move her arms. "Okay, I guess. What are you doing here?"

"What do you mean, what am I doing here? My child is in the hospital, where else would I be?"

Bella felt kind of stupid. Of course her mother would be here. She freaked whenever something was wrong with Bella.

"Of course, Mom, sorry. I'm okay, I guess. I just don't really remember what happened." There was this space of two days between what she remembered and the current moment. Nothing like this had ever happened to her. She felt lost. And it was scary not knowing what happened to put her in the hospital.

Renee looked on her daughter sadly. "I really don't want you to remember."

Bella sighed. It must have been really bad.

"But you need to in order to get justice for yourself. I don't want to be blunt but your father told me that one of your friends found you in the trunk of a car."

Bella's eyes widened unattractively. "Huh? What?" Who the hell would put her in the trunk of a car?

"I know, honey, I know." Renee tried to calm Bella down by stroking her hair. "Some idiot girls put you in there after beating you up."

Bella sighed and lied back when everything started coming back to her. Damn it. Of course it was them.

All of the images assaulted her then.

The screams.

The hits.

The tears.

The kicks.

The prayers.

The pain.

The tears came before she thought of them.

"Oh, baby," Renee sat on the edge of the bed next to Bella and wrapped her arms around her. "I know baby, I know. You're okay now. It's all over. No one's going to hurt you anymore, sweetheart. I promise."

As her mother spoke to her softly and stroked her hair, she realized how much she needed her around. She felt like a little girl again. A huge part of her just wanted to call her "mommy" and curl up into her side to avoid everything. But she was an adult and she couldn't do that anymore.

"So where are they?" Bella asked. She couldn't really feel safe if they were still running around out there.

"The two of them are currently in jail without bail—"

"Two? There were four, mom."

Renee looked at her. She was horrified. "Four?"

"Yes, mom." Bella sighed and rolled her eyes. "And I bet they're going to get away with this, too." She rested her head on her mother's chest and sobbed.

"No they are not, Bella. Especially not while I'm here," she continued to stroke Bella's hair. "God, my poor baby…how did this happen?" She wasn't really asking Bella. It seemed she was asking herself.

Bella shrugged. "I didn't think it would go this far." She tried not to cry. But with her mother there she really couldn't help it.

Renee wiped Bella's cheeks. "I didn't either. But some people are just cruel and ignorant, sweetheart. You run into people like them everywhere."

"Not in New York."

"Oh yes, baby. In New York, everywhere. You can't avoid them…"

Bella felt like her mother was trying to tell her something.

Tears slowly slid out of Renee's eyes as she continued to stroke Bella's hair. "You know, when this happened to me, I promised myself it would never happen to my baby girl."

"Mom, it's not your fault."

"No, it's Charlie's."

Bella sighed. That's why he was apologizing earlier. "It's not his fault either, Mom. Dad can't protect me all the time. He can't be everywhere that I am. I know that you're looking for someone to blame but it's not him. If it's anyone's fault it's those girls' and my own for being dumb enough to go to the house so late."

"Don't you dare blame yourself, Bella. It's not your fault that there are ignorant people out there like those heathens."

"And it's not Dad's fault, either. So don't blame him, Renee." Bella called her that for emphasis.

Renee smiled a little and looked at Bella through watery eyes. "I know, I know baby but it's hard. I just needed him to protect you, Bella. God, this is why I never wanted you to come here. This is exactly why I left, so that you'd never have to experience this."

Bella nodded against her mother's chest. "So what are you saying? Are you saying that I should leave? Do you regret leaving?"

"Yes and no. I regret it because I left almost everything I loved behind. I don't regret it because I needed a new start." Renee sighed. "To be honest, if I were you I'd pack up and leave because it's the easy way out. But in reality, I shouldn't have run away. I shouldn't have given up so easily. I almost lost everything I loved. I don't want the same thing to happen to you."

Bella was confused. She thought that her mother would want her to leave. "So you think I should stay?"

Renee sighed. "God, I'm so confused, Bella." Renee got up and walked around the room. "I was really hoping you wouldn't have to see another one of these rooms until you were having my grandbabies," she smiled wistfully. She leaned against the wall across from Bella's bed.

"When I left, I thought I was doing the right thing for the both of us. But somehow, you still ended up here. That's probably because you couldn't stay away from La Push, no matter how much I warned you against coming back.

"And don't get me wrong, sweetheart. I'm not blaming you for this. No one can control other people's actions. So I was wrong for blaming your father. But I think a deep part of me resents him for not being able to protect me, and now you. I don't know how to get over it, Bella."

Renee looked at her daughter intently. "So I think when I left, not only was I trying to protect us, I was trying to punish your father. It was his job to keep me safe and he failed. At least, that's how I saw it. This time, it was supposed to be his job to keep you safe. But I guess I need to come to terms with the fact that he can't be everywhere at once."

Bella had the feeling her mother was having difficulty expressing her feelings about Charlie.

"It's just, I saw him as some kind of hero, you know? I put him on a pedestal and he fell. He fell hard. So I left. And when I think back on it, I know I believed I was doing the right thing but right now, I'm not so sure. It still happened. We're still here."

Bella looked at her mother. She wasn't quite sure what to make of what she was saying.

"Sometimes I think I made a mistake. I tried to be happy with my decision, but…I just wasn't. For a long while there I thought I was, but I just wasn't happy, Bella. And I don't know if you will be, either."

"So you are saying that I should stay?"

Renee sighed and walked back over to the bed. She put her hand on Bella's face.

"When it comes down to it, only you can decide what's right for you, baby."

Quil took a couple of deep breaths. He looked around as he walked up to the house. He heard breathing inside so he knew she was there. He knocked on the door.

She looked surprised once she opened it.

"Quil? What are you doing here?" Her voice was shaky and so was her breathing. Her tear-streaked face was not a deterrent for him.

"We need to talk." He made moves to walk inside before she invited him in.

Quil had always been nice to Vanessa but after what she had revealed to Jake, she wasn't so sure if he was going to be so nice this time. She definitely didn't deserve for him to be nice to her.

"I guess you heard that I saw," she said as she sat at the far end of the couch.

"Yes. Look, I already saw the conversation you had with Jake in his head. I'm not here to yell at you. But you need to understand a couple of things.

"I've had to deal with a lot of shit as a wolf, Vanessa. Not only did I have to come to terms that I was different from the norm—you know, being a huge, hairy beast and all—but I had to carry all of the changes that came with it. There were the benefits, like being bigger and stronger. All the girls want me and all the guys are afraid of me. That's not too bad. But what's not so great is the fact that we're bound to this society forever. I love La Push but one day it would be nice to be able to go explore…you know? But I have to stay here pretty much for my whole life, at least, in the near future. And on top of that, we have to kill vampires. We exist to kill vampires. I love the idea that I'm protecting my people and my community, but it's not the most fun thing in the world, you know? The sweet, sickly smell is bad enough but when we have to tear them limb from limb it's disgusting. The taste doesn't go away for hours. It's nauseating. I mean, there's a rush because it's kind of like a sport but at the same time it's not because it's something that could get us killed with just a squeeze or a bite. It's fucking scary."

Vanessa wasn't quite sure why Quil was telling her all of this, but she knew better than to interrupt him.

"You might be wondering why I'm telling you this. Basically what I'm trying to say is that it's scary as fuck to deal with vampires sometimes. Despite that, I kind of know what to expect from them. I know the kind of damage they can do. But what I never imagined I'd have to deal with was seeing the kind of damage humans could do to other humans. It was almost…worse. I know that blood thirsty vampires don't really have consciences. But to know that humans can be that way, too? There was so much disregard for her life. Do you know what that's like? What it's like to think that humans can be worse than vampires?"

Ahhh, now Vanessa saw where he was going with this. He was about to lay another guilt trip on her. She couldn't really say she blamed him. He clasped his hands together and stared straight ahead of him.

"You don't know what it was like, Vanessa. You don't know what it was like finding her in the trunk of that car. Smelling her blood, following the trail of that smell knowing that I was about to find her, but not knowing if I would find her dead or alive."

Quil took a deep breath. His whole body shook, but not with anger. There were so many emotions crossing his face and his voice. He tried his best to stay monotone but he knew that if he did, she wouldn't experience the greatest effect of what he was trying to depict.

"I was scared to open up that trunk because I didn't know what I was going to see. When I opened it up, it was like a fucking nightmare, Vanessa. There was blood everywhere. I couldn't even recognize her face. I mean, could you imagine that?" He looked up at her then, watery eyes to watery eyes. "Could you imagine not being able to recognize one of your good friends because someone has beaten her up so badly that her face is destroyed? So badly that the only thing you can recognize about her is her smell? And that's only because I'm a wolf.

"It's awful, Vanessa. It's awful to feel like I could have done something if I had shown up sooner. It's awful to run to the hospital, with my friend's limp body in my hands, wondering if I'll make it there just in time or if I'll be too late."

Quil took a couple of deep breaths to halt the tears. That didn't work. "You don't know what that's like, Vanessa. I wouldn't want you to know what it's like because it's terrible. It's scary and it's fucking hard. It's fucking hard. And what's even worse is to know that two of the women who did this to her haven't even been punished for it. At this rate, it seems like they won't be unless Emily and Serena give them up. And I don't see that happening.

"Basically, Vanessa, I just want you to do the right thing. I know you and Bella didn't get along so much but that doesn't mean she deserved what she got. She didn't deserve to be beaten within an inch of her life. What she deserves is justice. After all of the harassment, after all of the abuse, she deserves justice. And I think you know that you might be the only one who can help her get that. So please don't let your hatred, jealousy, whatever it is, get in the way of justice being served. I know if the roles were reversed someone would be asking Bella the same thing. And I'm sure you wouldn't want to be in her position; you wouldn't want someone you love to be in her position and know that someone could have helped put the criminals who did this behind bars." He shook his head. "Just think about it, Vanessa."

With that, Quil got up, walked out, and didn't look back.

Sue massaged Billy's shoulders as they sat in front of the television in Billy's living room.

"I'm soooo stressed," Billy said as he closed his eyes and leaned his head back.

Sue rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I know, big baby. I bet you want me to take care of that stress, huh?"

Billy smirked. "You're the only one that knows how…"

Before they could get into it, Billy's doorbell rang. He rolled his eyes. "Dang it," he said as he rolled his chair over to the door. He opened it to see a group of several angry girls staring back at him. "Uh, hello ladies, can I help you?" He felt Sue come up behind him.

"What is this, Chief?" One of the girls held up a piece of paper. Sue took it from her and read:

"Dear Residents of the La Push Community,

The majority of you are aware of the council members' sons being offered romantically to the young women of our community. This has been a long-standing tradition of honor.

But, this season, some women in the La Push community have not been acting honorably.

Some of you may have already heard about the attack that was issued against a young woman from the Forks community. This young woman has been involved with one of the council members' sons and unfortunately, some girls from our community decided that she should be punished for it because she is not from the reservation. Therefore, not only did they attack her, they tried to destroy her property multiple times.

Due to the actions of these immature, hateful women, the council is sad to say that the men will no longer be offered to the young ladies on this reservation. This is not to say that they cannot date anyone; there will just not be any 'competition' for their affections, at least not any official competition.

In light of the multiple attacks on this young woman, the council would also like to say that there will be no toleration of disrespect, abuse, or discrimination on our grounds. Punishments will be implemented and distributed to anyone who displays any type of prejudice in our community. We are disgusted and deeply ashamed of what took place and trust that the Forks Police Department will give the women the punishment they deserve.

Sincerely,

The La Push Council

Chief William Black

Abel Black

Quil Ateara I

Joshua Uley

Sue Clearwater

Michael Lahote

Jason Spear"

Sue closed the letter. "What's wrong with this?"

"What's wrong with this? WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS?" One of the young women screeched. Billy and Sue cringed. "So because of some stupid girls the rest of us have to suffer? I was really making some headway with Seth!" She pouted.

Sue frowned. Seth didn't want her.

"Look girls, we're not saying that you can't see any of the guys," Billy said, though he knew that none of the guys were actually interested in any of these girls. "This 'imprinting season', as we sometimes call it, is a very old tradition that probably should have been cancelled a long time ago. But after all of the crimes committed in the name of this competition, the council as a whole came to the conclusion that this season is very detrimental to the community, especially when there are young women who are willing to go to any lengths to get what they want. It's really their fault that this is coming to an end. So if you want to blame anyone, take it up with the women who attacked that poor, innocent girl from Forks."

Paul was so excited. It took him little more than five minutes to get to the hospital. He was practically bouncing on his feet. So when he got to the hospital, he was just a bit peeved to learn that the nurse gave her something that made her go back to sleep.

Damn.

But he was still so happy that she was awake!

And it wasn't so bad waiting for her to wake up. When Charlie went back to the station, Paul and Renee sat in the waiting room and talked to each other for a while. It was cool getting to know her. He could see where Bella got a lot of her spunk from. And it was awesome hearing about some childhood memories of Bella. Lots to hold over her head when she got better.

Jake had gone to run patrol so Paul was left in the waiting room alone while Renee spoke to Bella. He was surprised when he smelled his father.

"Dad? What are you doing here?"

"Hey, kid. I knew you probably wouldn't be eating much so I decided to bring you some lunch. Taha Aki knows that bottomless pit of yours is complaining."

As soon as he said that, both men heard a huge growl. They laughed. "Thanks, Pops."

He grabbed the food and started eating. "So how is my future daughter-in-law?"

Paul stopped eating and looked at his dad. "Wow, really, Dad?" His father laughed. "Oh come on. Before we cancelled imprinting season you were going to ask her to be your imprint, right? Don't deny it; I've seen you with her. And you wouldn't be living in this waiting room day and night if you didn't want her so badly."

Paul shook his head. His father had always known him too damn well. "Yeah, whatever. She's awake, actually. Her mom is in there with her right now."

"Ahhh…Renee Dwyer?" Michael asked, with a scent of reminiscence in his tone. Paul looked at his father and raised his eyebrow.

"Yes…you know her?"

"Well I didn't really know her, know her. I knew of her. Everyone was obsessed with her because she was new around Forks and La Push. I used to see her on the beach hanging out with Charlie, Billy, and the others. I was a little younger so I never spoke to her but oh…I knew of her."

Michael smiled and Paul thought that hell had frozen over. Was his dad lusting over his girlfriend's mom right now? He shuddered. No way they were getting married, over his dead fucking body. He wouldn't be dating his step sister. Gross. Though, the idea of him and Bella sneaking around, all incestuous and what not, wasn't so unappealing—

"Paul," his head shot up as he heard Renee's voice, "you can go see her now." She smiled.

He dropped his food and wiped his hands. "Thanks, Renee." He looked at his father, who was looking at Renee. He subtly rolled his eyes. Dear Taha Aki.

Paul knocked before walking in. He grinned widely as Bella's eyes fell on him. He had waited so long to see those orbs again. They gave him the craziest butterflies. "Beautiful, you're finally awake." She smiled a little as he came in and sat down.

"I've missed you," he said, grabbing her hand.

"Yeah, yeah. I've heard. I heard you were crying like a baby, too. Pathetic Paul, really."

He barked out a laugh. "You fucking wish, girl."

She rolled her eyes and smiled. After her discussion with Renee, it felt good to smile. It really did.

Damn, he missed this girl. He rubbed her cheek. He was delighted to see that the swelling was going down. "How are you feeling?"

"Well the pain medication the nurse slipped me hasn't worn off yet, so, considering the circumstances, pretty damn good."

He smiled. "That's good. You were out for a while there. I was worried."

She knew that he was sugarcoating his real feelings as his eyes bore into her own. She didn't want to embarrass him so she didn't bring up everything she heard him say when she was in the coma. So she just nodded.

"Well, I'm back now."

"Yeah but you took too fucking long, babe," he said as he stroked her hair. Everyone kept doing that.

She rolled her eyes. "From what I heard it was only for two days."

"Only? Two days, Bella. And not to mention you were ignoring me for a couple of days before that. It's been too long since I had a real conversation with you."

"Well I've been out for some time so I'm not going to be full of stuff to talk about."

"We can talk about what happened."

"Too bad I don't actually want to talk about it."

Paul sighed. "Bella…"

"Don't, Paul. I don't want to talk about it unless I need to talk to the cops, so just leave it alone." She moved her hand and looked away.

Paul didn't really know how to feel about that. He wasn't the best talker in the world but he liked when she confided in him. It made him feel needed. He wanted her to need him like he needed her.

Sue was in the kitchen cooking as Billy watched television. He loved having a woman in the house again. Sarah would always be number one in his heart, no matter who came along, but Sue was a close second.

As Billy drank his beer, he was startled when a disgruntled Sam ran in through the front door.

"Billy," he said, "we have a problem. A couple of fires have broken out throughout the neighborhood."

I think you guys knew I'd be back soon, hehe.

So what about that conversation between Quil and Vanessa? Seems our Quilly is very shaken up…think he got through to her?

Did anyone expect that response from Renee? It seems she isn't as sold on Bella leaving as we thought she would be…if you're confused about her little speech, don't worry, Bella is too. Do we think she's going to stay? What about that little brush off with Paul? And what about Paul's dad? A slightly older Paul Lahote? Yum.

And what about those girls? I wonder how they'll react to Billy's suggestion to take their problem up with the perps… ;)

So I actually posted a poll sometime after my last update, on my profile. The question is whether Bella should end up with Jake, Paul, or both. What I forgot for a second is that this is a Paul and Bella story so the majority of you will probably choose Paul. Lol. So really the choice is between Paul and both men. A lot of you have expressed interest in the three of them working something out so I will leave the poll up for a while. If the majority of you choose both, I will figure that out. If the majority of you choose Paul, I'll go with that. Though I do really love the idea of our Bella having both…

I'd really love to know what you guys think…about anything.