Girl with a Red Umbrella Chapter 20: Come Rain or Come Shine, a twilight fanfic

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Stephenie Meyer owns any Twilight characters that may appear in this story. The remainder is our original work. Copyright 2009 by spanglemaker9 and justaskalice. No copying or reproduction of this work is permitted without our express written authorization.

"Rosie, please wake up." Bella was still holding Rosalie's hand, rubbing her thumb over her knuckles gently. She was hunched forward over the edge of the bed, her eyes riveted to Rosalie's unmoving form.

I'd finally managed to pry her away from Rose's side late last night and back to Esme's. She broke down once I got her home, the stress and fear finally catching up to her, and it was hours before I'd finally managed to soothe her into a restless sleep. Then she was up with the dawn, racing to the hospital and back to Rosalie's room.

Rose's condition was unchanged from the night before. Well, unchanged except that she looked a lot worse. Yesterday there were only the beginnings of bruises here and there. Overnight they'd darkened and new ones had appeared all over her. Her neck was a mass of purple. The outlines of his hands were visible around her throat. It made me feel sick just to look at it. There was also a fearsome bruise spreading across her left cheekbone where she'd been struck hard. Her arms were peppered in bruises and if I could see her legs under the blanket, I was sure they'd look the same. Her split lip was swollen and crusted with dried blood and there was a small cut on her temple near her hairline that had been bandaged up. Her eyes were still closed but the dark circles under them were pronounced. She was a stranger to me, and how she'd treated Bella had not made me especially eager to get to know her, but looking at her beaten, still form in the bed still filled me with rage.

Bella seemed to have put aside their recent unpleasant past, instead focusing on their shared history. She'd been at Rose's side all day, calling her by her childhood nickname, smoothing the hair out of her face, entreating her to open her eyes. There had been no response.

"Love, you should take a break. You've been here for hours," I said, running a hand down her hair.

"But what if she wakes up and I'm not here?"

"Just a few minutes. Take a walk down the hall and stretch your legs. You can come right back."

Bella sighed and shifted uncomfortably before reluctantly nodding in agreement. I took her hand and helped her to her feet. She stretched her arms over her head slowly. I knew it was wrong to lust after her in our present circumstances, but I really couldn't help it. She just looked so damned stunning, arching her back like that, her hair tumbling down over her shoulders. I shook my head slightly to clear the inappropriate train of thought before taking her hand and leading her from the room. She kept casting anxious glances back over her shoulder at Rosalie.

"I'm going to the ladies' room," Bella said, rising up on tiptoes to kiss my cheek.

"I'm just going to pop out front for a smoke."

I lit my cigarette and leaned back against the wall of the hospital, closing my eyes and inhaling deeply. I was sore all over. It turns out beating down doors was not as easy as it looked. This whole miserable situation was so screwed up and I had no idea what to do next. What would we do about Rose? And Royce? Everything was swirling around in my head and the lack of sleep was making it hard to focus on any of it.

"Hey!" Emmett's loud greeting made me jump slightly. He and Jasper were standing in the doorway of the hospital looking like they had just come out.

"Oh, Em…Jasper, I didn't know you were here today."

"Alice is coming over after work so we said we'd meet her here," Jasper shrugged.

"What have you guys been up to?"

Emmett chuckled. "Recon."

"Huh?"

Jasper shot him a look out of the corner of his eye and smirked. "Well, since we had a little time to kill, I figured I'd do a little investigative leg work."

"And by that he means flirting with nurses," Emmett grinned.

"Excuse me, dimples," Jasper snarled at him, "I believe the heavy duty flirting fell solely to you."

"Why were you guys flirting with nurses?" I asked, trying hard to follow the conversation, and slightly puzzled about this odd new comeraderie that seemed to have sprung up between Jasper and Emmett.

"I was trying to find out some information about those goons you beat up in the alley a couple of weeks ago."

"Did you find out anything?"

"Yeah, turns out they were brought here to get patched up. A certain nurse remembered them and Emmett here persuaded her to share their names."

"Holy smokes, Edward, you really did a number on those guys," Emmett said.

I rolled my eyes. "Don't remind me, please. So you found out their names. What good does that do us?"

"Well, I'll poke around a little, shake a few trees, see what falls out," Jasper shrugged. "You never know."

"I guess any information is helpful at this point," I said, taking a last drag on my cigarette before crushing it out. "I better get back in to Bella."

"How is Rosalie?" Emmett asked softly.

"The same."

He shook his head sadly and Jasper cursed silently under his breath. I left them to wait out front for Alice and headed back to Rosalie's room. Bella was back already, holding her hand again, humming something under her breath. I slipped my arm around her shoulders to let her know I was there and she smiled softly at me.

"Any change?"

"Nothing," Bella sighed.

Then Rosalie groaned audibly.

"Rose?" Bella sat up, clutching at her hand. "Rosie? It's Bella!"

"B-Bella?" Rosalie's voice was a hollow rasp. Then her eyes cracked open a bit and shot around the room, frantic and unfocused.

"It's okay, Rose," Bella murmured, "you're in the hospital."

"Bella, you're here."

"Of course I'm here, sweetie," Bella said soothingly.

"But after what I did…" Her voice was stronger now and she started in the bed, as if she were trying to sit up. Bella threw an arm over her shoulders to hold her down.

"Rose, just relax. You'll hurt yourself."

"Oh God, Bella! I'm so sorry!" Rosalie's raspy voice cracked further and tears spilled out of the corners of her eyes. "I didn't want him to hurt you, too! I didn't mean it! I'm so sorry!"

"Shhh! Rose, it's okay. We'll talk later, now you need to rest."

"Is he here?" Rosalie's frantic eyes shot to the door before skittering back to me. She eyed me warily, not surprising, I realized, as she didn't know me. I decided to get out of the way before I upset her any further.

"Bella," I said, touching her shoulder. "I'm going to get the doctor."

Bella nodded in understanding, still gripping Rosalie's shoulders.

"No, he's not here, Rose."

"The baby…" I heard Rose murmur as I slipped out of the room.

"Oh, Rose." Bella's sad voice tore at me as I retreated down the hall. I found Marcus as quickly as I could and he rushed to Rosalie's room, closing the door behind him. I could hear Rose's raw weeping from inside as she was told that she'd lost the baby. I stayed just outside the door, my hands fisted into my hair, listening to her sob through the doctor's examination, listening to Bella's murmured soothing words. Finally Rose's weeping tapered off and I wondered if they'd had to sedate her.

"Edward?" I looked up to see Carlisle and Esme coming down the hall towards me. "What's happened?"

"Rosalie woke up," I said, pointing at the closed door. "It sounds bad."

Carlisle frowned and seemed to consider that for just a moment. "Is Marcus in there with her?"

I nodded.

"Let me see what I can find out." He slipped inside and Esme came to lean next to me against the wall. She was wearing a severe-looking dark suit and her honey-colored hair was twisted gracefully up on the back of her head.

"Carlisle says she has lost the baby," she said.

I nodded. "She's a mess. That bastard really did a number on her. But nothing she can't recover from. Marcus even said she can still have children someday. And the leg fracture was so minor that he decided to just splint it instead of putting her in a cast. So there's a little good news."

Esme stared across the hall at the wall, her expression flinty. "She will come to stay with us," she said, her voice firm.

"Rosalie? But you don't even know her, Esme. I don't even know her."

"She will come," Esme repeated, her voice harder, "as soon as they let her out of this place."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutement. Edward, you'll make sure she comes, oui?"

"If that's what you want, I'll talk to Bella." I shook my head, at a loss as to why Esme wanted to move this complete stranger into her house. But the look on her face told me she wasn't taking no for an answer.

The door to the room opened and Marcus came out, followed by Carlisle who had his arm around Bella's shoulders. As soon as I saw her I reached for her and she rushed into my arms, burying her face in my chest.

"She's sleeping again," Marcus said. "It's for the best right now."

"Will she be alright?" I asked.

"In time," Marcus said. "The worst of the crisis has passed. We'll let her go home in a few days, then all she can do is rest."

Bella let out a raw, humorless chuckle. "Home," she barked. "That's going to be tough."

"Bella, Esme wants Rosalie to come and stay at her house."

Bella lifted her head to look at Esme, her eyes bright with unshed tears. "You would do that for her?"

Esme reached an arm around Bella's shoulders. "I would do this for both of you. Bring her to me. It's where she belongs."

"Thank you," Bella whispered, trying hard not to cry.

"Bien sûr, ma chère. Je t'aime," Esme murmured softly against her hair. Bella sagged into her and I fell in love with Esme and her generous heart all over again.

Once again, I couldn't get Bella to leave Rosalie's side until nearly midnight. Rose woke up again for a short period in the early evening. I was out scouting up dinner for us and Jasper, Alice and Emmett had just left, so Bella was on her own with her. She seemed calmer and more at peace when I came back. Whatever brief conversation Bella and Rose had seemed to do a lot to put Bella at ease.

She was more alert once we got back to the garret, sitting cross-legged on the bed scratching Debussy behind the ears. I shed my shirt and climbed onto the bed next to her, letting one arm drop across her shoulders as I surreptitiously shoved Debussy to the floor with my foot. She sighed and sank back against my chest.

"Everything will be alright, love. I promise."

"I know," she murmured. "And I have you, so that makes everything better."

I smiled stupidly in spite of myself and folded her into my embrace. Bella twisted in my arms, snaking her arms around my waist and nudging up under my jaw to kiss my neck.

"Mmm, Bella," I whispered as her little fingers began pulling my undershirt out the waistband of my pants and up my chest, "that feels wonderful, but are you sure we really should be…?"

"Edward," she sighed, her voice breathy and soft, "I just want to feel good, even for a few minutes. And you make me feel good. Is that okay?"

"It's brilliant," I rasped, before I rolled her under me. We'd finally taken this step only to have the crisis with Rose descend on us immediately. I felt like there hadn't been a chance for our newfound intimacy to settle in. I was a little worried about being with Bella now in the middle of everything when she was so emotional, but she was right. Maybe it was alright to just make each other feel better, even for a little while. And I really wanted to remind Bella of just how good I could make her feel.

I went faster this time, stripping her out of her clothes immediately, with little preamble. She didn't hesitate, she just twisted to help me take them off of her before her hands fell on me, unbuttoning my pants, pushing my clothes off me in the same haste. I kissed her deeply, trying to keep myself from a full-out attack, but tonight Bella met my eagerness, arching her body underneath me, twisting her fingers in my hair, moaning softly as my fingers explored her skin.

This wasn't the slow, tender introduction of our first night together, nor was it the playful celebration of the next morning. It was urgent, intense, a little desperate. I let myself touch her, feel her, in ways I hadn't the first time, exploring her breasts and nipples, first with my fingers, then with my mouth, loving the way she moaned and writhed under me. There was so much to show Bella, so much she had never experienced and my head swam at the thought of experiencing it all with her, one incredible night at a time.

I tried to go slow, but her breathy little sounds were driving me over the edge. My hands moved on their own, pulling her legs apart, my fingers finding her sensitive center, feeling her, pushing into her. I wanted to stroke her to her climax first again tonight, but Bella blew all of that out of my mind when she slipped her little hand down between our bodies and wrapped her fingers around me. I gasped and shuddered and tried not to explode at the unexpected contact.

"It was no fair," she murmured softly in my ear. "You've touched every part of me, but I haven't touched you."

"You can…" I swallowed hard as she gave me a surprisingly firm stroke, "you're welcome to touch me anywhere you like, but if you keep on just like that this won't last much longer."

"Then show me the rest."

"What part, love?"

"The…what did you call it?"

"The…um, French letter."

"Yes, show me how it works."

I smiled a little at her forthright curiosity, but I did as she asked, retrieving it from the nightstand, showing her how it worked, how it rolled on. I did it myself though, because if she touched me like that again, I wasn't sure if I'd make it to the main event.

Bella was a marvel. I knew she was innocent, it was highly doubtful that she'd even seen an unclothed man before me, but now that we'd gotten past her initial hesitancy, she was so eager to explore and touch every inch of me. And now that she knew what it felt like to be together, she was eager for more, laying back immediately, pulling me down on top of her. I went willingly, stretching back out over her, settling between her legs and slipping inside her effortlessly. There was no more pain, she just closed her eyes and moaned, her head falling back. I moaned with her, lost in the sensation of being joined with her in this intimate way. She felt so good, indescribable. Being with her was nothing like it had ever been before for me. Maybe it was that for the first time, it wasn't just about the physical act. Being with her like this was all tied up in the feelings I had for her, I couldn't separate one from the other.

I tried to keep things slow and steady at first, holding her as close as I could, trying to make this as much about comfort as about lust. She clung to me, her hands running from my hair down to my shoulders, her nails digging into my back. She whimpered softly and whispered my name, so softly that I felt it against my neck more than I heard it. It was so erotic, hearing my name on her lips that way. It made my thinking fog over and before I knew it I was pounding against her, ravaging her. She didn't stop me, though. On the contrary, she seemed to ignite under me, meeting my aggression with her own. Her climax broke over her suddenly and she cried out, wrapping her arms around me and burying her face in my neck. Feeling her come undone was all it took to send me over the edge with her.

She was nearly asleep by the time I'd cleaned up and stretched out next to her in the bed again. I pulled her in close, settling her head on my chest. She came willingly, sighing as her legs tangled with mine and her arm slipped around my waist. I pressed a kiss against her hair, sure that she was already asleep, before I let myself be pulled under with her.

A dull pounding on the garret door woke me the next morning. The sparse light filtering in through the window told me that it was early, far too early for Esme or Carlisle to be up on their own. That thought jarred me to full awareness. Maybe there was something wrong with Rosalie, maybe the hospital called…

I scrambled out of bed as gently as possible, trying not to wake Bella. She was so exhausted that she barely stirred, just rolling from her side to her stomach and stretching her long pale arm out across my pillow. I fished my pants and my undershirt off the floor by the foot of the bed where I'd tossed them last night and I was still fastening my pants as I cracked the door open. I jumped back when I was met by Jasper's scowling, furious face.

"Jasper? What's wrong?"

He cast a quick glance over my shoulder at Bella's sleeping form in the bed before nodding his head to the landing behind him, indicating that I should step outside. I followed him out onto the dim dusty stairs. Emmett was there, too, leaning on the railing, looking grim. The whole thing made my stomach drop with foreboding. I shut the door as softly as possible behind me.

"What the bloody hell is going on?"

"I stayed at Alice's last night and when I got home this morning, somebody had broken into my apartment. Trashed the place," Jasper was speaking in a low hiss.

"What? Did they take anything?"

"They tossed my files. I can't tell what might be missing, but I have an idea."

"What do you mean?" I muttered, feeling suddenly cold all over.

"The room was trashed, but this was lying square in the middle of the floor. No way for me to miss it."

Jasper passed me a photo. It was of Alice, sunglasses on, scarf wrapped over her hair, leaving an office building. It was taken at a little distance and Alice seemed unaware that she was being photographed.

"That's the Vogue offices where Alice works," Jasper growled.

"Bloody hell," I muttered, dragging my hands through my hair in frustration.

Emmett straightened up and cleared his throat. "I have a doorman, so nobody made it into my place but there was a…er, message left there last night."

"What did it say?"

"It said 'Sorry to have missed you, Mr. McCarty.' And it was signed Messrs Santine and Saroute. Those are the two guys you beat up in the alley."

I stared at Emmett for a moment. "They came by your place??"

"I don't know if it was them or somebody trying to let me know that they knew I was asking about them yesterday. Either way it's bad news."

"We're being warned," Jasper said. "That asshole is threatening us."

"Goddamn," I hissed, more to myself than to them. I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose, trying to process all this new information.

"Nothing out of the ordinary has happened here?" Emmett asked.

"Well, it's Esme's. Everything's out of the ordinary. But no, nothing like that."

"Maybe they hit me and Emmett because we were poking around the hospital asking questions. Or maybe they're after all of us, which means your time is coming," Jasper looked steely and absolutely lethal in the dim light of the landing.

"When he figures out Rose is staying here…." I couldn't even finish the thought.

"Yeah, we've already thought about that," Jasper said. "We stopped off downstairs and had a talk with Esme and Carlisle."

"We need to circle the wagons," Emmett said darkly, "Esme's asked me to move in here for the time being. To help keep an eye on things. I'll bring my stuff over this afternoon."

I breathed a sigh of relief at the idea of another person, especially one as physically imposing as Emmett, staying at the house with us. "Thank you. But what about Alice? Bella's staying here now to be close to Rose. She's by herself at her place."

"She's moving in with me," Jasper said. Then he chuckled without humor. "Of course, she doesn't know that yet and I have no idea where we'll put all her damned clothes but we'll figure that out, I suppose."

"Thank you both. I'm sorry you've been dragged into this mess."

Emmett shrugged lightly. "Don't worry about it. I'm the one who decked the guy, and Jasper held him down for me. I'm only sorry I didn't just finish the bastard while I had the chance."

"Yeah, me too. Still, we have to put a stop to this, somehow."

Jasper and Emmett said nothing, they just nodded in grim agreement.

"You'd better watch your back and stay close to Bella." Jasper said lowly.

I nodded tightly. It made me sick to think about someone coming after Bella the way they'd come after Jasper and Emmett. "She won't leave my side," I muttered.

"I gotta go," Jasper said. "See you at the hospital later."

I gave them each a nod as they retreated down the stairs. I poked my head back into the garret, but Bella was still sleeping soundly. She needed all the rest she could get, so I slipped down the stairs to the kitchen as well. Jasper and Emmett were gone by the time I got there and there was no sign of Esme and Carlisle. The phone on the wall seemed to taunt me. It was the perfect time, I knew it. If I waited, there would be people around and I'd lose my nerve.

I took a deep breath and before I could talk myself back out of what I planned to do, I picked up the phone and dialed the operator.

"Overseas," I said, when she came on the line. "London, please."

I spit out the number from memory, amazed that after five years of not using it it was still there in my brain. There was a pause as the call was placed and the silence on the line seemed deafening. Then the phone began to ring. I nearly hung up in terror. I hadn't planned this, I had no bloody idea what to say. My breathing was getting shallow and I had just begun to pull the receiver away from my ear to hang up when I heard her voice.

"Good morning, Cullen residence."

I couldn't speak. Her voice did something to me, made my chest tighten up in some unfamiliar and completely unexpected way. My whole childhood seemed to flash in front of my eyes, my mother sitting next to me on the piano bench, teaching me scales; my mother trying to flatten my hair down on the first day of school; my mother watching me chase Kate around the backyard, arms crossed firmly over her chest; my mother weeping and clinging to my arm the last time I saw her, when I was walking out the door, leaving for Paris.

"Hello?" she prompted.

"Hello, Mum?" I finally spit out, my voice raspy.

There was what felt like an endless pause on the other end of the line. "Ed-Edward? Is that you?"

"It's me, Mum."

"Oh, Edward!" And then she was weeping uncontrollably on the line. I didn't know what to say, so I just waited. And felt like an utter shit. How could I not call my mother for five years?

"How are you, Mum?" I finally managed.

"Edward! Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine. Are you well, Mother?"

"I'm fine, Edward. Are you here in London? Have you come home?"

My chest twisted at the desperate hope in her voice, at her confident use of the word "home" when she said London.

"No, no, I'm still in Paris."

There was a silent pause. "Of course," her voice was colder, distant. "With them."

I sighed and closed my eyes, pinching the bridge of my nose with my free hand. "Carlisle and Esme. Yes."

She sighed and it was heavy with unspoken words. "You belong with your family, Edward. Here in London," she finally said softly.

"They're my family," I said without thinking. Then I realized what I said, how it sounded, and quickly amended, "As well. They're my family as well."

"And what about us? What about your home here?"

"Mother," I said slowly, not sure how this had managed to go so badly so quickly, "Paris is my home. It has been for a long time."

I could hear her start to cry again and I stifled a groan.

"I just don't understand how you could turn your back on your home and your family. Just the same way Carlisle did..." she trailed off in a choked sob and I heard a rustling on the other end.

"Mother? Mum, are you there?"

"Edward?"

I closed my eyes tight. Here it was, finally.

"Hello, Father."

"Why is your mother crying? What's wrong? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Dad. She just wants me to come home."

My father cleared his throat uncomfortably and sniffed. "Yes, well…er….How are you? How are things there? How is Carlisle?"

"I'm good. He's good. Listen, Dad, I've phoned for a reason," I stopped myself and swallowed hard, hating how difficult this was. "That is, I called to say hello, but there's also something…"

"Do you need money?"

"What? No! Nothing like that!"

"What is it then?"

I suppressed a growl. Why on earth did I think this would be any different after five years? This was pointless. I wanted to hang up, but I'd started now so I had to finish.

"There's a bit of trouble here."

"You're in trouble?"

"No, not me. A friend. Well, a friend of a friend. This girl."

"You've met a girl, then?"

"No. Well, yes, I have, but she's not the one in trouble. It's her friend."

There was a long pause on the other end of the line and I was just about to ask if we'd been disconnected when he spoke again.

"What sort of trouble is she in?"

"There's this man, Royce King. She got herself mixed up with him and he's…he treated her very badly. She's in hospital right now. He hurt her. He's a bastard, and dangerous. He needs to be stopped." I paused but my father didn't say anything so I pressed on, just desperate to get this out and over with. "He's mixed up in some underhanded stuff, but nothing we can link him to directly here in France. Plus he's got loads of money and that seems to make him untouchable here. The thing is, he's English, a Londoner. I was wondering…well, I wanted to ask if, perhaps, you'd ask around a bit about him there. To see if anyone there knows something concrete about him."

I held my breath and twisted the phone cord around my thumb while I listened to the awkward silence filling up the line.

"What did you say his name was?"

"Royce King."

"I see. I don't know that I can help you, but I'll see what I can do."

I exhaled heavily. "Thanks, Dad. I'd appreciate it and I know that Bella…"

"Bella?"

I wanted to kick myself. I hadn't meant to mention her to them at all. The more they knew about her the more room they had to criticize, to disapprove. I couldn't stand the idea of that. I'd been down this road before with Kate, and I wasn't about to go down it again with Bella.

"She's…my girlfriend," I finally said, despairing that he'd just let it go at that.

"Bella. Is she Italian?"

"No, American, actually."

"Hm. American. What's she doing in Paris?"

I rolled my eyes at his pathetic digging for information. "Looking for her friend. The one who's been hurt."

"What are her plans now that she's found her? Is she staying or—"

I'd had more than enough. I didn't want to stay on the line to listen to him start to pick her apart, to start digging into her upbringing, her plans for the future, because I knew that no matter what I said, they'd disapprove of her. And since I already thought she was perfect, I really didn't care to hear them tell me all the ways in which they felt she was not. And if they knew I was planning on following her back to America.... I could scarcely imagine my mother's reaction to that. She'd always had this desperate need to keep her family close at hand, and the war had only made that worse. America...to her that would be as if I'd died.

"Look, Dad," I said, the exasperation clear in my voice, "I don't know what our plans are right now. We've been focused on Rosalie and Royce and that's still the priority. What we do next, where we go, I just don't know. But it's between Bella and me. I didn't call to ask for your approval of her. I thought with your connections that you might be able to help us out, but if you're not interested…"

"Edward." His voice was low and full of warning.

"It's alright, Dad. Don't worry about it. Give Mum my love."

I hung up. Then I kicked the wall.

Stupid idea. Why did I expect anything different? Five years and it's just the same as when I left. That was a pointless waste of time. All I did was make my mother cry and make myself angry all over again when I'd finally started to be okay with everything.

"Edward?"

I spun around at the sound of Bella's voice. She was standing at the foot of the garret stairs, wrapped in a silk robe she'd borrowed from Esme the night before. Her hair was dark and wild around her shoulders, her eyes a bit brighter now that she'd had a decent night's sleep.

"Who were you talking to?"

I held my arms out to her, beckoning her. She came forward unhesitatingly and wrapped her arms around my waist, burying her face in my chest. I rested my cheek on her head, inhaling, smelling the faint floral scent of her hair. I loved how well she fit there, just the right height to tuck her head under my chin. We were like puzzle pieces made to slot together. Perfect. She's perfect.

"No one. I wasn't talking to anyone, love."

A/N: So if you're enjoying French Esme in this story, I've started posting a little side-shot story about her experiences in World War 2 called La Résistance. The first chapter is up here on FF. I expect it to be around seven chapters long and it's mostly written already. So give it a read and tell me what you think!

http://www(dot)fanfiction(dot)net/s/5723397/1/La_Resistance

Or you can find it on my profile.

Like GwaRU I've set up a Live Journal page with photos, music and more.

http://resistance-esme(dot)livejournal(dot)com/