First off, I want to thank each and every single one of you for your kind words and thoughts over the past few weeks and I'm sorry that I haven't answered.
Second, yes, I deleted the A/N to put this chapter up :-)
It's been difficult trying to find my groove again, but I feel so guilty for leaving you all hanging. If you find any glaring mistakes, be a dear and point them out so I can fix them.
So...I hope this doesn't suck as much as I think it does.
Yeah, still don't own.
Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. What the hell was I thinking? I should have known that I wasn't going to get out that easily.
"Well, aren't you going to say something?" his tone is calm as the lake I'd spent so much time watching but his eyes are a tempest of emotion.
"You hid in the back of my truck under the bed cover? What in the nine hells would ever possess you to do something like that?" I ask finally, still perplexed at the thought of these two ogres hiding in the bed of my truck for the last forty five minutes. Then again, my mind has been on the fritz ever since I first saw two sets of eyes glaring at me in the rear view mirror a half an hour ago.
Okay, maybe the second question wasn't the best one to ask because it finally becomes to much for him to handle. "Because we were worried about you! Dammit Bella, I thought I was supposed to be the impulsive one! Are you trying to get yourself killed? Because that's what it fucking looks like!" Emmett's seethes, barely glancing at Seth when he appears with three cups of coffee from the gas station I'd pulled into when my older brother had silently demanded I stop.
"You called me Bella," I mutter, taken aback at his rare use of my given name in lieu of one of the endless nicknames he's stockpiled over the years.
"What the hell did you expect? For me to be all sunshine and rainbows over my sister suddenly turning into an idiot and running off to duke it out with two psychos?" I jump a foot in the air as one of his hands slams into the side of my truck, causing the metal to collapse in on itself.
"Em, I'm sorry that I upset you, but I have to do this. I won't let those sickos hurt anyone else. They have that girl and she doesn't stand a chance of surviving if she isn't found soon." I risk peering over to my younger sibling, looking for a shred of support, but it is in vain. Never in my life had I ever seen Seth this angry over anything. "Dammit, it's not just about me and Gavin now...she's someone's daughter too."
"We get that Bells, honestly we do, but try to look at it from our point of view. We almost lost you once," Seth chimes in, his voice saturated with his anger and hurt, "What do you think it would do to this family if we lost you forever?And did you ever stop long enough to consider what we would have to tell Gavin if you didn't come home?"
"Why did you guys hide in my truck anyways?" I inquire, making no attempt to hide the fact that I'm ignoring his questions. Right now I'll do almost anything to avoid the growing chasm of pain in my chest.
"Jasper came downstairs freaking out and said something about hurting your arm and you sneaking off," Em interjects with a huff before herding me into the cab, where I am squished between my brothers hulking forms, "When I pushed, he admitted that he'd grabbed your arm too hard and that he scared you. We didn't think it it was a good idea for you to take off on your own even if it was just to think, so we hid in the back so we would be close if you needed us. I sure as hell didn't expect you to declare that you going on a suicide mission! I might beat him to a pulp for leaving that part out-"
"I was scared, but it was only for a second, I swear. His grip is almost as strong as yours, by the way," I quickly defend, not wanting Jasper to become another statistic because of his fear of losing me and his bad reaction as a result, "It frightened me for a moment, but then I remembered that Jasper, of all people, would never consciously do anything to hurt me. He ran out before I had a chance to tell him that though and I couldn't waste my chance to get away."
When Em directs the vehicle back onto the pavement, I cannot hide the shock that rolls over my features when the GPS on the dash indicates that we're moving towards my original destination instead of back the way we came. We aren't going home. "Where are we going?"
"Don't look so surprised baby girl. I can't believe I'm actually going to admit this but..." he grumbles something under his breath while expertly integrating us into the traffic flow heading north westerly, "You were right about one thing in all of your madness. We cannot let them destroy one more life, not if we can help it. You went about it in the worst freaking way of course, but it doesn't change the fact that Bree Tanner needs our help and you are probably the best on to do that."
I don't answer and a tense silence falls over the cab while the miles tick by. Fifteen minutes later, a muffled groan to my right jolts me out of my planning of how to find Bree before James or Victoria, I cannot stomach calling her Renee anymore, have a chance to kill her...or worse.
Seth nods to the road behind us when I quirk an eyebrow at him. "Um yeah, I think we're about to have company because that looks an awful lot like Edward's crazy ass bike and it's catching up fast."
"Shit. It's not just Edward," I surmise as two more motorcycles come into my line of sight.
"Like Jake would let his princess run off on his own," Emmett smiles wryly, "Jazz is probably one of them too, so you might as well get ready to get bawled out something fierce little sis."
"Don't remind me brother bear," I groan as we pull off the road for a second time.
The situation goes from bad to worse when an unfamiliar blue car rolls onto the shoulder, it's tires barely having time to stop their final revolution before my sister leaps out of the car and comes barreling towards us. I'm not going to have time to save Bree...because Leah is going to murder me on the side of the highway...in the pouring rain.
"Bella Swan, I'm going to kick your ass so hard that you're not going to taste anything but the soles of my boots for a fucking year!" she shrieks, neatly dodging the parking motorcycles as she sprints across the edge of the blacktop.
No one bothers to catch the banshee as she passes by, half of them ignorant to the extent of my sister's temper, the others too afraid to get caught inside of her striking range. In a heartbeat, a wet crack echoes round us and the side of my face is set alight with a stinging sensation that brings tears to my eyes. My brain barely registers that Leah has just effectively bitch slapped me or the gasps that erupt around us when her arms form a protective cage around my body and she starts sobbing loudly in my ear.
"Don't ever disappear on me like that ever again," she commands, her voice huskier than normal, "You scared me-so bad...I love you baby B..."
"I love you too Lee-Lee."
I don't know how long she holds me, nor when Emmett and Seth enclose us in their arms while yet another one of our crazy friends thinks enough to cover our group hug with an umbrella. My next actively conscious thought doesn't occur until I am carefully extracted from my siblings embrace and then immediately drawn into the trembling arms of my beloved.
"Bella, my Bella," my name is a reverent chant bubbling out of Jasper as he buries his face in my hair and crushes me to his chest, "I'm so sorry that I scared you-that I ran away after promising that I would never leave you—that you felt that you couldn't wait for-"
"Jasper, please stop apologizing," I mournfully plead because his words, his tone, and his tears are breaking my heart to pieces, "You didn't mean it and I overreacted, it's going to take a whole lot more than that to make me stop loving you."
"Sugar, you are too good to me," he responds in that panty dropping Southern accent, his honeyed lips feathering kisses over my hair and down my face until they make contact with my own.
"Hey, I don't mean to break up the roadside lovefest kids, hilarious as it is, but if we're going to get in the shit and play superheroes, we'd better commence with the hauling ass before the parental units catch up," Jake interrupts with a hoarse chuckle as he exchanges a knuckle-bump with Emmett.
"I'll take the bike Jazzman, you ride with Belly," Emmett offers after everyone gives me a hug and, in some cases, a stern warning, then starts plodding over to the machine while my ever attentive soul mate begins guiding me back to my truck.
Seth opts to ride with Sam and Leah, giving Jasper and I the privacy we so desperately need right now. As we meticulously follow the directions on the GPS, my boyfriend tires of simply holding my hand and I learn of his unhappiness when suddenly he wraps one arm around me and drags me across the seat until I am safely tucked into his side.
"Alice, Rose, Esme, and Sue have Gavin," he qualifies conversationally as if we weren't in the process of hunting down two lunatics holding a young girl hostage, "A few people Esme works with at the hospital have kids about his age and they set up a play date at the house to keep him, and themselves, occupied while Charlie, Billy, and Carlisle help the police with the search."
"What do they think we're all doing out of the house then?" I can't help but ask, knowing that my parents would never willing let us out of their sight while James and Renee are on the loose.
"Me, Jake, and Eddie convinced them that it might be best to get you out of the house for the day, to try and get your mind off of things," he explains after taking a drag from his cigarette and blowing the smoke out towards the open window, "With their ability to track the cars and our phones, it won't be long before they realized that we got one over on them, but hopefully we'll be able to find something helpful by then. If our coordinates don't tip them off to our intentions right away, the empty gun safe might."
"You guys brought guns with you?" my tone is incredulous but it's out before I can control myself.
He shrugs a shoulder, "James and," his eyes drift to my face for a moment before he continues, "Victoria are dangerous in the worst kind of ways darlin', and sadly you know that better than most. There was zero chance in hell that any of us were coming after you empty handed on the off chance that you'd been taken again. It's not like the others, especially me, Seth, Leah, or Emmett, intended on those bastards living very much longer when we finally found them anyways."
Not for the first time, my head and heart are overwhelmed over the lengths that my family will go to in order to protect one another. James and...Victoria just happen to be the threat this time. I'm positive that if Rosalie hadn't killed Royce in self defense when she did, he would have had his miserable existence ended at the hands of one of the others...possibly mine even.
"Thank you," is all I can manage because everything else that is swirling around my head doesn't even come close to having the substance needed to convey what I'm feeling right now.
He presses another kiss into my still damp hair before turning off onto a gravel road that is going to lead us to our first destination to search for Bree and her captors. I watch the cluster of vehicles that follow behind and fight the tears that threaten to come when I can't help but wonder if we're all going to make it out of this alive.
I know it wasn't action packed or a big fight, which I know some of you were hoping for, but I hope it's enough to tide you over until I can find the right time, place, and head space to write the imminent confrontation. Hugs and love to you all.