~~Summer Dance of Passion~~
~~Bella~~
~(Three Days Later)~
"Are you ready to be lifted?"
I nodded at the nurse, finally reaching the end of my recovery in hospital – but the ability to stand up completely on my own was something out of my reach because of the shooting pain still inhabited in my leg, now bullet-free. My doctor informed me that it will be a while before the pain goes away but to prevent any stress on my leg...I still needed to be assisted in a small way to get around because of the weight risk.
Getting up to standing, my father took my arm from the nurse and wrapped his other arm around my shoulders holding me to his chest and taking any weight off of both my feet.
"Thanks, dad but really I'm okay" I attempted to assure him – In that moment Emmett's arms are more of a preference to me because my father was a bit too hard if I was going to be hobbling on one leg slightly having a wooden shoulder against my left shoulder was going to make a bruise. Emmett was strong but he had some fat around his shoulders to make him broad on the shape of his upper body and at least he had some bounce.
"Hey Bell-"
I stiffened as my dad and I with my mother in close pursuit behind us came to a halt and looked on Rosalie and Jasper in the hallway – they had both clearly come to see me and then, gratefulness and appreciation came over me but the fact that the two of them had come at the most hideous timing in the world made me feel nauseous.
Rosalie and Jasper had the ability to make my heart soar no matter how many times they spent with me or in my brother's company the indication that I was in love with both of them and hiding the amount of love I had in my heart for the pair of them (of course both loves and places are different) from my parents is even harder. The struggle to keep my parents in the loop about my honesty and to keep drilling it into them that this is what I wanted in my life – to have both cousins in it still doesn't seem to be within their reach.
Dad cleared his throat and in that moment motionless, I wanted to see what Emmett's face looked like...Did he feel the same as me? Kind of sick and scared?
"Can you please move out of the way?"
Oh, no...Dad's gruff voice the forced voice that steered others away from the real emotions that he was feeling – how can he be upset with them being here...They had both recovered and the four of us were back together again.
"We can take her Mr Swan-" Rosalie offered reaching out for me – her hands so inviting and caring but dad refused to release his hold.
"That won't be necessary...My children have been through enough...Thank you for stopping by" could he be any more rude? I expect this kind of behaviour from my mother but never from my father...He always gave off the image that he was the compromising one.
Rose's face dropped and my heart sank along with it, my Jasper was right to stay quiet next to her because my dad was probably more angry at him than he was with Rose – I don't quite know how that makes sense but my dad was changing this summer.
"Dad...Please...I'd like to" I interrupted then, feeling Emmett behind me locking his eyes with his love. Mum was strangely silent...Got anymore things to say, mum...Bring it on!
"Let's concentrate on getting you back to the hotel, Isabella...We will discuss everything there-"
"Look, Mr Swan-"
Oh Jasper please don't speak...I love you and appreciate what you are doing but...Oh good God, what now?
"You have no right to address me...Some time when Isabella is rested then we can talk about how you think it is right to move onto an innocent girl like her and use her to get some more moeny on the side. I deal with your type every day Mr Hale and never will anything change my opinion"
Jasper was silenced and his face dropped...I have never hated my father so much as right now, he was too strong and all I wanted to do was release myself from him and kiss Jasper so passionately that we can hypothetically be able to set the hospital on fire. This was the last straw...They say to me, both my mother and father that they will try and accept both Rosalie and Jasper for mine and Emmett's sakes and in front of them they act as if they are not even there...Frozen and cold as ice in their exterior and personalities. It made me sick!
"Emmett?" I called my brother and my dad turned his head, the feel of his glare burning into the side of my face, my brother circled around and locked his eyes with mine directly in front of me.
"Yes?" he whispered.
"Could you take me to Jasper?" I whispered low enough for my dad never to understand what I was saying...My brother nodded and proceeded to take my arm that my dad had his hand rested around.
"What are you doing, Emmett?" dad shot at my brother.
"Bella is getting a bruise on her shoulder from your chest...She asked me if I would take her, unless that is against the rules as well!"
The amount of confidence that my brother had of standing his ground now never ceased to amaze me even under the glaring eye and increased breathing of my father he never once buckled down and stooped like an inferior...He was amazing, my brother is officially amazing!
With a huff and a growl, my father released his hold on me, taking my mum's hand and letting Emmett take me.
With one small nod, Emmett lifted me up from the floor into a fireman's carry and with the speed of light – with a roar of the word run, he took Rose hand in his free one and Jasper ran behind us...I was bouncing up and down from my brother sprinting underneath me but it didn't matter.
"HEY YOU TWO GET BACK HERE, NOW!"
My father roared, possibly waking up the whole hospital but my brother continued to run out of the entrance doors and into the car park.
"Where are we going?" Emmett shouted
"My car" Jasper answered...My brother sprinted to the left...I kept my eyes closed focusing away from the bounciness of my body making me slightly nauseous. My body was brought down to the ground but the feeling of my feet on the hard floor ended up being short-lived as I was laid on the back seat my feet up against the door of my own side, Rosalie climbing in on the other side and resting my head on her lap as she stroked my face and hair gently taking away the beating of my heart in what us Swans had just done and how much trouble we were going to face when we got back to the hotel.
"Don't go back to the hotel...Let's go to our lake!"
"Em...What about my meds?" I croaked out suddenly remembering that I needed to take my painkillers three times a day and the only time I had ever seen them was in my dad's hand.
"Dad can't really call himself a policeman when we leaves your tablets in his back pocket...Forgetting that he taught his son to successfully manage to remove any weapons from someone's back pocket"
"Dad never taught you that!"
"Okay...I learnt it off some buds..But it came in handy – I have them in my own pocket, Bella"
Officially...I love my brother!
"Are you okay?" I whispered to Rose looking up at her looking down onto me.
"Never mind me, how are you?"
"I'm sorry about the way my father treated you"
"Oh please...He speaks the truth, the only reason you and Em have gotten into this drama is because of us although...We cannot be blamed for this little car ride!" she joked with a wide smile.
"No...I contracted this plan with my ever so brilliant elder brother there, although...I asked him if he would take me to Jasper – not take me into the car park and take me on a fast and furious ride!"
"Would you rather be with dad or us?"
"I don't need to answer that"
"The lake..Let's go there, your parents are probably going to go back to the hotel, anyway...Unless they have called the police, already" Rose suggested keeping her hands lovingly around my face, soothing me. This gesture was similar to the times my Aunt came down to see the family in childhood and always she'd insist that I lay down on her lap. My aunt had so much love for my hair and never stopped playing with it.
"Mum and dad wouldn't do that because I am here with her...All summer they have been asking me and asking me to look after my little sister and that is exactly what I am doing"
"Fine, Emmett it seems I am not going to win with you" Rose replied with a smile...Jasper was being quiet but it ocured to me that everything he may need to say can be said when we are alone at the lake – all of us in the car had gone through injuries that had torn us apart but being back with Rosalie and Jasper never felt like we had ever been apart in the first place.
"So...I kind of feel like a rebel!"
"You have been a very bad boy, Emmett Swan" Rose cooed in baby-talk...I fought back a giggle but ignored the gut feeling that they may start making out as soon as all of us are out of the car – then again, I was no longer a third wheel and my kissing with Jasper was very much overdue!
The car speed decreased and came to a stop, I didn't want to lift my head because I had been so comfortable in Rose's lap fighting to keep my eyes open and instead failing, remaining to keep them closed and let my parents fall away. Slowly, Rose lifted my torso up and I was put beautifully face to face with Jasper as he smiled...Kissed my nose and wrapped his arms around me...Gently pulling me out of the car and once in the open air lifting me effortlessly into his arms, his hands securing my legs around his waist.
"Thank God for you" I whispered into his ear, my head secured to his shoulder...The surroundings not creating any interest for my eyes because of course being back in Jasper's arms was heaven enough without finding my home with greenery and landscapes.
I had always felt connected to nature...Only rural landscapes like woods and abandoned lakes surrounded by beautiful trees accompanying a cool breeze in the summer season. Why did I suddenly feel after everything that had happened to me this morning that this summer is going to slip away sometime soon...That this beauty being with the people I care more about on the planet, more than my parents right now in all honesty?
Jasper smelt divine, a slight musky smell like 'lynx' but at the same time mixed with a sea coral type smell that customers can find in a foot scrub. He wasn't feminine and it is unclear about whether he had any knowledge about how good he really smelt but amazingly, that smell was the purpose for my breathing and talking each day. How can my parents not understand the connection that Jasper and I have...The pull that brings us together even when we spend some time apart – there is a way back to each other?
Have they ever really experienced...this...Being so in-tune and at-one with someone that life can never be lived without them...Going back home made me cringe – never was my old room going to be the security haven it once had been, or my house my comfort?
Jasper moved my legs away from his waist – my eyes opening on the sudden movement and slowly he lowered me onto the familiar rock..My legs out straight but my face of direction ahead onto the lake...He scooted next to me and wrapped his arm around me...My head sinking into his chest and the birdsong clouding our little bubble.
"Wow...I must say you Swans are little rebels inside aren't you?" Rose remarked teasingly from the rock next to us – her and Emmett were wrapped around each other in a similar way to Jazz and I.
"Do you not like rebels?" Emmett answered, intentionally making his voice rise to make it seem like he was hurt.
"I love you...A rebel but Bella...Really?"
"Rose...Do you have any idea about how far someone will go for the person they love the most in the world...Here I am on a rock with a useless leg and yet, I cannot find a downside to being here?"
"She speaks the truth...Look, Emmett and Bella...Jasper and I were talking and we have decided that...With Bella's injury a factor in the decision making...That you two might perform with us in the final show..."
"What?" Emmett cut her off, suddenly.
"Bella is injured and...Even though we aren't instructors per-say we can still have an input in what goes into the final show and...Who goes into it"
"Rose...I hate to say this but, after what happened this morning...Our parents staying here is a much limited possibility than it ever has been-"
Emmett's statement did not send any surprises my way...If anything the feeling at the back of my mind made me agree with him and if he hated it so much then...I was also with him in the feelings department. Rose's and Jasper's silence was torturous and dreary...The truth washing over us like a typhoon – even if this worst fear did become a reality – what would any of us do?
"Bella?"
Rose's voice was alarming, with only one word it sounded like she was almost choking...The tone of her question send the tears up through to my eyelids as my boyfriend was motionless and silent above me, his breath had started to pick up underneath where my head lay.
"I'm sorry, Rose" that's all I could say, how lame was I? Emmett and I had parents that were never going to accept the people we love and...Of course the option for us both is to stay but how can we when we would have no financial security and also no job...We'd work here...Really?
"Rose, let's go for a swim" Jasper suggested as he grabbed my shoulders and sat me upright, I could move my upper body perfectly it was only my leg causing the issues in my balance but I didn't have the heart to say anything to the people who were looking after me.
Jasper had brushed this all off...I am guessing to comfort Rose in her upset or avoiding me...I wanted to be angry at him but I know deep down that he is mad at my parents and there is nothing that I could say then and there to stop him...Instead, accepting that he and Rose needed some time to be together.
I sniffed the moment that Jazz and Rose were in the water, Emmett had taken Jasper's place and I leant into him the left side of my body against his.
"Bell...I hate this!"
The image of Rosalie and Jasper talking – their bodies close together..Rose's tears falling down her cheeks from the truth broke my heart.
"So do I...How am I going to live without him...I'd cry for him but like our parents are ever going to allow us to stay here. Em, I find the one thing in my life that gives me meaning...The one thing that I believe has always been missing from the shape and even then nothing is set in stone!"
"They need to know the truth-"
Emmett stopped his eyes transfixed on Rose...He was hurting, I was hurting and they were hurting...How can the truth always be so painful?
"Emmett...Go to her" I said making him sigh above me.
"Are you going to be okay?"
"Yes...Not fully but...Just go!" I said taking my head off his chest and letting him go, watching him remove his shoes and walk into the water...Jasper and Rose broke apart their conversation with Emmett inaudible before Jasper walked away from them and up to me.
Smiling sadly at him, he knelt down in front of the rock rubbing his hands along my calf muscles. "I'm sorry...I cannot have you leave me, Bella!"
"Jasper...I wish that were possible but my father once he makes a decision...There's no chance that he can change it-"
"I'll make him see that I am worthy of you and them, Bella...No matter how long it takes...I'll fight"
"Jazz...I have fought and fought and argued with my parents but they are consistently letting me down and it's not easy on me to believe one thing they say and then have them change their minds. I want to be with you for the rest of my living days but..How can I when I am not by law, old enough to live independently?"
"This is the medication talking...Do you want to be with me?"
"Why would you ask me something like that?"
"Do you?"
"Of course I do...I do not want anything more!"
"Then...Fight for us, a little longer...If your parents insist on going home then...Refuse"
"Jazz...I have no money, no job yet and not the right-"
Jasper took me by surprise taking my face forcefully and gripping it in his hands and crashed his lips to mine, the feelings of desire and want surging through me just as fast..I sighed against his mouth as he dipped his tongue into my mouth the devouring and the caressing setting my soul alight. Instead of wrapping my hands in his hair which was my usual response...I sprawled my fingers out on his neck and brought him closer to me, ignoring the slight tinge of pain in my leg as I moved my upper body closer trying to lean and mould our chests together.
"Tell me you don't feel that?" he whispered moving his trail to my jaw line and neck.
"I can feel that"
"I will fight for you"
"My father will hurt you, and I will never be able to protect you when my leg hurts and I find it hard to even walk right yet"
"Protecting me...You're always protecting me, Bella when it is me who needs to protect you, now"
"Stop"
"No...Your father is going to have to deal with me and, I'm not afraid of him"
"I am afraid of what he will do to you"
"Bring it on...Almost losing you was enough pain to last me for the rest of my life...No physical violence can ever come that close"
"Oh Jesus...I don't want to see you hurt especially not at the hands of my own father...You don't know him like I do, Jazz...He may be law-abiding but he's on his holidays, I mean anything could happen"
"I'd never raise a finger to your dad...I respect him too much and your mother because if they hadn't of had their amazing daughter..I wouldn't be where I am, now"
"Bella?"
I looked up at the sound of my name to see Rosalie standing on the ground behind Jasper, dripping wet but a look of need radiating from her face...Almost as if she wanted to say something. Jasper kissed my hands in his and stepped away from us as Rosalie knelt down and took his place.
"How much of that conversation did you hear, Rose?" I beat her to the questioning in curiosity.
"Enough...Look, Bella...This is wrong and your parents are right, as part of our jobs...Jazz and I never should have become involved with you and Emmett because of the risk of being fired-"
"Rose-"
"But we haven't been fired...We aren't under the duties of instructors anymore..Do your parents know that?"
"Our parents wouldn't care about a detail so little, Em knows that and I know that"
"There's no way-"
"Unless my father decides to stay the whole summer then there is nothing we can do...Unless we stand our ground which we will, if worst comes to the worst"
"You cannot argue with your parents...It's not right"
"Neither is them losing faith in us and not having any belief about our feelings"
"Oh Bella...I don't want you to go"
Tears sparked up in Rose's eyes again and even though, I desired so much to give her a hug – in my current health it was going to hurt. Instead finding some other way to assure and comfort her hastily in my mind..I cupped her moist cheek in my hand and brought her face back up to mine.
"You are my sister...You always will be"
Choking on a sob, Rose knelt up onto her knees and wrapped her arms around me it didn't matter that she was wet and that my clothes were going to sink through to my underwear...Rosalie Adams was now and forever my sister and it hurt to wonder if we may ever see her again, if Emmett will ever see her again because she has been so very good for him, the best woman that he has ever conquered and been with. Four weeks wasn't a long time but he had changed more in that amount of time than he ever would have done back at home for a number of years. I held her tightly keeping my own emotions at bay because deep down, there was a small part of me holding on to the fact that we may never have to leave each other and that after two weeks we can say goodbye properly and at the right time rather than early.
I didn't know what I was going to do...If my dad wanted a fight, then he was going to get one.
*(Evening)*
After a gut-wrenching silent car ride home, Emmett was carrying me back to the suite at the hotel...My meds had started to make me feel drowsy not so much so that I needed to go to sleep but only enhancing the heaviness in my eyelids and the weight of my body.
The light at the front door of the suite turned on and moments later, the door...My father stood strong in the doorway with his hands on his hips. The gravel leading up to the suite we stayed in being the biggest problem because you can hear it at any time and anywhere in the house and of course, my parents did inhabit 'eagle-ness' in their hearing if that is the best analogy to use and now, Emmett and I were to face the wrath in front of us.
"Dad" Emmett acknowledged him as we got closer and closer to him.
"Where the hell have you two been?"
"Out, dad"
"Oh yes..With them!"
"Dad...Not now...Bella is feeling drowsy and we need to get her to bed"
"This will not wait until the morning, this kind of incident and your behaviour in particular, Emmett Swan is not something that can be brushed under the carpet"
"Fine then take it out on me, but let me get Bella to bed first"
"No" I added sternly, there was no way that I was going to be spoken about without any knowledge of what was going to be said.
"I suppose the two of you think it is right to stay out with guests at this time of the night?"
"Mr Swan...We are no longer workers here-"
"You weren't workers when you decided to go against decorum and become involved with my children did you..Why haven't you been fired?"
"Dad...Stop"
"Stay out of this, Bella..You have done enough for these people it seems-"
"Emmett...Put me down and go and talk to mum...I will handle this" the one thing that also made me love my brother was the fact that he knew when to shut up and do as he was told and at the tone of my voice it was hard not to fill out the task.
"Rose, you go with him...My mother needs to be spoken to" I added...My dad stood in the way but Emmett had already gotten in the suite first hand in hand with Rose...The sound of the gravel behind me sent comfort through my soul as I knew Jasper was behind me...In more ways than one.
"Dad...This is getting ridiculous-"
"You want to talk about ridiculous, Bella-"
"Mr Swan...This has nothing to do with her...This is to do with me" Jasper added...Gentility and honesty in his tone of voice.
"Damn straight it has something to do with you...She's seventeen...Who in their right minds would go after a girl no where near their age and go against their duty...Back in my day-"
"Things have changed, sir...I am nineteen...Only two years older than Bella but this is not about moving on her or simply watching her from afar...I love her...I am in love with your daughter more so than I have ever been in my life and she loves me-"
"Bella does not know what love is...I have tried to accept this but none of it is right!"
"I also tried to keep my distance from Bella when I first saw her-"
"GREAT JOB you made of that-"
"Sometimes people can't help who they fall for and there is more to your daughter than even you realise-"
"So now he feels the need to talk to me about parenting...Tell me what do your parents think about this?"
"I don't speak to my parents"
"Now..Why doesn't that surprise me?"
"They kicked me out...Mr Swan, I have heard the way that Bella talks about you and if you would only listen to her then maybe you can believe that all of this is real-"
"Not on my watch, son...Bella...Your mother and I have packed your things and we will be leaving in the morning"
"What?"
"No more arguments, Bella!"
"Well then, you can go but I can't go with you. Dad, when are you going to get it in that old-fashioned head of yours that I may not want to go back home..That there is a part of me here with Jasper and there always will be and being away from him is going to tear me apart"
"Young children like you should never be involved with people like him, he should know better!"
"Is this really about him, dad...Or is this about me. Is it the fact that in this kind of situation there is no kissing the graze better or singing me to sleep...That I am no longer the girl who loves to read and forever stay in her room because she does not have many friends-"
"No-"
"I never had many friends...Do you know why, dad...Because they knew that you were the policeman and that there was a high amount of respect for you...Going after me was never going to an option because you are standing there forcing me to stop something that has been the meaning of my whole life..Something that has changed me and made me independent. I'm sorry I let you down and I am sorry that I disappointed you but listen to me, dad...You have hurt me, too!"
"How-"
"Listen to her!" Jasper added, the niceties going out of the window...Quite rightly so as I was also losing my rag with my father because of his defensive attitude. With a roar, he stepped down and charged towards Jasper...Grabbing my shoulders and pushing me out the way...My leg gave way and I fell to the floor the pain in my leg shooting through the veins under my skin.
"I have had just about enough of you" before I could even see it, a thudding noise and the image of my father's fist in the air flashed before me and Jazz landed with a thump on the floor...I couldn't get up even though I tried to...Scrambling on the ground, digging my nails into the soil...But it was useless.
"STAY AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER!" When my father started to kick my Jasper in the stomach...I called out the person who could most be trusted to help me out...Dad can hit me all he wants but I refused to sit there and watch him take it out on the man I love.
"EMMETT?" I called, the sounds coming from the impact of my father's foot on Jasper's skin and the wails of pain that came from his mouth were too much to bear. "EMMET?"
Like magic, my brother came out into the doorway, upon witnessing the sight he sprinted and grabbed my father in a chokehold dragging him away from my boyfriend now barely moving on the floor...Emmett slammed my father's back against the outside of the suite and held him up by the collar of his shirt.
"What is going on out here?" my mother's voice filled my ears but, managing to scramble...I dragged my body to Jasper, thankfully he was not that far away from me...His face was bruised again and his hand was hard on his stomach.
"Oh God...Oh Jazz...I'm so sorry" the tears from my eyes fell on his cheek.
"I've had worse" he choked out...Managing a small smile but I was not going to be put off by what had just happened...I brought my mouth down to his placing small kisses on his mouth.
"Charlie what are you doing?"
"You call yourself a policeman, dad!"
Rosalie had knelt beside me...Running her hands through Jasper's hair the pair of them were too good to hurt my father or have a complaint against what he had done and I knew why they had done it. The cousins were strong, just as strong as Emmett and I could be when push came to shove but, because they respected and loved Emmett and I...They couldn't row at my father and the image of them both in pain but not once opening their mouths was astonishingly flattering but heart breaking at the same time.
"I LOVE HIM!" I roared, my turn to yell "how can you ever expect me to be the person I want to be when you beat the man I love up. I love him, I love him, I am in love with him...I fell for him the moment I saw him and believe me, I will keep saying it until it registers. Go tomorrow, do whatever you want because that is what you have been doing all summer...But I am not going with you. Do you understand me...There are two weeks left and that is hard enough to deal with but, if there is any possibility of my going home then you will have to kill me, first!"
"Bella...Let's get you inside..-"
"ME..What about him...He is the one that has been unnecessarily beaten...How would your colleagues at work feel about that, dad huh...Do you reckon there will be the same amount of respect for you then?"
Mum grabbed my father forcing my brother to release him and took him inside, Emmett sighed and knelt down with us all...Jasper was awake but he looked so broken and the injustice and the unfairness of having unsupportive parents ate away at me every moment when he was silent.
"Come on, Jazz..Bella I can't go back in there-" nodding at my brother not needing to hear what else he was going to say...Emmett lifted Jasper up Rosalie stood and helped me up to standing allowing me to hold some of my weight on her.
"Bella?"
My mum stood where my dad had done at the beginning of this mess, almost an emotional look on her face.
"Go home...Tell dad that he no longer has a daughter...Perhaps you can be a mother to me for once in my life and talk to him. I am not leaving, mum...Fair enough if the only love of your life had been dad but Jasper is mine. I am not leaving him...Not now!"
With that final remark, Rose turned on the spot and I limped down the way we had come, following Emmett holding Jasper bridal-style...The night washing over us along with the silence.
My parents could go home – but I was not going to go with them.