Rating/Warning(s)/Note(s): T, Homeless Bella
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Prompt: Cloud


Marie had felt really bad when she had emerged from her room, freshly showered and in clean clothes, to see that I had almost finished cleaning the kitchen. When I pointed out that I had survived before she arrived, the look she gave me made me think she wondered how I had managed.

Tanya came out of her room not long after and the girls got back to work making the cake with what batter was left. I took that as my cue to leave them to it and get myself dry.

While in the shower I thought about this Charles Swan that seemed so important to Marie. Tanya seemed convinced he was her father, and I had a feeling she was right, but Marie had been so forceful in her denial of that relationship. By the time I was drying off I decided that either she was lying or telling the truth. If she was lying, then she was doing so either to protect herself or his memory. There was only one way to find out.

I went into the library after peeking to make sure the girls were completely absorbed in what they were doing still. Part of my work with the firm was checking people's backgrounds for any information that could be either helpful to our clients or detrimental to our opposition, and I was good at it. One of the partners frequently commented on how amazed he was that it seemed that I could tell what people were thinking and so knew just what, and how, they were hiding.

Starting with the usual, I did a google search of his name. Instantly I found the obituary that Marie took such loving care of. It was dated three years ago and read:

Charles Swan, son of Geoffrey and Helen Swan of Forks, Washington, and chief of police of the same town, died from complications of a gunshot wound. He is survived by his daughter, Isabella Marie Swan and was preceded in death by his parents, ex-wife and her husband, Renee and Phil Dwyer.

It continued on to say when and where funeral services would be held and thanked the police force of both Seattle and Forks for their help. Not much information, but my eyes zeroed in on the one piece that most likely confirmed the lie that Marie told. His daughter's middle name was Marie. It wasn't uncommon for people who were hiding to use their middle name instead of their given one, and since Marie was fairly common, she probably thought it would give her some anonymity. But where did the name Higginbotham come from?

Deciding to pursue that later I instead looked for more information on Charles. What I found shocked me.

An article in the paper, dated only a week prior to the obituary, detailed that the chief had been shot in what was assumed to be a drug deal gone bad. None of his deputies had any knowledge of him investigating any drug dealers, as it seemed that in the small town of Forks the populace was very good at rooting out any who tried to take up residence there. Also, the shooting had occurred in Seattle, when he was visiting his daughter, Bella in this article, at college. No one knew why he was in the middle of a drug deal, and testing of both the father and the daughter revealed that neither had any trace of any illegal substance in their body. It surmised he saw something happening and tried to intervene, since there are no jurisdictional boundaries in the state of Washington.

That gave me little, if no, information, so I did a search for an article covering his funeral. That was a bit more odd. It seems the service was held in the Lutheran church, presided over by a Reverend Weber, father to one of Bella's friends. Bella was described as distraught at the funeral, having greeted almost the entire town who had turned out as they entered the church. It even went on to say how she kept looking back over her shoulder at those who were gathered there. The strangest part was when she spoke, and it was quoted.

Bella Swan spoke of her father's killer, or in her opinion, killers, at his funeral yesterday. In her words, "My father's killer will one day be brought to justice, of this I am sure. As will those who orchestrated his death. I will not yield myself to them, nor will I go willingly if they come for me. My father stood for right, he stood for the good, and he died to make sure I would continue living. I will not allow you to make his sacrifice be in vain."

She only looked at one spot in the congregation as she said this, and when this reporter looked to see who held her attention I was unable to make out anyone seated there. Bella walked with Angela to the graveside, but disappeared when the twenty-one gun salute was fired. There was some concern, as a stray bullet from one of the rifles was found lodged in the pole next to the canopy she was standing under. She was not present to accept the flag, nor has she been seen since. Miss Weber accepted the flag in her name.

It was obvious to me that Bella, or Marie as she was now being called, thought one of the riflemen had shot at her instead of having his gun simply misfire, as was explained later in the article. There was only one other news article of interest that had any useful information, and that was simply to say that Bella had not been seen since the funeral, that her father's house had been burglarized, but that only a few things were missing.

My head was in a cloud of confusion. As to Marie being the same person as this Bella there was now no doubt, because the last article included a copy of her University of Washington identification picture. It was most definitely my Marie. She believed three years ago that there was more to her father's death than met the eye, and that stray bullet did seem highly suspect, even if it was easily explained in the paper. I had no doubt that to a girl who was feeling scared already it would just be proof that whoever had killed her father was after her next.

I didn't notice the shadow of someone standing next to the desk until Marie spoke. "Oh, Edward, no!" she exclaimed, looking at me in horror as she backed away. "No, no, no, no," she kept saying, and I was barely able to grab her arm before she got away from me.

"Bella, Bella!" I called to her, "I'm not going to hurt you!"

She tried to wrench her arm from my grasp. "Don't call me that, I'm Marie," she sobbed. Suddenly she stopped fighting and just went limp. "Edward, please don't research me. Please don't learn about me. If you keep this up, I'll leave." She looked up and fixed me with a firm, albeit watery, stare. "Don't you see I'm trying to protect you?" she cried.

"I want to help you," I said to her quietly, using my grasp on her arm to pull her closer. "I want to protect you. I'm finding I care about you. Please let me help you," I begged. I had never begged a woman, but found I wanted nothing more than to wrap her in my arms and take away her pain.

"No, Edward," she said adamantly. "You can't help me, not without putting yourself at risk." She stepped back calmly, gently removing my hand from her arm, making my heart wrench at her rejection. "Now you have to make a decision. Either stop looking into my past, or I leave. I'm good at disappearing, I can do it again. I can hide from you as well as I can from them." The steely look in her eyes told me she meant business.

I slumped, defeated. "I'll stop looking," I agreed.

She gave a small nod. "Tanya has convinced me to watch this movie with you. I'll bring some compromise, I'll interact more with you both. But, I mean what I say. If I see any evidence of you searching my past, then I'll leave."

"Vat is talk of leaving?" Tanya exclaimed as she rushed into the room. Taking one look at Marie she turned on me. "Why she cry? Why when you alone with her she always cry? What you say to make her sad and vant to leave?"

"It's all right, Tanya," Marie whispered to her. "I'm not going anywhere," she said the last as she fixed me with a look, complete with a raised eyebrow as if questioning if what she was saying was the truth.

"No," I answered both of them, "she's not going anywhere." Marie gave a nod and watched as I shut down my computer, waiting for me to go in front of her into the living room to watch the movie.


A little more information on what happened to Bella! She's a strong girl, even if she's incredibly afraid. Any theories?

Happy Friday everyone!