AWoC ch35

A/N: This chapter is NOT beta'd due to my oversight of never having sent it to my beta, um 2 months ago when I wrote it;( Please forgive all errors, I didn't want to make you wait for it. (Sorry Brig)

HUGE, HUGE apologies to GRNIDGIRL for my oversight in omitting her from the Team Loving last week. You KNOW that I couldn't function w/out you my sister;)

Much love to Eternally Edward's girl and Cutestkidsmom, as well….way back when I wrote this, they held my hands tightly and I appreciate their support.

Now….a few of you have reviewed stating that you stayed up all night reading/catching up on this and WOW that makes me all squishy happy inside…THANK YOU! I'm sorry I haven't had time to reply to reviews. BUT, I love, adore and cherish each and every one of them.

Now…let's FINALLY check in on Esme, shall we?

Charlie POV

Shortly after Riley left the house I got a call from the station that Esme Cullen had been admitted to the hospital for a possible suicide attempt.

I told the Deputy that I'd handle the call and head up the hospital. I went upstairs to get changed into my uniform and had a realization that I couldn't leave Bella alone in the house. Not with Riley on the loose.

I knew she wasn't at the bookstore this late at night and I had a very strong suspicion that she was with the Cullen boy. I was the Chief of Police after-all, not much got by me.

I had always trusted my daughter, she'd never stepped a toe out of line therefore my only worries about her was that she was alone so much of the time. I knew that she'd always been an old soul, more mature and responsible than children her age. But, I had a bad feeling about her being mixed up with both Biers and Cullen. Neither of those boys had a lick of goodness in them, so I wasn't sure what lead my Bells to get herself tangled up with them.

I wasn't sure what was going on with Bella and Edward but maybe I could find out from Dr. Cullen. Hopefully he had a clue about what his son was up too.

I finished getting dressed, left Bella a note in case she came home and headed to the hospital.

I pulled into the parking lot of the hospital, ready to get some answers and to find out exactly what had happened with Esme.

"Hi, Chief Swan, what brings you down here tonight," the nurse behind the desk asked as he entered the emergency room entrance.

"I'm here to talk to Dr. Cullen. I understand his wife was brought in," I stood before her and watched her expression falter. That couldn't be a good sign.

"Sure, let me go get him for you."

I walked over to the waiting area, surveyed the room then fixed myself a cup of coffee. It was hard and stale, but it would keep me alert.

"Chief Swan," I heard the nurse say as I turned to where she motioned me back through the doors.

"They are about to move her up to the ICU wing, Dr. Cullen asked me to bring you back here." We approached a closed door where she gave a soft knock.

Carlisle Cullen opened the door, thanked the nurse then nodded to me as he stepped back to allow me into the room.

"How is she?" I spoke low as we stood facing the bed where Esme Cullen was attached to more tubes and wires than I'd ever seen. She looked older than she had the last time I'd seen her, like she had lived a hundred years in her lifetime already. I couldn't imagine living through the pain that she'd endured the past few years, that's for sure.

Carlisle took a deep breath, exhaled and wiped his hand down his face. He too looked as though he'd aged well beyond his years. It made me realize that I probably didn't know the half of what I thought I knew about this family.

And, in a way, that scared the shit out of me.

"She's going to make it, we hope," his voice shaky, the words said wearily.

"What happened?" I said in my best, 'let's get down to business' voice. I knew this was a sensitive matter. But, I also had a job to do if foul play was involved.

He dropped his shoulders and stepped closer to the bed to take Esme's heavily bandaged hand in his.

Just then a tap on the door followed by Emmett Cullen's face as he pushed open the door, with Rosalie Hale standing behind him.

"We can't find him, Dad. I'm sorry," the oldest son of Dr. Cullen spoke, as they came completely into the room to stand on the other side of the hospital bed.

"Maybe Alice had some luck," Carlisle said then motioned for us to go out into the hall.

"I'll be right back, Emmett. I've got to talk to the Chief for a few minutes," his son nodded, as he understood enough to know what was going on.

We walked out into the hall where Carlisle opened a door to an empty conference room before motioning for me to walk ahead of him. He shut the door behind him and cleared his throat.

"What do you need to know Charlie?" his eyes almost pleading for me to go easy on him.

I ran a hand over my 'stache and shifted my feet, "I just need to know what happened, Carlisle."

He sighed and grabbed a chair to sit down in. I leaned back against the wall to face him.

"As you know, Esme has struggled since the accident a few years back. Apparently she had mixed her prescription meds with wine, I suspected this was happening. Every time I would confront her, it would just turn into a nasty fight. So, I stopped paying attention ...until today when I came home to find her in the bathtub, covered in bloody water ….she'd...she'd..." he broke down in a sob as I stood there and tried to remain unaffected by his emotions.

He wiped his face and sat up, "she'd slit her wrists. I don't know how long she'd been there when I found her but I don't suspect it was too long as her pulse was still there, but very weak."

"You don't have any reason to suspect foul play?" I questioned simply because my job required me too.

He looked at me, his eyes full of hurt, "No, Charlie, she did this to herself."

The long breath he released was heavy before he stood up and began to walk around to the windows that lined the wall.

"I called the ambulance, we revived her as best we could during the trip then she coded once we made it here. I called all of my children to get as quickly as possible, in case we lost her. But, as usual, we can't seem to find Edward."

He turned and looked at me, suddenly his face was full of rage.

"That little shit is never where he's supposed to be," he all but yelled before he pounded his fists on the back of a chair.

I let out the breath that I had been holding, "He's with Bella."

"Christ," his shoulders sagged and he looked completely defeated.

"Did you know that they'd been hanging out together?" I questioned, hoping that he could provide me some much needed answers.

He nodded his head, "Yes, I knew but I had forbid him to have anything to do with her. He's a fucking mess, Charlie. He'll only destroy her."

"I figured that's what you'd say. I'll see if I can find them. Go take care of your wife, I'll go search for the kids."

Somehow I had a feeling that there was a lot more going on in this situation than either of us knew.

Maybe it was about time that I figured it all out.

A/n: Uh-Oh, sounds like the Chief's on to them….

Stay tuned my friends….it's really getting good;)

See ya next week or maybe sooner…I've managed to get quite a few chapter's banked so we MIGHT a BIG might, be back on 2 a week soon…..I hope.

See ya'll next week.

Kyla