And part two is here! Thanks to the few amazing people in the world who reviewed the last chapter. You'll be rewarded very shortly!

Just as a reminder, my review reward means once this chapter and the following is reviewed, a character's POV will be all yours in advance to the final! In case you were wondering, the users that are currently applicable to receive the extra are:
ByEmiwithlove; Marril96; H20 forever; H2Ozikkiaddict; ObsessedwReading; zikki 3; blitzholly.

If you're not there, but you want to be there, message me and I will let you know what chapters need to be reviewed. I'm more than happy to help you out if you want extras. Also, let me know if you think you're name should be there but it isn't and I can double check.

*WARNING* This chapter is the closest that this story will ever come to an 'M' rating, while a 'T' is still very much applicable. This chapter deals with MATURE SELF-HARM THEMES and may prove a TRIGGER. So, if it is just not something you like to read or something that you are best off not to read, maybe just wait it out for the storm to pass. I am even happy to send out a far milder summary of this chapter and the next if you don't feel comfortable reading it but don't want to miss out, just leave a review and say that you didn't read but would like an overview :)

Enjoy the climax of this storyline boys and girls!

Chapter 36 – Natural Justice: Part 2

Bella's POV

... PREVIOUSLY...

I wordlessly examined the setup. The most noticeable object is the noose around my ex-boyfriend's neck, with the taut rope looped around one of the four posts of the solid-wood bed that almost reached the roof.

I came to an instant and frightening understanding of the fact that if Daniel fell –on accident or purpose- and if his feet left the security of the ledge on the end of the bed that the bed would not be moving anywhere. I knew as well as Daniel did what the result would be and exactly what would happen. It is up to me to make sure that that did not happen.

"Wh-what are you doing Dan? Please don't do this. I am begging you, please, just get down from there" I choked as I scanned the room further, for anything else that would either help or hinder my self-appointed counselling task. The search I conducted as I stayed standing on the spot concluded with the fact that nothing is sitting around which would cut off the rope from where it hung faster than the rope would cut off Daniel's wind pipe within his throat.

During that search was when my gaze met with a small object that I had not laid my eyes on in a few weeks. I questioned whether it had been moved or even touched since the last time that my fingers had touched it from where I left it on the top of the chest of drawers in the corner of the room. It had been the last object I put back in its place on the night that I left Daniel.

My engagement ring that I had worn on the symbolic appropriate finger for only a matter of hours glistened in the corner and I didn't know that my stomach could feel any weaker than it already had since entering the bedroom.

The single piece of expensive jewellery triggered the unavoidable truth that I had been trying to push away since I entered the room... This is my fault.

"Why should I, Bella?! Give me one good reason to get down. I have nothing left - doing this is a better alternative!" Daniel spat as he stood on the furniture, his head nearly reaching the roof from his position of standing on the raised post which was really not intended for this particular use, so high above the ground.

I considered his question, only realizing the low in Daniel's life and his lack of purpose that is undoubtedly triggering this self-harming behaviour of desperation when no immediate answers came to my mind to remind him of.

I am obviously his last, albeit ex-, girlfriend, his only child had passed away in his arms, his father is a big fat question mark after hot-footing it a long time before he was born, his mother passed away from Pneumonia a few weeks after his wedding, he has no siblings, no cousins that he was close to, I had never thought that his 'friends' were loyal or good association (which I had tried to explain to him many times while we were together), his ex-wife hasn't spoken to him since he caught her in bed with his former friend and now I had left him with Allie, snatching away the arrangement that he had grown to love as a family.

"Because, Dan, if you do this, it isn't going to make things any better. It'll just eradicate the chance of your life getting any better. If you think you're life is at its worst, if that's why you feel like you have to give up, then just please try to change your thinking and see it as though your life can only get better from here then."

He looked at me, straight into my eyes which I discovered is even scarier and more confronting than when he was loudly objecting to what I had to say while waving his arms and eyes and around to view everywhere.

"I am a monster, Bella. And I know that I don't deserve you because I've hurt you so badly, but now that you and Allie are gone I have no one and nothing left to live for. I'd rather die alone, now, than have to put up with the pain of years alone. If you care about me, you would respect my wishes!"

I sighed at his latest comments, taking a daring step closer to Daniel while I hoped that it wouldn't spook him enough to take the plunge and jump, which was something that I am wracking my brain to do everything and anything to avoid happening.

"But I forgive you Dan. I might not be able to trust you again, but I forgive you what you did. I let go and I've moved on from that. Don't you dare do this thinking that it's some sort of cruel justice or karma for the hitting and abuse. I know that the Daniel Shapiro I first met would never have dreamed about hurting anyone, especially not a woman. I know you've gotten off track, but you've been through hell. You were a great person once before, I knew the guy you were and I have every faith in you that you can find him again too if you don't give up."

"Yeah, Bella, that's a really great comparison... Look at what my life has become from what I used to be. Look at how I've managed to single-handedly screw my life up," he trailed off somberly, and from my position on the ground beneath him I could clearly identify the beginning of tearing up and watering of his eyes.

I took a step closer with a weakened stomach as for a moment it appeared that he had been looking down, looking ready to move and to set the suicide into action.

"Please Daniel, come on. Let's just talk, okay?" I tried to reason calmly, with no clue how or why I could maintain such a cool demeanor when I felt like an uneasy bundle of nerves within.

I moved over to the bed and sat down, patting his side of the bed, gesturing for him to sit next to me. I fluffed the pillow and lay against it, reclining back to rest against the bed head as I tried to normalize my actions the best I could to as if I weren't in the middle of witnessing my ex-boyfriend's dilemma of life or death.

"Come on. Just get down from there and sit next to me and we can talk. We can work out how to fix this for you; we can get the old Dan back."

Clutching the quilt that was beneath me subtly for a release of my nerves, my eyes bore into Daniel and his actions, trying to hide my quivers as he once again looked down and appeared to ponder the option of pin dropping to the ground as he tried to tighten the rope around his neck.

In the aftermath of my suggestion, I witnessed what appeared to be pushing Daniel further towards the edge and closer to what I had been trying my best to avoid, I had to be quick to take action in persuading him to do as I was saying, to get him down from the suicidal post and at least talk to me until I had any better ideas.

"You said you feel guilty for what you did to me, right, and you feel guilty for how you hurt me? Here's a chance to make it up to me. Just sit down and let's chat... I'll help you work everything out."

I swear that I could hear him mutter something like: "I don't deserve this" under his breath, but my own breathe that I had been holding could finally be released as he loosened the knot from his neck, pulling his head from the noose as he stepped down from the wooden ledge, settling down on the mattress beside me.

"I'll hear you out... But you're not changing my mind, okay? I'll wait until you've gone, till you've taken Allie, but I have to do this Bells. I am just so damn sorry you've just been caught up in my mess."

I decided against pushing the matter any further just yet, attempting to side-step my way to what I so desperately aimed for and what Daniel's life depended on me achieving.

Instead, I took his larger fingertips into my much smaller hand and gave them a comforting squeeze of reassurance.

"Dan. Why did you take Allie?"

"I am so sorry. I didn't mean to scare you or freak you out by waking up to find she's not there, I just knew that was the only way I'd be able to say goodbye" Dan explained, looking me deep into the eyes, as his mouth gaped slightly as if even he was unable to believe what he had done hours earlier.

He almost looked traumatized as he struggled to continue with what he had began to explain.

"I- I just, I'm an idiot. Drew tipped me off a few days ago... Told me he knew where you were staying and that he saw you. I don't know why I took her, I really don't, I just needed to be with someone I love and someone who loves me before I did this," he said as he gestured to the free hanging noose a metre away from us both.

"I love her like a daughter, I didn't hurt her at all – I swear, I just needed to say goodbye to someone."

I believe him.

However, I had to ignore how I had felt earlier this morning - particularly the flame of fury deep within me, along with the anger and the grief, when I considered this situation from the perspective of being a mother presented with the man who had stolen her child this morning.

Before I had the chance to lie through my teeth about the fact that I forgave him for his earlier actions, since Allie had been found safe and sound, his face scrunched up again in a manner way too familiar to me... the way it would scrunch up before an outburst where I would be forced to catch the punches he threw.

I flinched from my vulnerable position just centimetres opposite him on the bed, especially in such an emotionally unstable situation before he grabbed the back of his neck and shoulders with his arms enveloping over his face. The visible veins that ran along his arms and biceps indicated the pressure and force he was using to let the bursts of anger onto himself.

"What the hell have I done?!" he screamed into his arms that muffled the noise, while I sat there watching him shake from the physical force and verbal screech, with his own body taking the impact of both blows.

I gently lay a hand to his shoulder, rubbing it back and forth along his back comfortingly as I would do for Allie when she was unsettled. At this point, I didn't know what else to do or say. He is safe from the previous suicide risk, so should I call out to Will and wait it out with both the boys until a police or ambulance arrived? Did I keep talking, keep trying to help him? Where do I go from here?

Before I had time to work out my next move, Dan's body slowly began to relax from its clenched state, separating his arms from his head to reveal his face. His eyes had since began to fill with water in a welling up and reddened state, on the verge of tears.

"After Nick died, I lost Jaz too. You and Allie were what got me through losing both my son and wife in a matter of months. With you girls, I was a part of a family again. Now that I've ruined that and lost you two, I've got nothing. I've got no one. I can't live my life just remembering everyone that I've lost. I'm not strong enough to do that!"

"Of course you are, Dan. Your life is going to get better... You moved on with your life once before, enough to be such a support to Allie and I when we needed you, so you're going to be even more capable and able to do it again on your own" I reassured him, stroking his back comfortingly as the best I could do to support him and control my own emotions for the moment.

Daniel looked up at me weakly with blood-shot watery eyes, resembling the strength of a child more than that of my former boyfriend. With four short, simple words strung together Dan broke down completely and I found it enormously hard to keep myself intact.

"I'm going to jail..." he cried hopelessly, breaking down into a quaking mess. And I knew there was no comfort I could give to that statement that wasn't a complete and total lie. He deserved it and there was no getting out of it.

The man in front of me was a shell of his former self, a shell of the Daniel that I had fallen in love with a year ago, the man that I had completely failed to realize had been on a slow decline over the last twelve months to reach this low point.

He sobbed in a wreck of choked up tears with his body shaking as it sprawled out across the bed, resembling a plastered and out of control individual, while the rope of his intentions and a reflection of his despair dangled nearby.

"I'm so sorry, Bella, I'm so sorry..."

This was the phrase that I heard being repeated over and over again in the the twenty-five-year old's cries until the police and paramedics, that I didn't realize Will had made the initiative to ring, arrived, taking his hands from mine and slamming them into restraining hand cuffs in front of him.

"Daniel Shapiro. You're under arrested for willfully and intentionally breaking the apprehended violence order against Isabella Hartley and Adelaide Benjamin, and for the kidnapping of Adelaide Benjamin. You have the right to remain silent but anything you do say may be held against you in the court of law."

While all the focus is on my most recent ex-boyfriend in the moment of his arrest, it is my other ex-boyfriend who caught my attention from the surprise expression on his face after listening to the police, standing a few steps behind them and in the doorway of the bedroom after letting them into the apartment.

Several long, blurred and question-filled hours passed after the police arrived at the apartment to take Daniel. Over those hours Dan had been quickly taken away while the premises of my former apartment had been scoured and searched for evidence of any sort that would either make or break the case against Dan, and Rikki had arrived before she, Will and I had all been questioned regarding the happenings of the day.

By this point I am completely exhausted as I sat in the quieter spare room that I had escaped to, to flee the hectic environment as the police had now just started to pack up.

Half an hour ago, I had used the excuse of moving to the far calmer and more serene environment of the spare bedroom to settle my daughter to sleep, when really it had been far more for me than her.

I needed to escape the blur of reality as I struggled to wrap my head around the events of today, from the distress of waking up with Allie nowhere to be found, to this point as I held her tighter than I had ever remembered taking the chance to treasure her before in my arms, doing nothing but watching her sleep peacefully, innocently and safely in my grateful arms.

A knock on the door that I had closed upon entering the room tore my eyes away from my daughter as I looked up to see who was at the door – desperately hoping that it's not another police officer chasing me up for my story of today's events.

"Hey" Will whispered upon noticing our sleeping baby, creeping into the room and sitting down next to me to brush a hand over Allie's sleeping locks. "What a day... How are you holding up?"

"Really well... I'm feeling completely motivated now. Might go home, work out for a couple hours, cook a five course meal and maybe write a novel..." I listed off sarcastically, finding the blatant lie easier than straight-up expressing how I had really been feeling.

"Bella..."

I sighed at the warning tone of Will's voice, not needing anymore than that one word to speak honestly; feelin too tired to do anything other than that.

"I'm tired, Will. I think I could eat my body weight in carbs and then hibernate for a hundred-year rest. Like that answer any better?"

With a roll of his eyes, Will changed the topic.

"I don't know what you feel like you need the most right now. I don't know if you need company, or just to be alone with Allie or not, but you two can come back and stay with us and take my room for the next couple of days if you want. No pressure. You know what's best for you guys, but I really don't mind."

I consider the options and while I love company from my extroverted nature, I am also normally always more favourable to being alone when faced with a crisis or with the aftermath of one. Generally I needed to be able to sort myself out, away from people and the public eye and return to life as though nothing happened.

Today's different though.

I hadn't had a chance to even think about what was to happen after we all left the apartment and where I would go from there, on a long and short term basis. After Will planted the seed in my mind and thought of having company, I couldn't shake it and felt as though I would rather be anywhere than back in the small, lonely boat shed that had scarred me today with the reminders of the panic I'd faced by waking up without Allie.

Company is exactly what I needed. The security of other people nearby is just the safety blanket, distraction and security needed tonight.

"That would be really, really great. After the day I've had, I really want to be anywhere other than the boat shed. No offence."

Will nodded with a warm smile. "I understand. If I were you, the last thing I would want is to be alone. I can give you a hand with Allie if you just want to crash tonight."

"Yeah, thanks. Being away from that place and with other people is just what I need."

"Anytime. Also, I've been thinking about it and trying to look at the bright side of all this. Although, obviously, it's a shame that Daniel's headed straight for the psych ward and rehab, at least it solves the problem of if he had tried to blab about you girl's secret. No one will believe a word he says about anything to do with mermaids."

I sigh. Yeah right. The bright side...

Yes, it is relieving that it would be one less person I would have to worry about carrying my secret since he would be considered mentally unstable to any authorities, especially when the only evidence he had of mermaids left the night I did. But instead, there's just this big fat question mark in the back of my mind, playing on my conscience and on my morals, posing the question of whether I could really be so joyous of my life's security when I knew this is just the beginning of a long and painstakingly hard road ahead for Daniel?

"Of course... I'm glad I don't have to worry about him with the secret-" I pause, mentally deciding whether or not to continue the explanation, or whether to just allow my statement to fade away.

"-But? It sounded like there is supposed to be a 'but' coming after that."

"But, I just can't help but think about Dan. I feel like I'm to blame too and that I should have seen the signs earlier in our relationship, and that consequently I helped seal his horrible fate that he's going to have to fight so hard against now to get his life even remotely back in order."

Will's dark blonde brow furrowed just marginally, signalling his disapproval at my comment.

"Don't even think about blaming yourself Bella... You are so far from being to blame for any of this."

"If I'd dealt with our relationship better, maybe if I'd been more supportive or if I pushed him to get help or something, I could have stopped it getting this far! I think I pushed him over the edge by leaving him..."

I suddenly became grateful for my focused and intent gaze looking down at Allie as the little girl is peacefully occupied by her deep sleep within my arms as my eyes helplessly began to well up purely from explaining just the tip of the iceberg of my current and overwhelming feelings to Will.

Thankfully, my eyes were in a far less obvious position to be noticed as they reached the verge of beginning to rapidly welcome tears to my cheeks.

"This is partly my fault" I blubbered, verbally reaffirming my thoughts as they easily passed through a filter-free state where shutting myself up is of an extremely low priority. "If only I hadn't led him on that night when we were out to dinner before I left him and I never should have accepted the proposal... And if I hadn't left he wouldn't have wanted to kill himself!"

The last seven words I spoke marked the conclusion of any composure I had managed to salvage from the sudden realization of what I had endured through the wreck of one day. While I had already shed a few tears earlier while envisioning the worst case scenario of losing Allie, the time had come for all of the bottled up tears to run free, regardless of whether I wanted them to or not.

"Oh Bella..." Will sighed as I felt a few locks of hair being shifted from covering my face and particularly my dampened eyes before the movement is furthered, with an arm being wrapped around my shoulders as a comfort that I hadn't felt in nearly two years. "None of that stuff with Dan is even remotely your fault Bells. This probably would have happened with or without you at some point in time."

While I knew Will's doing his best to comfort me and shield me from feeling additional pain, my thoughts continued to spur on from bad to worse.

I trembled as my thoughts furthered.

I knew I had had a bad day, the day from hell even, but I also knew that it is nowhere near as bad as it had the potential to be.

What if Will and I hadn't made it into the apartment in time? What if Daniel had the chance to finish what he started? What if I walked into a hanging corpse instead of the man I managed to persuade to hold onto life? ... I couldn't even begin to imagine all the 'what if's' that surrounded finding Allie safely and I knew that I wouldn't be able to keep the last meal I had eaten down if I allowed myself to.

That is when I made the realization, connecting the dots between Daniel and Allie and believing I had reached a greater understanding of the events of the day.

"I think Dan took Allie as a cry for help... He knew that we wouldn't just sit around waiting for her to be returned and that we'd work out he took her, that we'd find her. I think that deep down, he didn't want to suicide, but he felt that he was in such a hopeless situation that he had no choice. I don't know if he even did it on purpose, but I think that it was all just a cry for help..."

I felt a muscly, yet familiar arm around me squeeze my back before its owner took the chance to reply.

"Yeah, I suppose that would make sense. Well, kidnap should never have been a plan and a part of his agenda... but see, you saved him. That's what matters- you saved his life today. When he dragged himself in so deep, he wanted you to save him. It wasn't your fault."

I nodded, rocking Allie a little more in my arms, even though our dormant daughter didn't need any more help with settling.

"I guess... Thank you."

I give him a small and slight smile, but it was the most relaxed and the biggest smile that I'd been able to manage in the emotional roller-coaster throughout the day. For the first time today, I could truly let out a deep breath, snuggle a little more into the familiar shoulder and hold my daughter a little closer.

I know that Daniel still has a long, long road ahead of him, but that is his journey, his path that he'd been paving for himself over the last few years as he reaped the seed that he had sown.

I had made many good memories with the man, while some of the bad times tainted my thoughts.

I'd done my best.

But he had treated me poorly and now he is paying the price of that.

He had been there for me when I was a young and scared single mother with no idea of what I had gotten myself into, after being throwing into the deep end with a newborn.

I had been there for him in his darkest hour.

At the end of the day, I'd helped him. I'd saved him and we had reached the end of the road in each other's lives.

There is a sort of natural justice that somehow followed every single person's paths in life, guiding us to what we deserve - good and bad. Each of us paying the price or reaping the rewards of our actions in one way or another...

Now I've got my fire-proof suit on, ready and waiting, again... So, thoughts? Where do your sympathies lie now? We're still yet to see Dan for one last time, but it may not be with who you would expect him to see. Any guesses who Dan's last scene is with in the final?

I would love your feedback on anything to do with this chapter. It's such an ethically and morally blurred chapter so I'd love your opinions on the circumstance, but it also such an emotional chapter that I had to spend a lot of time to get into the darker zone and head-space to write this in so I really hope I could pull it off. Absolutely any feedback you have, I'll take it. It's a longer chapter so generally like a few more reviews than last chapter.

I know that I could have killed Dan and I'm sure that a fair few of you probably wanted that to happen, but honestly, how much of a better person would it have made Bella than Dan is if she had just walked away without trying to save him? Not to mention, would anyone really be able to leave someone they loved in that situation.

Personal situations can never, ever, ever excuse domestic violence. However, as easy it is to see one side of the story, Daniel has his side too. He was an extremely broken man before he became abusive. To be able to see that side of the story, I really, really have to thank my friend's fiance for helping me see the other side of the coin. You wouldn't be able to tell from the guy he is now, but a few years ago he went through a similar ordeal as Daniel's fictional one when his baby sibling who he had been raising, died in his arms. In his grief, similarly to Dan, he became violent until he reached an all-time low and decided to turn his life around. I really hope that I could tell both sides of the story and do it justice.

Next chapter: Triggered by an overreaction, Zane bites the bullet.