See you all at the bottom!

BPOV

I stood, holding firmly to Edward as the sirens from the fire trucks, ambulances, and police began to surround us. Watching the house that I had grown up in, the house that Edward had bought as a safe haven, be burned to the ground as a form of retaliation from Alice sickened me.

She'd deserved every last hit I'd given her, and more. Hell, had it not been for Edward pulling me off of her, I was certain I'd have fucking killed the bitch.

"I'm going to need you guys to step back," the booming voice of a fireman shouted from beside us, one arm pressing against our abdomens and moving us backward.

The pressure from his arm caused me to hiss and clutch my side, seeing my hand come back covered with my own blood; my shirt was saturated.

Had the bitch actually stabbed me? How was I just now noticing this?

My reaction jolted Edward out of the haze he was in as his eyes moved to mine, his brow furrowed in concern. Then, they doubled in size as he took me by the arms and brought me to sit on the hood of Charlie's car.

He instantly crouched at my feet, gently lifting my shirt and examining my wound. The concentration and concern on his face as his fingers very carefully brushed the skin around it freaked me out.

This was the last thing that we needed to have happen. We were supposed to head out to Louisiana tomorrow and there was no way we could do that if I had to go to the fucking hospital.

"Shit," he groaned, his voice pained.

"Please don't tell me we have to go to the hospital," I whimpered, lowering my shirt and he stood up, pressing his lips against my temple.

"Its either that or you let me treat it and stitch it up until we can get you to a doctor in Louisiana."

"Let you treat her? How are you going to do that, Son?" Charlie boomed as he approached us.

"Dad, Edward was a doctor. Or have you already forgotten?"

"I know that, Bells, but to treat you, he needs supplies."

"Charlie, if you swing back by my house, I've got a medical kit in the kitchen," Edward answered, wrapping his arm around me, and holding me close, but making sure his hands weren't touching the wounded area.

As they continued to talk about what we were going to do, I watched as two police officers began walking in our direction.

"Well, looks like that run to your house is going to be postponed," I interrupted their conversation, motioning my head in the direction of the officers.

"Dammit, Charlie, Bella can't wait for them. If she's going to avoid a hospital until we get to Louisiana, I need to get her fucking stitched up," Edward ground out.

"What the hell happened here?" One of the officers demanded as soon as he was in shouting distance.

"My daughter and I used to live in the house when we were here fifteen years ago. We came by to look at it but when we arrived, Alice Cullen and that Jasper kid were coming out with gallons of gasoline."

"Who owns the house now?"

"I have no i…" Charlie started but Edward cut him off.

"I do, sir," he answered with a weak voice as he looked at me tearfully.

I chanced a glance at Charlie and saw the surprise and awe in his face. We hadn't had the chance to tell him before we caught Alice and Jasper.

"Bells?" he whispered to me.

"We'll talk about it later, Dad."

"Did I hear you correctly? Did you say there was someone else with Ms. Cullen?"

"Yeah, but he ran off. I have no idea where he may…" Edward paused and then looked at me with wide eyes. "There's a tree house in the back. Has anyone happened to check it out?"

Holy shit.

Why the hell hadn't I thought about that?

The interrogation by the police went on for a few minutes more—Charlie and Edward handling the questions—before we were finally given the clear to leave. They left their numbers down for Edward in the case he remembered anything of importance and said that someone would be in touch with him regarding the details of what they found.

To be honest, I was too focused on the pain from my side that was only beginning to get worse over time.

Edward's arm never moved from around me, but apparently, I'd moved in a way that alerted him because before I knew it, he had me pulled aside and was slouching down to meet my eyes, my face held gently in his hands.

"What is it, Doll?" he asked tenderly, his eyes darting to my side for just a second.

"It's starting to really fucking hurt, Edward," I replied, wincing as I did so. "Jesus, did the bitch stab me or just cut me?"

"From what I can tell, it's just a gash, but it's pretty deep. I can't really tell you for sure until I get the area cleaned up. What the hell were you thinking jumping her like that?" he asked with a bit of bite in his tone.

"What do you think I was thinking?!" I shot back, pissed that he was even asking me that.

But then, in the distance, I saw a group of officers pulling someone from the back of the house.

Jasper.

"Baby, look," I told him, pointing in the direction of the commotion.

Edward's head turned in the direction and I could see his eyes fill with pure rage and hatred the second he locked eyes on him.

"Son of a bitch," he growled, watching a minute longer before turning back to me.

"Go, Edward."

His eyes doubled in size as he shook his head. "You've obviously gone delirious if you think I'm fucking leaving your side for a second. There will be plenty of time for me to deal with him when we come back."

I knew he was afraid of something happening to me the minute he walked away, and honestly, I would've been afraid as well…if it wasn't for Charlie also being here.

I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath, shoving the sharp pains down enough to get what I needed to say out.

I reached out and took his hand, tugging and urging him to look at me. "Edward, baby, if you don't go over there and fucking talk to him, you might miss out on your chance in finding out exactly what the fuck happened tonight. Charlie is just right there. Bring me over there and then get your ass over there and put the fear of god in that asshole."

I could see him warring with his emotions as his face went through a variety of expressions.

"Dammit, Bella, you do realize that you're telling me to walk away from you, after you've been fucking cut by that bitch, right?" he exclaimed, fisting his hair. "Charlie may be here, but there are so many fucking people after us, Doll…seriously dangerous, sick people, and they can strike…"

Not letting him finish, I hollered out to Charlie, who instantly came running.

"You okay, Bells?"

"I will be," I answered, turning my attention back to Edward. "Go."

Edward exasperatedly sighed, and walked off, biting his lip in frustration. He was more mad at the situation, not me; that much I was sure of. That didn't make me feel any less guilty, but this was something I knew he needed to do.

EPOV

I was only humoring her with this shit. As much as I fucking loved Bella, her stubbornness was—at the moment—a royal pain in my ass. My mind was already a whirlwind of emotion, and her sending me out to confront Jasper, in front of God only knows how many police officers, was only adding to my stress.

Did I want to confront him?

Hell yes.

Did I want to know exactly what the hell happened?

No, because I already did. Alice had obviously learned about my owning this house from Esme, and as my luck would have it, she saw it as the perfect opportunity to hit me and Bella where it hurt. She'd killed two birds with one stone.

Granted, I hadn't the slightest fucking clue where Jasper fit into this part of the puzzle, but I don't know how Bella really saw this playing out.

She knew my temper as well as I did.

That cocksucker was going to be surrounded by police and if I hit him—which I knew I would—I would possibly get charged with assault. Besides, if he was involved with this shit, there was no way in hell he was going to admit to it in front of the officers.

He wasn't that stupid.

The only good thing to come from this whole incident was the fact that the bitch was going down for arson, having been caught red handed. I was positive that Alice would try sticking Bella with assault, but considering that it was my house and her attack on the bitch had been the primary reason we'd caught her, I doubted the police would actually charge her.

Hell, if nothing else, all we had to do was say that she attacked Bella, and then—with Bella's knife wound—we'd end up charging Alice for assault instead.

"Sir…sir, you can't come any further," an officer's voice boomed, his hand against my chest, stopping me from getting any closer to the squad car which held Alice, and the one that Jasper was leaned up against.

"Look, this is my house and I think I deserve to confront the pieces of shit that did this," I snapped. "Not only that, but that's my sister and her fucking boyfriend."

Just saying the words turned my fucking stomach, but if that's what it took for them to give me access to them, then I had no problem in spouting the lies—no matter how much the truth hurt.

I watched as the officers shared a glance and then parted, letting me through.

Jasper's eyes widened upon sight of me coming closer.

Call me stupid, but as soon as I within reach, I struck him with a hard right hook.

The officers shouted and started to rush me but I quickly backed away a bit and gave them a look to let them know I was fine and wasn't going to try anything else.

Though they remained close by just in case.

Charlie and Bella were probably shitting themselves watching me.

Well…maybe not Bella. Hell, she was probably cheering, just like the kick ass woman I knew her to be.

Jasper's head slowly came up, his eyes glaring at me as he spit a mouthful of blood at my feet.

"What the fuck was that?" he hissed.

"Turning your fucking back on me, you and the family stripping my dignity and pride from me wasn't enough?! You had to come and destroy the one thing that Bella and I held dear, too? What the fuck did I ever fucking do to you to deserve this shit?!" I roared.

"Edward, you have to fucking listen to me, man," he pleaded, actually tearing up. While it surprised me as I'd never seen the asshole cry, I wasn't falling for it. I couldn't trust any of them anymore. "I came to stop her! I'll admit, she was fucking hiding out at Esme's when I called you, and when the police came looking for her. Esme just provided her with an alibi. When I threatened to give her up, she brought up that Aro guy and swore that I'd be dead before I could fucking blink. She made me call you. She wanted me to talk you into coming back to the house. I only realized after I got off of the goddamn phone that it was setup. I may have turned my back on you, and for that I'm more sorry than you'll ever know, and I may have even been moved to hating you at one point, but never…never did I want to see you fucking dead, man! To know that the bitch was fucking around on me the whole fucking time, and with your real father no less! That shit came as as much a surprise to me as it did you. I know you probably don't believe a word I'm saying to you, but I swear on my life, I had no idea about the coke. About Aro, Carlisle, the lies about you…I knew nothing," he cried. "I was so fucking blinded by how much I loved her that I believed every word she said. I know that what happened isn't your fault, and if I could go back in time and actually be there for you, ask for your side instead of being the fucking douchebag I was, I would."

I looked at him for a while, pissed because he'd actually made me fucking cry. I could see no sign of lies in his eyes, but that didn't mean anything.

"Bullshit! If you were so disgusted by learning the truth, why the hell didn't you leave and go to my house? Why didn't you just text everything to Bella instead of two lines of bull? For fuck's sake, why didn't you slip away and call the police, turning her in whenever you had the chance?!"

"Because that fucking asshole and his crew are at Esme's house!" he shouted.

I glanced over to Alice in the squad car and saw her eyes widened in rage as she looked at Jasper. He'd just fucking betrayed her. He wasn't bullshitting me. He was telling me the truth.

I had nothing left to give. I wasn't ready to forgive and forget with anyone. I wasn't ready to let him or anyone else back into my life.

"Edward, they're still there," he whispered.

"Have you told the police any of this?"

"Yes. They know. Emmett too."

"Emmett? What do you mean he knows? What the fuck does he have to do with any of this?"

"Edward, he's fucking devastated. He and Rose want nothing more than to leave and get back in touch with you—I mean, he's fucking desperate—but they won't let us out of their sight. They have the whole fucking house under lockdown."

"And they just so happened to let you out with Alice?" I roared. "Bullshit!"

"Man, I had to convince them and Alice that I was on their side. That's why I was such a dick on the damn phone. They were listening to every fucking word I said! When I learned that she was setting out to set fire to one of your houses—which, by the way, that threw me off. I thought you only had one house. Anyway, I told them that I wanted to go along, that I wasn't letting my girlfriend out of my sight. They agreed. Edward, when you pulled up with Bella and Charlie, we were arguing. I was yelling at her to stop."

"Why the fuck did you run, Jasper?"

"Because I didn't want to get pinned with arson! I didn't step foot inside that fucking house, Edward. You can smell me; there aren't any traces of gasoline on me. But it doesn't matter. I'm going to get charged anyhow and I don't blame you if you seek the harshest sentence on us both."

"If there aren't any traces, then you'll just be charged as an accomplice. I will thank you for having informed me of what's going on, and I can accept the fact that you're sorry, but I can't forgive you. Any of you. Not yet. If you talk to Em, you can pass it on."

"Ed, man, one last thing before you confront her. Something you should know…Emmett dropped the restraining order against you seeing the boys. I wouldn't fucking recommend it right now, not until all this other shit is taken care of, but you need to know, you can see them whenever you wish. Emmett wants you to."

As soon as he finished, the police pushed him into the cruiser and I watched as they drove away with him in tow.

That last bit of news threw me for a fucking loop and almost brought me to my knees. There was nothing stopping me from finally seeing my nephews again. But just as with the situation regarding Jasper, I couldn't trust anyone with anything right now. Yes, I believed him, but I refused to let them back in.

I wasn't sure if I'd ever be ready.

Turning my eyes back to the cruiser Alice was being held in, my heart once again filled with rage. With slow and determined steps, I moved toward the car, but just as I got close enough, it began to pull out of the drive.

And at the same time, I heard Charlie calling out my name with panic.

In a furious daze, I whipped my head around to where I'd left him with Bella, and what I saw caused my heart to plummet and my stomach to go into my throat.

Bella was limp in his arms as he struggled to keep her up.

My legs moved faster than they ever had as I rushed over to them, my heart pounding as I prayed to God that she'd only passed out from pain and not from the wound having been fatal or severe.

"Bella!" I called out in a breathless panic as I damn near collided with Charlie trying to slow myself down.

On my knees, tears spilling from my eyes, I took her face in my hands. I began pleading and chanting her name, begging her to wake the fuck up.

"Edward…" I heard Charlie call, but I couldn't be bothered by it. Not until I got some form of a response from my girl. "Son, she's okay. She was complaining about the pain increasing and then she saw the confrontation between you and Jasper and she passed out. I don't think it's a fatal wound, and not that I don't trust your medical training, but I don't think we have time to run and gather supplies. She needs attention now, and there's an ambulance right there."

"But what about Aro and Laurent? What about getting the fuck out of here?"

"We'll have the DEA standing guard over us, Edward. Besides, she'll most likely get stitches, right?"

"Fuck," I sighed. "That depends, Charlie. They'll probably want to do an MRI to see the extent of the damage inside. It could go either way. She could only be in for a night, or a week. There's something else you should probably call Barnes about."

Charlie's brow raised skeptically. "Here, why don't you carry her over to the ambulance. I'm sure my doing so would have you on my ass like a mother hen."

I smirked at him and as gently as I could, scooped her up in my arms, holding her close to my chest.

"Okay, so, this Barnes thing…what's up?" he questioned as we began walking.

"Jasper told me that Aro's gang has set up shop in Esme's house. They're refusing to let anyone in or out, and that Aro put Alice up to setting fire to the house. Jasper told me that he only went along because he wanted to try and stop her."

"And you believe him?"

"Surprisingly, I think I fucking do. Apparently, Alice has been there this entire time and Esme's been covering for her. There's no telling what exactly is going on inside that house, but Jasper was forthcoming about everything."

"After you knocked the fuck out of him, you mean?"

I glanced at Charlie and actually laughed to see him smiling.

"Edward, Bells told me that the house really was yours. Is that true? Did you buy my old house?"

"Yeah. I would come here when everything got to be too much, which was pretty often. It became like my safe haven, and it made me feel…"

"Closer to Bells?" he guessed, causing me to look at him in awe.

How the fuck did he do that?

"Son, I'm not as blind as you think. I'm just surprised that you two never stayed in contact."

"That's mostly my fault, too," I admitted quietly as we approached the doors of the ambulance. "I'll explain it later."

And with that, I handed Bella over to the paramedics that were currently buzzing around us, asking every damn question under the sun.

Thank fuck Charlie had all his senses intact and his head on straight, because I was basically a fucking invalid.

At this moment more than anything else, I wished I still had my medical license.

Nothing was more infuriating than knowing you had the skills and the fucking degree, and not being able to help the woman you love because it had been stripped from you.

And if I had started shooting out questions and vitals that only a fucking doctor would know, they'd eventually ask my name, to which they'd blanche and probably shun me just as everyone else fucking had.

The only thing that fucking matter to me right now was Bella, and if she didn't come out of this okay, I didn't know what the hell I was going to do.

Sorry for the delay in getting this chapter up.

I hope you all can bear with me as I deal with some serious RL issues.

Just know that I will update as soon as I can!

I am NOT going on hiatus or anything like that, but it may be a week or two before I can get another chapter out.

Now that that's out of the way...

What about Jasper?

Is Edward foolish to believe him? Do you think what he says is true?

Leave some love!

T