"Charlie, come quick!" Maureen called from her desk.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Someone said McKenna was just hit by a car!"

EdwardPOV

By the time I reached the front door, we could hear McKenna screaming her lungs out, calling out for Bella and myself. There were people in the parking lot crowding around her, most of them being police officers. Charlie, Carlisle and I pushed our way through and saw her lying on the cold, wet ground on the edge of the entrance way and the front sidewalk. I sank to my knees next to her. I started going out of my mind. Part of me wanted to jump in my car and find the fucking bastard that hurt my child, while the other half of me wanted to gather her in my arms and take her pain away. My instincts as a doctor started kicking in, and I started doing my ABC's – airway, breathing and circulation – to make sure she was okay. Everything that could possible be wrong went through my head – broken legs, broken back, broken neck – causing me to freak out.

God, what if she was badly hurt to the point where she was paralyzed?

Okay, calm down, calm down, I thought to myself. Let's take it one step at a time. She's breathing, crying, talking; those are good signs.

Yeah, but she's bleeding and not moving her legs.

"Back up, give her some air," Charlie said forcefully. I could hear a bit of panic in his voice as well.

"Daddy! Mommy! I want my Mommy!" McKenna cried between her sobs.

"McKenna, sweetheart, it's okay," I said, taking her little hand into mine.

"Mommy! I want Mommy!" she cried.

"Did someone call an ambulance?" Dad asked, as he held her neck still in his hands.

"Yes," someone said.

"Do you hurt anywhere, sweetie?" Dad asked again.

All McKenna could do was cry in response. I wanted to scoop her up in my arms and hold her tight against me, but by the looks of it, she took a pretty hard hit. Her clothing was ripped, and I could see some rather nasty road rash. In the distance, we heard a siren approaching. Not only were there police officers gathered, but there were now bystanders watching the scene unfold. The ambulance arrived and strapped her to a backboard. McKenna refused to let go of my hand. Each cry she let out, each scream, broke a piece of my heart. As the EMT's loaded her into the ambulance, I was forced to release her tiny hand from my grip, instantly feeling horrible.

"Bella, you're bleeding, too," someone said behind me.

"It's nothing, just a scratch," Bella said. I looked back and saw that Bella was badly bleeding from her forehead. I placed my hand over her wound to help control the bleeding.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah. I'm okay. What about McKenna? How bad is she?" she asked frantically.

"She's hurt, but we're taking her to the hospital," I replied.

"I need to see her!" Bella said again as she swatted my hands away from her and pushed her way to the back of the ambulance. I helped her climb in, making sure she was steady on her feet before letting go of her.

"McKenna," she said as she sat next to her. "Baby girl, are you okay?"

"Mommy!" she cried.

"Shh, it's okay," she replied. I could tell from the tone and shakiness of her voice that she was crying. "I'm here. Papa is going to make you all better, okay?"

"Okay."

"What are you waiting for?" Bella yelled at the EMT. "Why are we just sitting here? Lets go already!"

"We'll be on our way in just a minute, ma'am," an EMT replied.

"Do you need a damn invitation or something? Shut the damn doors and go! Now!"

"Did anyone see anything?" Charlie asked.

Everyone started talking at the same time, however I didn't hear a word. I just wanted to jump in the car and race to the hospital to make sure my girls were alright. I had a good idea as to who was behind all of this, but I didn't say anything. I didn't want to accuse my sister of something this horrible, this mean.

Twenty minutes later, Mom, Dad and I rushed into the hospital Emergency Room. Charlie stayed behind to look at the surveillance video from outside the station. He said he would be right behind us, but to call him if anything serious happened. From inside the ER, I could hear McKenna crying, screaming from her pain.

"Let me go see what's going on. I'll be back," Dad said.

As he walked away, I wrapped my arms around my mother and cried. I hated to hear McKenna cry, but this was worse because I couldn't do anything to help her. I also knew Bella was injured, although I wasn't sure how badly. I didn't want to believe Alice or Gabriel could be behind this. Why would they want to hurt a child? She was completely innocent here.

"How could they do this, Mom? How could she?"

"Honey, we don't know who was driving the car."

"Oh please. You know as well as I do there are only two people in this world hell bent on making Bella's life a living hell."

"Yes, but I don't like to place blame without knowing the facts. It's winter, Edward. Roads and sidewalks are covered -"

"Don't make excuses for them," I interrupted angrily. "Bella has a gash on her forehead and McKenna... What if she's really hurt? She wasn't moving her legs. What if the hit paralyzed her?"

"It's alright, Edward. She'll be okay. They'll both be okay," Mom said. "No matter the outcome, we'll face this together as a family." She held me tightly to her, as we waited for Dad to give us an update. Thankfully, we didn't have to wait long. He reappeared with a nurse at his side.

"So? How are they?" I asked anxiously.

"McKenna's starting to calm down, although not very much. The doctors have an IV in, and we're waiting for CT to call for her. X-rays have already been done, so the CT is merely a precaution. We'll probably have to sedate her a bit for that. She's still in the neck brace, which will come off depending on what the scans show. She also has areas of road rash, some of it being quite bad and will need mending."

"Is she moving her legs?"

"A bit, yes. I think moving her legs hurt too much and now that the pain medicine has kicked in a bit, it's easier for her. Once her scans are done, we'll clean her wounds and see how bad they are. She's asking for you. Sarah, here, will take you back to her, while I attend to Bella."

"How is Bella?" I asked again.

"She's got a nasty cut on her head and she's complaining of a headache, so we're going to make sure nothing's wrong."

"Edward, you go to McKenna. I'll check on Bella," Esme said.

"Come with me. I'll show you to your daughter," Sarah said.

I walked back with Sarah to the small room McKenna was in. There was a nurse with her, and the television was on showing some Disney movie that she liked. She was still crying, but not as bad. Her arm was taped to a board to keep it straight for the IV. Her clothes had been cut away, and she now wore a hospital gown and was covered with a blanket. I immediately closed the gap between us and rushed to her side. She held her arms up for me. I bend down and let her hold onto me as best as she could without lifting her from the table. She wrapped her arms around my neck and squeezed as best she could.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"I hurt, Daddy."

"I know, I'm sorry. We're going to make you feel better, I promise."

"Where's Mommy?"

"Papa's looking at her cut right now."

"Daddy, my leg hurts bad," she said.

"I'm sorry, sweetie. Your doctor gave you some medicine to help, okay? But you have to calm down a bit so you can feel better."

"I want to see Mommy."

"Okay. Will you be a brave girl until I get back?"

"Yeah," she said quietly after taking a calming breath.

"Good. I love you."

"I love you too, Daddy."

EsmePOV

I rounded the corner from the emergency room waiting area to the patient area and instantly heard Bella's voice. Her voice was frantic, scared, and incredibly pissed off. She was demanding to see McKenna, saying she didn't care how she looked or what was wrong with her, just that she needed to see her daughter. Another voice, a female who I assumed was a nurse, kept saying she had to stay in her area so the doctors could treat her wound. I found the area she was in and saw Bella pacing back and forth in front of her bed.

"Bella, honey, are you alright?" I asked.

"Esme, how's McKenna? Have you seen her?" she asked anxiously.

"No. Edward's with her right now."

"I need to see her! No one is telling me anything!"

"Honey, calm down and let the doctors work. I'm sure once they have an idea of what's wrong with her, they'll come talk to you."

"You don't understand, Esme! I need to be with her. She won't calm down without me!"

"You won't do her any good in this condition, young lady. I know you're worried and scared, but if you go in there, you'll only make her worse," I replied. "And if you don't calm down, I'll call Carlisle in here and make him give you a tranquilizer." I was serious. She needed to calm down not only for McKenna, but for herself as well.

"I'm sorry. I'm just freaking out, okay? She's my baby, Esme," she replied as tears formed in her eyes.

"I know she is," I said, wrapping my arms around her, "but if you're not calm, she won't be calm. I know you're scared, but she's with the best doctors in the hospital, okay?"

Bella's tears overcame her then, and I did the only thing I could do – I held her. No words were said, as nothing I could say would have helped her. Instead, I held her tightly in my arms letting her cry on my shoulder. I wasn't sure how long we stood there, but eventually she calmed down and pulled away a little bit.

"Thank you, Esme."

"No need to thank me, dear."

"Have you heard from my Dad? I should call Sue, too."

"Charlie's still at the station. He wanted to look through some footage outside the station to see if he could see anything. I can call Sue for you, if you'd like."

"Could you ask her to stop at the house and pick up McKenna's stuffed dog that Jake gave her? That usually calms her down."

"Of course, dear." A nurse appeared in her doorway. I figured she was here to take Bella for an x-ray or something of the like.

"Thanks, Esme. Could you maybe send Edward in for just a minute?"

"Sure."

I left Bella and quickly called Sue. She and Leah would stop at the house before heading over. I then found McKenna's room and sat with her while Edward went to check on Bella. Carlisle was also with McKenna, giving her some pain medications since the first round didn't help her. She had finally calmed down to the point where she fell asleep.

As I watched McKenna sleep, I sat and tried to figure out where I went wrong as a mother in regards to Alice. She had been such a sweet, loving girl. Now...well I wasn't so sure what she was. When she had brought Gabriel home, I thought maybe this would be a good thing. That maybe she'd realize that she had made mistakes in the past and was trying to change. But watching the two of them interact, I could tell that this was more for show than anything. They hardly ever touched, and when they did, it looked forced rather than natural. Whenever Gabriel wanted something, Alice always went to get it for him, without so much as a thank you. Their relationship was...odd. I can't even remember what her wedding ring looked like or if she was even wearing one. Then, when we found Bella on the floor in the garage, I knew she had brought him to stir things up. I just wished I knew why she was doing this.

"What are you thinking about?" Carlisle asked.

"Different things, really. Why?"

"You looked pretty lost in thought. You're thinking about Alice, aren't you?"

"Yes. I have this feeling that she was behind this, Carlisle."

Carlisle disposed of the needle and his gloves and let out a hard sigh before sitting next to me. "So do I. She may not have been behind the wheel, but I think she may have set everything in motion."

"I just wish I knew where I went wrong with her. It seems like something changed in her the day Bella returned."

"You didn't do anything wrong. You're a wonderful wife, mother and grandmother. Alice is the way she is based on the choices she made, not because of something you did or didn't do. None of this is your fault."

"It's not yours either," I replied. "I would love more than anything to just sit down with her and have an open and honest conversation about everything that's happened, but I know she won't do it."

"I know. I want the same thing."

"I miss our daughter, Carlisle," I softly said. My eyes began to tear up at the realization that the daughter I once had could be gone forever.

EdwardPOV

When Mom appeared in McKenna's room, I left to go check on Bella. She was being brought back to her room after getting a CT scan herself. She had gauze over her wound and had her arm draped over her eyes to block the light. I stood to the side of the hall as they wheeled her back in her room and got everything situated. I noticed Bella ask her nurse a question and realized what she wanted when her nurse turned down the overhead lights in her room. Once her nurse was gone, I grabbed the stool that was in the corner and sat next to her.

"Feeling okay?" I asked.

"Other than my head pounding, yeah. How's McKenna?"

"In pain and scared. She wants me to hold her, but I can't because she's still restrained and it hurts a lot when she moves her legs."

"I should have told her to wait," she said softly. "She was excited about something and didn't stop to look for cars. It's not her fault, I know. It's mine. I should have told her to just wait on the sidewalk."

"It probably would have happened anyway, I'm afraid. It's obvious now we can't put it past Alice to harm anyone, even a child."

"It didn't look like her in the car. It looked like a man, and it wasn't the same car that Alice was in earlier."

"Well, even if it wasn't her behind the wheel, I'm pretty sure she was the one who put it in motion."

"Uh huh," Bella replied again. I could tell by the distant sound of her voice, that she was lost in thought about something.

McKenna slept through her CT, which came back normal, as did the initial x-rays that were taken when she was brought in. I was thankful to learn that she wouldn't require surgery to close the road rash. Some of the deeper wounds were cleaned and stitched, while the rest were treated with ointment and wrapped with gauze. Sue had arrived about an hour after we did and brought McKenna her stuffed dog that Jake got her. It was her favorite thing, and it seemed to calm her down a bit. Once her IV was out, I was able to take her and Bella home.

"Did the footage show anything?" Esme asked Charlie. We were all sitting around the kitchen table while McKenna and the twins were asleep upstairs.

"Yeah. It shows the accident, but we can't get a good look at the license plate or the face of the person driving the car. It looks like McKenna was running across the parking lot to get to Bella when the car plowed into them. They didn't even hesitate or stop afterward."

"So what are you going to do now? Are you still going to send Bella and the girls away?" Sue asked me.

"No," Bella said. "I'm going to send the twins to Rosalie and Emmett. McKenna isn't going to want to be away from us after this."

"Bella, I can't let you stay here. It isn't safe," I said.

"I'm not going to let Gabriel or anyone else force me from my home. The twins are too young, so they won't remember this. I think if all of us left leaving you behind, Alice and Gabriel would notice. I know I said I was too afraid to stay, but I think leaving would do more harm than good. For whatever reason, she doesn't seem to mind the twins the way she does McKenna. I know for a fact that if we told her she had to stay with Em and Rose while we were in Forks, she would be incredibly upset. Given how injured she is, she's going to cling to us like glue. I lost her once, Edward. I'm not going to do it again."

"Well, we need to come up with a plan then," Charlie said.

AlicePOV

I sat in my lavish living room, waiting for my friend to return. I sent him on an errand for me, and I was dying to hear if it went as well as I hoped it would. Gabriel was also out with some of his friends, looking for a new place to keep the girls. The house they were being kept in now was too close to Forks, and I knew someone would notice something was up eventually. I knew I would have to go back soon to check up on them and get rid of the ones who no longer made us money. I hated visits like that, but it had to be done. Someone had to do it now that Ian was gone.

As I waited, I wondered how long it would take Gabriel and I to start a family. After all, he did tell me he loved me more than any other girl he had been with. I knew Gabriel hadn't been with Bella because Keith was greedy, but he admitted that he did want her at one point in time. He assured me, however, that this was no longer the case. He was madly in love with me.

Perhaps a baby would mend my relationship with my family. I knew my mother loved children, so I hoped that when I had one, we could set aside our differences and be a family again. Maybe I'd invite Mom and Dad over for dinner to tell them. Of course she'd start to cry and hug me, while Dad congratulated Gabriel. The two of them would talk about medicine while Mom and I planned the nursery. Maybe Edward and I would be able to talk as well. Maybe I'd finally be able to get him to realize everything was a mistake. I was almost positive that he would listen to me now, as I was sure that he was starting to have doubts about his marriage. I mean really, how long can you truly be happy with a whore?

Yes...a baby is what I needed. A baby would make things better for everyone.