Chapter 51: Nothing Stays Secret Forever

Alice POV:

"Good morning beautiful. Happy birthday." I whispered to my waking wolf. Her face broke into a small smile at my presence. I gave her a chaste kiss before getting up to bring her the food Esme helped me prepare. I wanted this day to be absolutely perfect, so I had to call Esme in for backup.

"Damn Alice. That's a shit ton of food."

"Well you are a hungry one. And it's your birthday, so tuck in love!" She laughed and kissed me before doing just that. "So. What would you like to do today? It's completely up to you."

"Actually, I'm going to Carlisle today and getting that pill he talked about. I thought maybe tonight we could try it out." She said nervously looking at me.

"Birthday sex? Count me in please." I laughed and laid my head on her chest. "But seriously are you sure? I told you I don't want to push anything."

"I know. But it's time." She quietly finished breakfast and got dressed to go see Carlisle.

"Do you want me to come with?"

"No I think I'll be fine. How about we go for a run today after I get back? I haven't phased in a while."

"Sounds good with me. I'll get dressed. See you in a jiffy." She chuckled at my slang and kissed me for a brief goodbye.

Bella returned with a small bottle of pills and set them aside for later in the evening. The run was really pleasant. I loved petting her furry head and getting that purr going. She was so precious.

Esme cooked her an extravagant dinner and I made her a small cake. She told me not to, but sue me, it's her birthday! After bidding everyone a good night we headed back to our place. Bella popped one of those tiny little pills and laid on the bed waiting for it to kick in.

"Oh that feels weird." She exclaimed when it must have started to hit. Her eyes dilated a bit from it.

"Is it a good weird or a bad weird? Do you want to-?" She answered my question with a heated kiss. It was so strange, I could actually feel her muscles relaxing. I went slow, returning her kiss and then making my way down her neck. Her body felt flushed, even through her clothes. The prospect of what was about to happen got me excited and I suddenly went for her jeans. I actually had her belt unbuckled before I felt a harsh hand stop my movements. "Oh sorry Bella. You're right, that was too fast. Let me just go back..." The rest of my sentence faded to nothing when I caught sight of her face.

Her eyes were screwed shut and her teeth were gritted in pain. The hold she had on my wrist was getting painful and her muscles were wound as tight as I've ever felt them. It was the locker incident all over again. Except I don't know what caused it. I immediately jumped off her body and went to calm her by her head.

"Bella? Bella hey I stopped ok? I'm not going to try anything else. Bella can you hear me? Tell me what's wrong." She abruptly started to mutter and yell panicked. Like a nightmare but she was awake. I heard a couple 'no's and 'please don't's, even a few 'stop's. I grabbed her face desperately, that always seemed to work with her nightmares. But it just made it so much worse. I was out of options.

I ran outside started yelling for Carlisle. Last time I saw, he was in the common room with the family.

"Carlisle! Carlisle I need you!"

"Hey Alice I'm right here. What's wrong?" I had apparently run right past him in a panic. The whole family was there looking at me concerned.

"It-it's Bella. I don't know what's wrong." He followed me back immediately, leaving the family confused. Once back, he instantly went into action, assessing what was wrong with my mate.

"She's having a horrible panic attack. I've actually never seen one this bad. What caused it? What were you doing?" He asked alarmed, looking up at me.

"I-I don't know! We were about to-to maybe do stuff…."

"You mean sex? Did she take that pill? Did she take more than one?" He was getting more and more worried by the second.

"Yes. But she only took one Carlisle I swear! I watched her do it."

"That-that doesn't make any sense." He said, and went back to observing Bella. "It's the smallest dose there is. Unless… no. No. Oh my god!" His face went from anxious to absolutely horrified in an instant.

"What? Carlisle you're scaring me! Is she ok? Will she be alright? What's wrong with her?" I started to cry under the stress.

"I need to talk to Liam. Now. I'm not sure Alice. I just hope I'm wrong. I'll go get Esme to help you. Keep trying to calm her down. I'll be back." And then he left me, more upset and confused than I was before he entered.

Liam POV:

I almost followed Carlisle back with Alice when she came in in a panic. But I let Carlisle do his job, he was good at it. The rest of the Cullens were still a little concerned with what was happening, but I trusted that he would fix the issue. Maybe Bella accidentally cut herself on something. Or maybe just a bad nightmare. My relaxed state went out the window when Carlisle returned in a terrified fury.

"Liam! My office now!"

"What?" I was confused on why he was angry at me. What did I do?

"OFFICE NOW!"

"Carlisle!" Esme yelled, obviously upset by his tone with me.

"I'm sorry Esme now is not the time! Can you please help Alice try to calm Bella down? Liam and I need to have a chat." Esme jumped up right away and went to Bella's room, leaving the rest of the family in shock. I've never seen Carlisle in a mood like this, it was scary as hell. I followed his orders this time, not wanting to upset him further. He slammed his office door shut right after we entered.

"Carlisle what's this about? What's wrong?" He ignored my questions and gestured for me to sit while he stood facing me.

"Now Liam, I'm going to ask you this one time. Did the Volturi do something to Bella that you two have not been honest about?" All the color left my face. Oh my god what happened? How did he find out? Was Bella ok? "LIAM?"

"Ca-Carlisle I can't. It-it's not my place." I started to tremble when Carlisle began to shake with rage.

"LOOK AT HER! LOOK AT WHAT IT'S DOING TO HER!" He screamed extremely loudly. I'm pretty sure not even his soundproofed walls held that noise in. He took a deep breath, trying to calm down slightly. "It's not helping to keep it a secret anymore. Liam you need to tell me, was she raped?" I finally broke down and started to sob uncontrollably. He was right.

"Yes." He stepped back, staring up at the ceiling in anger.

"How many times?"

"I-I don't know. Too many to count." He slammed a fist on his desk, breaking it in half.

"GOD DAMN IT! FUCK!" I'd never seen a man so livid in my life. He grabbed my shirt collar and pulled me up. "Who? Which one?"

"C-Caius!" I was distraught and a little afraid for my life. But he let go and broke down right in front of me.

"Jesus. Why? Why her?" He wasn't asking me anymore, the question was rhetorical. He cried for a little while, but stood up and took another calming breath. "I-I need you to calm Bella down, and then take her somewhere away from here. And. And I need you tell Alice. This can't be a secret anymore. It's not the best way to do it, but it's not healthy anymore. It's killing her. It-it needs to come out." He resigned at the end of the sentence.

"Carlisle no. It's not our right to say."

"I know Liam. But when it threatens her life and sanity, it does become our responsibility." He looked winded, older even. "Go on now. I'll bring Alice in here." I nodded and stood up to face my fate.

"What the actual fuck is going on?" Emmett yelled right away when we walked out. Everyone was wide-eyed staring us down. Obviously they had heard the screaming from Carlisle's end.

"Not now Emmett." Carlisle waved him down as we walked over towards Bella's room.

Bella was laying on the bed, shivering and mumbling, with Alice cradling her head and Esme holding her hands.

"Alice can you come with me to my office please? Esme, Liam has it from here." Alice hesitantly got up and followed him out, and Esme walked out giving me a concerned look.

"Hey Bells. I'm going to take you to Casa-seguro." Casa-seguro was our code name for the small cottage she had just outside of town. It was a secret getaway spot, hidden away next to the Potomac River. It was a beautiful peaceful little cottage, only used when she needed some quiet time. Obviously it hadn't seen action in months.

I carried her out the back way to her car to avoid any wandering eyes. She eventually came back to during the car ride over. I had to fill her in on everything. She didn't say a word, just stared out the window with glassy eyes. She stayed silent when I dropped her off, and went inside the house slowly. I made my way back, hating what I had to do.

"Where's Bella? What the hell is going on?" Rosalie cornered me right when I came through the door.

"Rosalie I'm sorry. I really can't talk right now." I pushed her off and went to Carlisle's office. There he was, sitting across from a confused looking Alice.

"There he is. I told you he would be back soon." Carlisle said as he got up to leave. He put a gentle hand on my shoulder before making his exit. Obviously he knew how hard this would be.

"Liam what's going on? Carlisle said you took Bella some place safe? What's wrong? Did I do something? Is she ok?" Alice was so scared and worried about my best friend. I didn't want to do this. But Carlisle was right, it was long overdue.

"Um, Alice we need to talk. I need to tell you something, something I probably should have told you a long time ago."


A/N: Yep. Next chapter: Alice's and Rosalie's reactions. Actually really everyone's reactions.