Hereafter
Chapter 19

November 13th, 2018
11:05AM
Edward

"Sweetheart, please, you don't want to hear this."

Bella had torn herself away from my arms; her head twisted from side to side as she tried to get a better understanding of what was going on. The noise coming from outside was almost deafening, and I knew what that would have done to her anxiety. It was clear to see anyway, from the way her eyes widened, her breathing changed, and her body practically vibrated. The best thing for her to do was to close her ears and shut off the noise, but she refused to listen to me. Despite being very new to training, Luna knew to jump onto Bella's lap when things got serious, but even that didn't help anything.

Suddenly everything changed. Bella's gnawed fingers fell from her mouth and her head flopped down onto her shoulder.

"Shit." I whispered harshly, jumping up from the couch. I had Luna hop down onto the floor in order for me to lie Bella out flat across the couch. Using a pile of cushions I built a tower to elevate her legs. The sheer panic that flooded Bella's body had caused her to faint - I should have known that was going to happen, perhaps I could have prevented it.

Doing my best to ignore what was going on outside, I sat on the floor beside the couch and stroked her hair away from her face. She looked so peaceful for the first time in a long time. From my experience with fainting I knew to sit beside her, make sure nothing could hurt her, and simply wait until she was ready to 'wake up'.

Shit was going down. Nora was barking, the detection dogs were barking, people were shouting, but all I could focus on was the poor girl beside me. I wish I knew what to do to help her, but that was practically impossible when I can't leave the room. I just had to make sure that I was there for her, and protected her as best I could.

A minute or two after Bella's eyes closed, they fluttered open again. I let out a sigh of relief that it hadn't gone on for too long and hadn't reached dangerous territories. A look of fear flashed across her face and as her eyes found mine they began to brim with tears. "You're okay, love. You're okay."

Bella scratched away at her cheeks as the tears continued to pour down them. She was scared, confused and frustrated - she wanted the answers that I couldn't provide. I didn't know what was going on outside, and the last thing that I wanted to do was to lie to her and give her false information.

"Hey, don't hurt yourself, please." I gently brought Bella's hands away from her face and held them on her chest. It killed me that she was going through so much torment. I wish I could have taken it all away from her.

I finally had her breathing under control, and she had stopped scratching herself… until it all went wrong.

A gun shot was heard.

One single gun shot echoed around the house.

I tried to hide my fear but I knew that it was evident on my face. I had no idea of knowing who had fired that gun, whether it was a cop, or whether James was armed himself. Regardless of all of that, Bella was my main priority. Her eyes grew wide and her mouth opened as if she wanted to scream, but couldn't. I helped her sit up, but I kept my arms around her in a cage - she needed the pressure to help control the jitters.

"Everything is okay." I whispered with my head beside hers. "Focus on your breathing. Focus on me and Luna."

Bella tried to claw away at her throat, no doubt to ease the pressure that she felt. When I stopped that, she pulled at her hair instead. It's common for people with anxiety to have the constant need to scratch or itch your skin, but I felt like this was more to do with her frustration. She couldn't even scream, so she let her anger out in a different form.

I hadn't even noticed until that moment, but the shouting and barking had stopped once that shot was fired.

"Can you hear that?" I whispered, brushing her hair back. "Everything has gone quiet."

"Bella." Charlie's presence spooked us both, fortunately as soon as Bella saw that it was her dad walking into the room, she calmed down slightly. "It's all over, Bells. They've got him." Charlie took my place on the couch, and as he cradled his daughter in his arms, I let out the biggest sigh which I hadn't even noticed I was holding. "He's handcuffed and being taken to the car as I speak."

I knew that Bella wouldn't want to see him, and watching him being taken to the car wouldn't help in any form, but I wanted to see it for myself - I needed to see that sick bastard get the ending he deserved. So I peeked around the curtain and watched with a smile as James was walked to one of the awaiting cars - his hands cuffed behind his back. He walked with an obvious limp, which helped me realize what that gun shot had been used for. As they reached the car a cop made sure James didn't hit his head, but then all but pushed him into the back seat. For sixteen hours these men have been tracking him down, using any technique possible - they didn't have the patience or the care to sit him in the car properly.

I had a strong need to flip him my middle finger as the engine started and car drove away. He was gone. He was finally off to a place worse than hell.

I turned my head in direction of the kitchen when Nora was heard entering the house. She was accompanied by Emmett, and even though they were tired, both had an excited gleam in their eyes. Even Nora - I swear, she must have known what had just happened. I dropped to my knees as the large dog bounded over to me. "Good girl!" I praised, rubbing her ears and patting her side. "Good girl!"

It was Nora who notified us of James' presence, it was Nora who warned me of Victoria when she turned up on my front yard, and it was Nora who rescued Bella in the first place. Who knows what would have happened had she not have been in my house that night, or if I had left her with Mom and Dad when I retuned this time.

All of my emotions mixed into one and it became too much for me to hold in anymore. As I praised this brilliant dog, and as I thought about everything that had happened, I sobbed. Bella was safe, James was gone… we were on the road to recovery.

"Edward." I looked up at Charlie to see him tapping Bella on the shoulder. She was confused as to why I was crying.

"I'm okay." I stood from my crouched position before making it over to the still-quivering girl. "My emotions got the better of me, but I'm okay." I used the coffee table as a seat, and held out my hands for her to take. "I am so proud of you for how you handled that. I know that it was incredibly difficult, but you did it - you're safe now, and he can't hurt you anymore."

For the next half an hour we all just sat, and allowed the recent events to wash away from us. Bella lay on the couch with her head on Charlie's lap, and Luna curled up behind her knees; I wasn't sure if she was going to sleep or not, but the rest was needed regardless.

"I cannot wait to see that man rot in a prison cell." Charlie laughed wickedly.

"Man, I wish I could have put a fucking bullet through his skull." Emmett sighed and rubbed away at his tired face.

"Yeah, but is that not the easy way out?" I asked. "He deserves a punishment, and what is worse than spending every day for the rest of your life, living in a 6-by-8 foot cell with nothing but a bed and a toilet pan?"

Emmett thought about it for second… and then brushed me off with a wave of his hand. "Meh, I still want to put a bullet through his skull."

Charlie chuckled. "Maybe we'll be lucky and he could get put on death row - it'll be the best of both worlds, really."

Luckily for us, Bella had allowed her body to relax and finally fell asleep, which made our conversation easier to have.

"So what happened out there?" I asked. "All I could hear was barking and shouting?"

"Well!" Emmett rubbed his hands together excitedly. "Nora notified us of his return, and it turned out that that stupid fuck thought it would be a good idea to stand in the trees in the back yard. Nora's barking started off a snowball effect with the other dogs, and soon the cops had all returned. He knew that he was done for, and there was no place to run, so he left the trees, but still just stood there - taunting us with his stupid fucking face, and that God-awful grin. I told him to get onto the ground, but he didn't listen, we all told him to drop any weapons… but again he didn't listen. The fire you heard was when James decided to bring out a cigarette, light it, and then I shot him in the foot." Emmett seemed so pleased with his accomplishments. "My shot to the foot obviously brought him to the ground, which gave the guys an opportunity to tackle him and throw on a set of cuffs."

I shook my head in disbelief at the whole ordeal.

"He smoked a cigarette whilst being surrounded by police?"

Emmett shrugged. "I dunno - maybe he wanted one more for the road?"

That was when Charlie jumped in. "For somebody who appears to be very smart, he clearly didn't make the right call. Part of me thinks that he knew he was going to get caught, so decided to try one more time before it happened, but didn't take into consideration the fact that we had Nora in the house."

"I wonder why Nora didn't pick up on him last night when he managed to get in here?"

"I was thinking that myself." Charlie answered. "My theory is that he was far enough away for her not to smell him, but that he could still see the house. I took Nora on the walk, and then he took his chance. After all, I had been walking with her for a decent amount of time before you phoned me."

I rubbed my forehead as a headache began to pound. "So what will happen now?"

Charlie answered that question as well. "He'll get transported to Oregon, where the majority of the crimes took place, and then he'll live in a jail cell until he's needed in court. I'm not sure how long that will take, but in that time I'll need to get a lawyer sorted, and focus on Bella's recovery so that she is fit to take part."

"She'll need to be there, right?" I knew the answer already, but part of me needed to ask it regardless.

"I mean… she might not need to, but being the only living victim it'll be good for the jury to see exactly what he has done to her. He might get a longer or more severe sentence that way."

I knew that we had a lot on our hands, and that the road ahead was going to be tough, however I had hope that things would work out. Bella had made great improvement up until now, so I knew she could do it again.

0-0

November 20th, 2018

The last week has been difficult for everybody involved.

It took Bella four days to start talking again, even with Angela's help. Angela was asked to come over the day after James was caught, and she tried everything to get Bella to communicate with us, but she told us not to worry and that Bella will talk when she feels ready to. I don't think Bella meant to talk when she did - I was sitting beside her on the bed, soothing her off to sleep. I thought she had fallen asleep and so stood to leave the room, when she whispered out my name. It was clear that she hadn't meant to do it, but once Bella realized that nothing bad was going to happen, she would slowly introduce a few more words into her vocabulary.

Our main issue came when the news reporters caught onto what had happened. Bella had been the talk of the town when it all started, and now that she was home again everyone wanted to catch a glimpse of her and find out what had happened. Thankfully they kept their distance, so stood at the bottom of the yard, but every time one of us left the house we would get surrounded, with microphones and cameras shoved in our faces. Luckily Bella wasn't fit enough to leave the house anyway, but I know that it played on her mind a lot when she heard the mayhem going on outside.

The neighbors have been lovely and totally understanding. We also didn't have to worry about food seeing as they were constantly bringing separate dishes over for us. "I've made you a casserole, Charlie; to save you from going to the store. If you need anything, let us know." We've also received various cakes and pies. I hadn't realized until then that Bella was a big fan of cherry pie - she would eat slice after slice with no sign of stopping.

She still couldn't be left alone, and we had to make sure Luna and Nora were walked before Bella woke up and after she went to sleep, but that was only to be expected. Our biggest challenge is still to come - tomorrow we were driving to Oregon to spend Thanksgiving with my family. Charlie and I were discussing whether it was a good idea or not, but we both decided that it would be good for Bella to leave the house for a bit and distract her mind as much as possible. I double-checked with Mom, to make sure that they were still okay with the idea, and she said that they already have the spare bedroom made up and that Charlie and Bella could stay for as long as they needed to.

As long as we got there in one piece, I'm sure everything will be fine.

0-0

November 21st, 2018

People were still hanging around outside, there was no way to get Bella to the car without them seeing or taking pictures, but we tried our best. Charlie considered talking to the press and asking them to be respectful of Bella as she was carried outside, but I knew that wouldn't work - these people don't care about others, just as long as they get a shot and can make some money.

Late last night I had driven my car, which contained all of my belongings, to another street not far from the house. The plan was for the five of us - dogs included - to get into Charlie's cruiser, keep Bella covered and relaxed, and then Charlie will drive me to my car where Nora and I will get out and continue the journey from there.

"I'll take the dogs to the car, if you want to make sure you have everything?" I checked with Charlie whilst attaching Luna's leash to her collar.

"Absolutely."

With Luna by my side, I left the kitchen and went to find Bella in her favorite spot in the living room. Charlie had already turned the heating off, and with the snow settling outside, Bella had to rely on three blankets in order to keep her warm. She had one draped over her head and wrapped around her shoulder.

"Hey sweetheart," I tugged at one end of the blanket so to get a better look at her face, and that was when I noticed that Plushie Nora was hiding under the vast weight of fleece. "I'm going to take Luna and Nora to the car now, okay? And then it will be time for us to go."

Originally Bella had been staring off into space, but slowly her eyes scanned the room to meet mine, and then looked down at the ever-growing puppy who stood at my feet. "…Edward." She whispered ever so quietly.

"Yes?"

"People… Edward."

We had to be honest with her; there was absolutely no use in sugar-coating something. "There are people outside, yes, but they don't want to hurt you, they just want to take some pictures. We'll take you straight to the car, there will be cameras flashing, but they won't be able to touch you, and once we've left the street you won't need to worry about them anymore."

Bella thought over my words as she continued to nibble away at her fingers. I gave her a quick kiss on the forehead before leading Luna towards the car. I wasn't quite sure how this drive was going to go, but I hoped that with Luna on her lap, Bella will feel safe and comfortable. Luna's trainer had given us the option of whether we wanted to take her training harness with us or not - even though she won't be working, it might make her realize her role easier, especially when she is in a house full of people and Bella's anxiety will no doubt skyrocket. With that in mind we had packed her harness and made the decision to go through the commands with her ourselves.

Luna was now sixteen weeks old, and in the seven weeks Bella has had her, she has grown immensely, but still loves nothing more than to either lie beside Bella, or sit on her lap for cuddles. I can't imagine she'd be able to sit on her lap for the entire length of the journey, but as long as she is there for the beginning and there for the end, then I think everything should be okay.

Once the dogs were settled in the car, and all the bags had been taken, I was given the job of carrying Bella from the house. Her body vibrated with fear and her eyes were wide with tears. This was the first time she would be leaving the house in weeks, which was scary enough for her; the people outside only made things worse.

"You've got this, love." I soothed as Charlie adjusted the blanket so that it covered her face. We went along with the idea of 'if she can't see them, they can't see her', and hoped the the blanket would add a wall between them. The car had been reversed as far back as it could go, the engine was running and Charlie was a step behind me. Once the house was locked up and we were all in the car, we were good to go.

Surprisingly nobody shouted out or called Bella's name as we went outside. Either they had a heart and didn't want to stress the poor thing, or they were too busy taking pictures and knew that we wouldn't be answering their questions anyway.

"See, you did it!" I praised, strapping Bella into the seat. Her shaking and crying continued, but she had managed it all without an attack starting.

"Stay… Edward." Her whispered were barely audible.

"I'm going to stay with you for now, but when we get to my car I'll need to get out to drive that one. Do you remember when we last did this drive? How I was behind you all the way?" Bella nodded her head, but it was hard to see with the blanket that covered it. "Well I'll be doing the exact same this time - I'll be behind you all the way, and you can look through the mirrors if you're ever uncertain."

At first everything was going well. I managed to transfer cars with Nora and we made a plan for where to stop first - I had done this drive countless times by this point, so Charlie only had to say a name and I knew where he meant. We hit the highway and my phone stayed silent… until an hour into the journey. The ringing of my phone broke through the speakers and Charlie's name appeared on the screen of my car.

"We're gonna have to pull over."

I didn't ask for an explanation, and Charlie didn't say any more. I accepted the change and pulled up behind Charlie on the side of the road. I didn't know what to expect, but I put all my worries behind me as I made my way over to the passenger side. Bella was rocking backwards and forwards. Loud sobs filled the small car.

"It's been going on for fifteen minutes - everything was fine and then she just started crying. I had to pull over because I couldn't concentrate on the road." Charlie's words came out with a force, almost like he had a lump in his throat that he couldn't clear. He didn't know how to help his daughter, and I didn't know either.

"Bella, please, be careful." I held onto her shoulders to try and halt the frantic movements. "Tell us what is wrong - tell us how you feel."

With my hands on her shoulders, Bella couldn't rock any more, but she began to shake her head violently instead. "Tight!" She exclaimed. "Tight!"

Together, Charlie and I unstrapped Bella from the seat belt and took off her layers of blanket. It was clear that an attack had started and that the 'tightness' she felt was coming from the tightness in her chest. Charlie began to breathe in and out deeply, and made sure that Bella copied his every move. "Atta, girl." He grinned. "You've got this."

"Tell me, Bella, what are five things that you can see."

Her head moved frantically around the car as she took in five separate objects. "Road… Charlie… Edward… Luna…" The labored breathing continued when she couldn't think of the fifth object.

"It can be anything, sweetheart. Tell me the first thing you see."

"…Window."

"Now tell me four things that you can touch."

"Fleece… Luna… plastic… glass."

"That's it, Bells, take it nice and slowly - there's no rush here."

"What are three things that you can hear?"

"Voices… cars… wind."

Slowly but surely her panic attack subsided as I continued the Five Steps routine. I rummaged around in her bag to find the stash of dark chocolate I had packed there, and broke off a chunk to give to her.

"I'll get Luna for you." Charlie stepped from the car to collect Luna who had been lounging out in the back seats. She must have been moved there when I got into my own car. "The first stop is thirty minutes away, Bella - keep a hold of Luna and everything will be okay."

We stopped every thirty minutes after that. Sometimes Bella just needed to stand, other times it was worse. After the final panic attack which caused Bella to faint, twenty minutes from my parent's house, I made a mental note to ask my father about medication for Bella. Because of the circumstances she was yet to be prescribed anything, but now things were getting out of hand. Her health and safety was my number one priority, and I would stop at nothing to make her feel better again.

Of course Carlisle couldn't give her a prescription for anything, but he could lead me in the right direction. Her medication will be different from mine, so if I knew where to start, that would be something at least.

I was thankful that my parents were the only people at the house when we arrived, and they stood at the door to greet us, but didn't come any further. The second that Nora was let from the car she bounded over to her owners and took in all the pats and hugs that they offered.

"Do you want to walk, Bella?" Charlie asked his daughter as he aided her from her seat. She held onto Luna's leash but the dog didn't move until Bella was ready to.

Bella's face was ghostly pale and her eyes were sunken and dark, however she chose to walk. Charlie slipped one arm around her back in order to hold onto both arms and act as Bella's personal cane. They took steady steps, her sneakers brushed along the cobbled stones that lead to the house.

I spotted the proud smiles both mom and dad sported. "It is an honor to meet you, Bella. My name is Esme, and if you need anything at all, please don't hesitate to ask."

Dad spoke next and held out his hand as an invitation for Bella to shake it if she would like to. "Edward has told us so many amazing things about you; it is a pleasure to finally put a face to the name."

Bella stared down at her feet. "Th-thank… you." I could tell just how much those two small words meant to my parents.

"We are the ones who should be thanking you, my dear. For many different things, but mainly for trusting us."

Esme stepped aside to welcome them into our home, where as Carlisle asked if I wanted his assistance in emptying the cars. I didn't need his help, however I did accept it because I knew he wanted to use it as a way to talk to me privately.

"Difficult journey?" He asked as we emptied the trunk of my car first. "It was clear on her face that she is recovering from something."

I let out a deep sigh. "Four panic attacks, one of them lead to her fainting."

"Does that happen often?"

"Not every time, but when she gets a major shock it's more than likely to happen. I think this time it was because we were nearing Middleton, and so the memories took over."

"Hmm…" Carlisle tapped his chin in thought. "Fainting is a fairly normal side effect, however I will ask you to keep an eye on it."

"I actually wanted to ask you about medication for her."

"I'll watch her movements and get back to you on that one." He patted my shoulder proudly. "Don't worry, son - she is in great hands here."

The rest of the evening went without any major troubles, and you might call it wishful-thinking, but it seemed as though Bella relaxed more and more as the night went on.

Tomorrow, however, will be the real test.

0-0

I know some of you thought it was too soon for James to get caught, but we are twenty chapters in, and as you can tell from this one alone, there is still a lot of work to be done.

Next chapter will be Thanksgiving when we finally reunite Bella and Rose, and we meet Alice and Jasper properly! I will be making a collage to go up on my Facebook group - RosieRathbone FanFiction. Make sure to come and join us if you haven't already!

Thank you for reading, please let me know what you thought?