Chapter 11

"Bella, I'm in love!" Emmett told her excitedly, as soon as she taken her seat on her side of the visitation table. His smile lit up his entire face, and his dimples were prominent. Bella couldn't help but smile back.

"Wow, this is huge!" she answered, genuinely surprised. "I never thought I'd hear you say those words." Emmett had never exactly been a one-woman kind of man. Any time she thought he might be getting a little close with someone, he always seemed to find a reason to break it off. Never had he uttered the L-word, at least not regarding a girl he was seeing.

"I know- I couldn't believe it myself."

"Did you tell her? Did she say it back? This is major, Emmett," she said, forgetting just for a moment where she was and actually feeling excited about something. "I want to meet her- I can put her on my visitation list." She second-guessed that offer immediately. Who would drive two hours to meet someone's sister in prison? "I mean, if she would be okay with that. If not, it's no big deal."

"Well, actually you've already met her."

"I have? Who is it?"

"Rosalie Hale."

Bella frowned in confusion. "You're dating… my lawyer?" she asked, not sure how she felt about this information.

"No, we're not dating…yet. I just know that she's the one," he said, a dreamy, faraway look in his eyes.

"Got to admit, I'm confused here, Em. What's going on?" She wanted to be happy for him, but she also found it excessively inappropriate to be lusting after her attorney, especially when her life- her very freedom- was on the line.

"Last week she called me about your case. She said she wanted to go over some details about Renee's history, or lack thereof, with our family. We met at Bella Italia. I was at the table when she walked in, and I swear it was like the heavens opened and dropped down an angel, just for me."

"Sounds pretty cheesy," Bella said flatly.

"How can I explain this? Do you remember those old stories that Billy Black used to tell us? The tribal legends?"

Bella felt even more confused. "You mean about men turning into wolves and Cold Ones?"

"No, not that one. The one about imprinting. That everyone has one person that is like their soul mate, and when you see yours for the first time, you would be anything, do anything for them? That's how I feel about Rosalie."

"That's pretty powerful," Bella admitted. It reminded her of the way she felt about Edward. Emmett had kept them apart by forbidding a relationship, and now she was considering doing the same to him. Part of her felt like she was overreacting, but she couldn't help but feel hurt that he would even consider getting into a relationship with a woman whose mind needed to be focused on her. She loved her brother dearly, but she wanted to be selfish for once. "How does Rosalie feel about all this?"

"She thinks I'm an idiot," he said forlornly. "I think I came across too strong. I think her exact words were, 'If you care about your sister at all, you will stop drooling, take your eyes off my chest, and give me the information I need to help her.'"

Bella couldn't help it- she burst out laughing. "I really… really like her, Em."

"Yeah, yeah. Of course she's right, but I just have trouble thinking when she's around. She's amazing too- not just her looks. She's smart, and she's strong, and most importantly, she is a hundred percent dedicated to your case. There isn't anything to not love about her. So I promise, until this is over, my mind is in the game- focused on you."

"Thanks for that," she said. Now there's two potential relationships on hold because of Renee, she thought bitterly. "So what's going on with that? I don't hear much in here."

"I'm not sure all the ins and outs, but Rosalie has talked to Dad. He gave her copies of everything he has. She also went down to the Rez and talked to some people there. I'm not sure about what though. She said she was going to ask some questions at the Port Angeles police station, but she suspects they won't cooperate. Then she was going to go try to talk to the mother of the kid that… you know."

"That's going to be an uncomfortable conversation…" Bella mumbled sadly.

"Definitely not one I would want to have. Oh, she also said to tell you that you're going to be receiving a request to release copies of your medical records to her."

"Okay, I'll ask my Case Manager to look out for that," Bella agreed. She wasn't sure why it was necessary, but if Rosalie said she needed them, then she was happy to provide them.

"Dad's PI license came through, by the way. He's been out in Port Angeles a lot, keeping an eye on the bitch. He also had Sue's son Seth come over to show him, and I quote, 'how to work the social media.'"

"Dad and Sue were starting to get really close right before I got arrested," Bella mused. "I guess that kind of fell apart, huh?" Sue was a lovely woman from the Rez that Bella really liked. Her husband died several years ago, shortly after her son Seth was born. She had an older daughter, Leah, who Bella thought was nice, though they weren't terribly close. The last few years, she noticed a subtle shift in her father whenever Sue was near. He seemed more attentive to her, more in tune. Bella thought they would make a great couple. But now…

"They still talk and stuff, but he hasn't been in his right mind to start a relationship, you know?"

Make that three potential relationships ruined by Renee.

In what felt like to time at all, the guard was yelling "Time's up." She gave her brother the one "brief hug" she was allowed, and walked back to her pod reluctantly. She had no desire to return to her cell, or anywhere near Lauren Mallory.

Lauren was frequently high. From the state of her mouth, Bella suspected she used meth, or at least had used it heavily at some point in her life. She wasn't exactly sure what kinds of drugs circulated in prison. When Lauren was high, she became paranoid, and constantly accused Bella of buying drugs off her competitors, or of stealing her things. When she wasn't high, she wasn't awful. She was just generally in a foul mood and not good company, but she left Bella alone for the most part.

Over the last month, Bella settled into her new routine. She was still jumpy around the guards and constantly on the lookout for James. She was careful to always follow instructions to the letter, and she never gave them reason to discipline her, even though they apparently didn't need a valid reason.

She only saw the redhead, whose name she'd learned was Victoria Wilde, in James' office occasionally. The daily visits to drop off mail to him were the lowest point of her day.

Visiting Edward, despite the fact that she remained coldly distant to him, was the best part of each day. If all she could do was deliver mail to him, she would take it. She still slept every night with her worry stone clutched in her palm. The only time she was without it was when she was in the shower, where she always left it safely in her locker.

Overall, despite her constant fear, her situation had improved as much as it probably could have. The job kept her mind occupied enough that the days didn't feel so long. She was able to visit the commissary and purchase some decent shampoo, soap and conditioner, and started to feel just a little more human. She still had the occasional run-in with another inmate- they especially still loved pillaging her tray in the cafeteria, but she was hardly hungry anyway. She ate what she could for the sake of survival, but never really felt the urge to eat anymore. It felt like a pointless exercise.

She'd read just about everything of interest to her in the library and thought about asking Charlie to bring her more books now that she could store them somewhere safe. She knew he would in a heartbeat, but she hated to ask any favors of him. She was able to get some copies of popular magazines from the commissary- not things she would normally read, but they helped to pass the time.

Despite the improvements, every passing day filled her more with longing to be free, and still felt overwhelming sadness. She went through the motions each day, but without a purpose, she found little motivation to even get out of bed in the morning, and wondered if she would even bother if the guards didn't require it.

When she returned to her cell, she heard the top bunk squeaking rhythmically and Lauren moaning- loudly. This was a regular occurrence, and while it annoyed Bella to no end, she felt it best to ignore it. She quickly reached under her pillow where she had stashed one of her magazines that morning with the intention of taking it to the common area to flip though. As she reached down to get it, she noticed the photos she had taped above her bed were missing. Taping things to the wall was technically against the rules, but the guards never said anything about it as long as it was nothing graphic. She had the three pictures Charlie had given her when she first arrived- one of her and Charlie, one of her and Emmett, and one of her and Jake.

She was immediately suspicious that Lauren had taken the photos. She quickly scanned the area and bent down to pick up a ripped half of a photo containing just her. She recognized it as the one with her and her brother, but didn't see the other half. Her eyes snapped up to where Lauren was laying, and Bella saw two more ripped photos at the foot of the mattress, both the sides that contained her image. Lauren was holding the other halves of the photos tightly in her left hand while her right was buried deep into her pants, furiously pleasuring herself.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Bella demanded, seeing red.

"What?" Lauren asked, panting. "They're fucking hot."

Bella stood on the lower rail of the bunk and snatched the pictures out of her hand. "My dad, seriously?" she asked, looking at the top photo.

Lauren didn't stop playing with herself. "Ugh, that moustache. The things that man could make me feel."

This is Hell. I am literally in Hell, Bella thought angrily as she stormed out of the cell. She threw the torn photos in the nearest trash can. She would have to ask Emmett or Charlie to bring more.

The next morning, Lauren acted as if nothing happened. Bella was still angry at the destruction of her property, especially in the manner it had been abused.

"I need you to do something for me," Lauren said as they gathered their towels and toiletries.

"Not a chance," Bella answered firmly, as she began to walk toward the showers.

"Wait," Lauren said, grabbing her arm. Bella tensed at the unexpected contact. With few exceptions, she never much cared for being touched, a trait that was amplified following James' assault.

"What?" Bella asked, shaking her arm loose from Lauren's grasp.

"I'm supposed to be getting a package today. I need you to make sure it gets through."

"I don't screen packages, the guards do," Bella explained, shaking her head at Lauren's audacity.

"Yeah, but you're close enough that you can sneak in there and put it in the checked pile."

"Not happening," Bella said plainly. The last thing she needed was to put herself more at risk of disciplinary action.

"You're such a bitch!" she shrieked, attracting the attention of Demetri, who started to walk over.

"Look," Bella whispered. "I'm just trying to do my time and get out of here. I'm not interested in involving myself in whatever you've got going on."

Lauren was turning an unhealthy shade of purple, but quickly shut her mouth when Demetri arrived. "Everything okay in here?"

"Fine, sir," Bella said, eyes trained on the floor. She never had a problem with Demetri, but still trembled with fear whenever he was near.

"Mallory?" he asked.

"Just peachy," Lauren muttered, shoving past Demetri, shooting a glare behind her.

After a shower and reporting to the mail room, Bella stopped in her tracks when she came face to face with James. She had never seen him hanging around this area, and was instantly on alert. He shot her a hard glare, which was a deviation from his usually sickly-sweet smiles.

"Swan," he acknowledged with a curt nod.

"Good morning, Office Forrester," she said politely, aware that there were others in the vicinity.

"You're going to have a busy morning. Lots of packages today. Thought I'd help out."

"Yes sir," Bella responded, and immediately went to work. She couldn't help but notice through the open door where she could see mail being screened that the package volume didn't look any higher than normal. Packages were delivered to inmates twice per week, but they had never brought in extra guards to help before.

"These are clear," James grumbled after only a few minutes, sliding a cart toward her and exiting without another word. As soon as the door shut behind him, she couldn't help but look. Right on top was a box addressed to Lauren Mallory. Even though it had been slit open just like the others, she didn't look inside. She was sure it was drugs, but didn't want to know for sure. If it was, or something else illicit, and she reported it, they could easily figure out that James screened it himself. She didn't even want to consider those consequences. Instead, she dutifully sorted out the packages between the two pods, deciding to deliver the cart with Lauren's package first. She wanted the little indiscriminate box out of her sight.

A few hours later, while on her standard delivery route, she found herself outside James' office door. As usual, she crossed her fingers that he wasn't there, and she could leave the mail with a secretary. She took a deep, anxious breath before tentatively knocking on James' door.

"Come in," she heard, and her heart fell instantly. There would be no avoiding him today, it seemed. She opened the door and stepped inside.

"Shut it," James commanded. Her hand shook on the knob as she did what he asked. The sound of the door clicking shut reverberated like thunder in her ears.

He stalked towards her, looking absolutely lethal, and stepped right up to her, leaving an inch at most of space between them. She shrunk away from him, her back digging into the closed door. She could smell stale cigarettes on his breath as he growled in her face. She trembled from head to toe, flashbacks of his hands on her in solitary invading her memory.

His hand gripped her chin roughly and he forced her head up to look him in the eye. "I've heard you've been a real good girl. Not a word to anyone. Are you going to keep being a good girl?"

"Yes," she whimpered, her voice cracking.

"Good. Then next time you're asked to push a package through, just fucking do it," he growled, slamming his fist against the wall next to her head, causing her to cry out. "Trust me, you don't want me to have to come down there again. Understand?"

Bella nodded quickly.

His hand moved from her chin to her cheek, stroking gently. His fingers trailed down her to her collarbone, then he shoved her hard into the door. "Good. Now get the fuck back to work."

She reached behind her, fumbling for the knob and quickly made her escape. Leaving her cart, she ran to the nearest restroom and vomited the meager breakfast she consumed. Making herself as small as possible, she curled in between the wall and the toilet, and released several violent, shuddering sobs. She knew she wasn't allowed in this particular restroom, so she didn't allow herself to stay long. After pulling herself together, she splashed water on her face and rinsed out her mouth, but her eyes were still red-rimmed and her cheeks were puffy.

Upon returning to her cart, she realized that she never actually handed James the couple of letters that were for him, so with trembling hands, she stooped over and slid them under his door, then ran as quickly as she could toward Pod A, dragging the cart behind her.

In the month that had passed since Christmas, Edward became a model employee- focused on doing his job diligently. There were no errors, not even a typo. There was no reason for Mike or Aro to question his loyalty to his work. Every day Bella came and handed him the mail with barely a word. He always thanked her politely, but he didn't try to engage her anymore.

During his off hours, he spent a lot of time with Angela and Ben, which helped to take his mind off of Bella. Though he always hoped Angela might mention something about Bella, which she never did, he was also enjoying their newfound friendship. He played poker with Ben almost every weekend now, and Tyler usually joined as well, along with a few others from various other departments in the prison.

Angela was about seven months along in her pregnancy, and she and Ben glowed with joy. At first, it irritated Edward, but it didn't take him long to realize that being around happy people wasn't so bad, especially when he worked in such a place of misery and hopelessness.

Even discounting Bella's situation, the job wasn't all what he thought it would be. He had been naïve when he first started, just as Mike had hinted. There was just too much red tape and paper pushing to effect any meaningful change. He had no doubt that if it weren't for Bella, he would have quit by now.

Rosalie contacted him a couple of times since their first conversation, but no significant progress had been made on Bella's case. He understood well that legal research took time, but he became more concerned with each passing day about Bella's welfare.

She appeared more withdrawn and detached each time he saw her. At one point, and perhaps it was just an unusually bad day for Bella, he even suspected that she might have been taking drugs. Her eyes were dead and lifeless. She was a zombie- just a shell of her former self.

He tried to keep an eye on James, and to a lesser extent, Victoria. The latter was easier to track because she was regularly assigned to his pod- so regularly in fact, it even crossed his mind that James put her there to spy on him. But if Victoria was in his pod, that meant she wasn't anywhere near Bella, and that made him happy. James, on the other hand, was much harder to track, which made Edward sick with anxiety.

James and Edward had only one thing in common- a mutual hatred of the other. They never interacted more than strictly necessary. But Edward had the feeling that James was watching him as well, waiting for him to slip up. He'd caught both him and Victoria looking in his direction enough times for him to be wary.

Edward was also waiting for James to slip up. Just two days earlier, he almost had something on him. He saw a drugged-up blonde from Pod B leaving the chapel alone, not so discreetly wiping her mouth. A few seconds later, James emerged, smirking, grinning ear-to-ear, and tucking in his shirt. James looked right into Edward's eyes as if daring him to say something about it. Had Edward known just two minutes prior what was happening, he could have walked in and caught James in the act, and possibly even gotten photo evidence. He needed something that was enough to either go to the Warden, or at the very least blackmail James into staying away from Bella.

Carlisle always instilled in Edward that he should never hit a woman, but Edward was pretty close to deciding he would make an exception for Victoria. She had taken to hanging out in the monitor room just outside his office, flirting with Tyler, and pretending to be interested in his job. Tyler seemed uncomfortable with the attention, but was polite enough not to say anything.

How many cameras are there? How does this switch work? Can you toggle between these ones? Is it the same layout in Pod B?

Edward figured she was either keeping a closer eye on him, checking for blind spots in the cameras, or both.

She also had an annoying habit of peering into his office every time she went to the restroom, which she seemed to do more times a day than an average human.

He slammed his door shut when his phone starting vibrating and he saw it was Rosalie. Victoria's fiery red hair swirled as she snapped her head back to look at him through the window of his office, but he was fairly confident she couldn't hear him through the closed door. Fighting the urge to flip her off, he turned his back to the window and picked up the phone.

"Rosalie, please tell me you have something," he said in greeting.

"Something wrong?"

"Just the usual," he grumbled. "What's up?"

"I think we need to meet. Are you free on Saturday?"

Edward frowned. Saturday was five and a half days away. He was hoping she was calling with something more pressing, and preferably good news. "Do you have anything new?"

"Yes and no. Nothing concrete enough to push an appeal through, but several leads. I want to bring all of our heads together and make a plan to move forward. I also want to see what Charlie's found out on his end of the investigation. He was in Port Angeles all last week- still is, I think."

"He would have called if he had something," Edward responded. He already knew Charlie was busy following Renee's every move. As he mentioned to Edward before, he wasn't sure what he was looking for, but he would know when he found it.

"I know. Listen, this may sound strange, but I want to recreate the accident scene, and I need another woman. I already talked to Jacob and he is going to bring his girlfriend, Ness. Do you know anybody you can trust that can help us out, preferably someone who is about Bella's size?"

"Yeah, my sister," Edward answered immediately. He figured they were almost exactly the same height and close enough in build. Or they were probably close enough in build when Bella was a healthy weight. He also trusted Alice with his life. "I'll bring her along."

"Perfect, I'll send you the address."

"Thanks, Rosalie. I'll see you this weekend," Edward said, hanging up the phone. He glanced out his office window, happy to see Victoria had left. He knew Bella would be due any minute with the mail and didn't want them anywhere near each other. For the last week, Victoria had been finding excuses to be close when Bella was due to come by, so he figured something must have happened elsewhere that required her attention. "Not today, bitch," he muttered to himself.

Bella was running much later than she normally did, and he started to get concerned. He tapped his fingers impatiently on his desk as he waited, thinking about the upcoming meeting that weekend and wondering what Rosalie wanted to discuss.

When he finally caught a glimpse of Bella speaking to Tyler, he almost tore his office door off. Tyler looked unusually concerned, and Bella's eyes were red and puffy, as if she had been crying. When she looked his way, he didn't see the cold detached stare he had become so accustomed to. Instead, she looked absolutely terrified.

When Edward opened the door, he heard Tyler talking to her quietly, asking her if she was okay and if she needed any help. Bella just kept shaking her head.

"Miss Swan, would you like some water?" Edward asked, being sure to keep his tone professional.

She hesitated, then nodded anxiously.

"Come in for a second- I'll take that," he said, gently taking the mail from her, which she had been crushing in her palm.

He left the door open as to not arouse any suspicion from Tyler, or from Victoria, in case she returned.

He handed her one of the small bottles of water that he kept a in his desk drawer. "It's warm, sorry."

Bella took a shaky sip and a couple of deep breaths. "It's fine, thank you," she managed.

"Are you hurt?" he asked, his eyes imploring hers.

"No, I'm fine," she responded quickly, her gaze finding the wall behind him.

"You don't look fine. Do you need to talk to someone?"

"No. I just needed a second. Thank you, though," she started to get up, but Edward reached his arm out to stop her. He couldn't help but notice that she flinched away from him, which added to his growing concern.

"Look, I understand that you don't know me that well," he said for Tyler's benefit. "But if there's something you need to talk about, I'm here to listen. Or if you don't feel comfortable with me, you can talk to Angela. She's very trustworthy," he said, emphasizing the last word. "I hope you will consider it." As he spoke, he scribbled a note and turned it around for her to see. Do you need to meet somewhere to talk? He slid the paper and pen toward her, but she pushed it back to him.

"I'm fine. Just not feeling great, honestly. I appreciate the water."

"It's really no problem," he said, scribbling down PLEASE talk to Angela.

"I'll see you tomorrow. Thank you, Mr. Cullen."

When she rose again to leave, it was all he could take not to follow her. Bella always seemed sad and distant, but this was extremely unusual behavior for her. Something was very, very wrong.

Bella's last stop for the day was her own Pod. Her eyes were still sore from crying, and Edward's expression told her that he knew something was wrong. She tried to keep her features neutral as she delivered the mail to Angela.

"Hi Isabella," Angela said with a smile, standing up to accept the mail. One hand rested on her now protruding abdomen. She frowned when she got a better look at Bella. "Are you okay? You look like you've been crying."

"I'm fine," Bella said. "Just feeling a little overwhelmed today."

"Yeah, I promise. I need to go return the cart."

Angela looked skeptical, but accepted Bella's response. "Before you go, I got a fax this morning from Port Angeles General Hospital. It's a request to release your medical records to someone named Rosalie Hale. I think that was the lawyer who visited you a month or so ago? Do you know anything about this?"

"Yeah, actually- I meant to ask you about that. It's fine," Bella answered.

"Okay, no problem. Go ahead and sign the form here," she said pointing. "I'll fax it back to them before I leave today."

"I appreciate it, thank you," Bella signed the form quickly and shifted her feet uncomfortably.

"Isabella… are you sure there isn't anything you need help with?"

Bella waivered, but only for a moment. "Actually, I…" she trailed off.

"I'm listening. Do you want to take a seat?"

"I was just going to say I'm worried about being late bringing back the cart and signing out for the day. Excuse me," she said, backing out of the office and hurrying down the stairs.

She thought about Edward's hastily written note to her. He suggested she talk to Angela, because he trusted her. She also trusted Angela, but not to that extent. The thought of James taking out his anger on her in any way shook her to the core. She was trapped- just the way he wanted it.

After dropping off the cart, she returned to her cell to find Lauren laying across her bed, sneakers on, with her feet crossed casually. She was flicking through a stack of printer pages.

"Please get off my bed," Bella asked her, as nicely as she could, given how angry she was at the situation with the mail and knowing she was working with James. Not to mention the heinous way she had destroyed and abused her photographs the night before.

"Well, well, well," Lauren said cheerfully. She held up one of the pages so that Bella could see it. It was a printout of an article from a news website- the Port Angeles Gazette.

Bella paled. "Why do you have that?" she demanded.

Lauren smirked at her evilly. "Because I think people around here might be interested to know that we have a baby killer living among us."