Hi everyone! Thanks so much for all the support on Beautiful Bella! And for those of you who follow me on Tumblr and found this fic on my blog, thank you too!
A reader asked a good question on the last chapter, and I wanted to clear it up before we got into the chapter—Jasper is NOT the one who killed Bella's parents. He could never, haha. It was definitely James.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter x
Currently residing in their home in Alaska, Alice smiled to herself as she looked over the various outfits she'd bought for her mother and sister. Having laid them out on the queen-sized bed she and Jasper had, Alice was proud that she'd found the right clothing that fit their styles just right. Of course, it was silly to Edward and the rest of the men of the house, but Alice never allowed anyone in her family to wear one item of clothing more than a few times a month before moving on to the next best thing.
It was merely to pass the time; she thought to herself as she buzzed with anticipation for the following months that were to come. She'd been seeing visions of the little girl named Bella every now and then, granting the seer hope that the child would come to love the family and that she'd want to spend more time with them in the future. Carlisle would be seeing Bella in the hospital again for a check-up, and Esme would decide to attempt a friendship with Renee Swan in order to keep an eye on the child that appeared to be neglected. The most recent one, however, is the one of Jasper smiling at Bella with genuine care. It brought nothing but joy to Alice to see her husband happier than he'd ever been in a long time.
Alice's smile grew wider as she felt two strong arms wrap around her waist and Jasper rested his chin in the crook of her neck, "What has you feeling so happy, darlin'?"
"You," Turning in his embrace, Alice laced her fingers together behind his neck to pull him down for a tender kiss and sharing her unending love for her husband, "you make me happy, Jasper. So happy."
Jasper gazed into her eyes for a long moment before he leaned down and deepened their kiss. Pulling her closer to him and backing them up until Alice fell onto the bed with a gentle bounce. She giggled as he kissed down her neck, his sensual touch, and dominating kisses made her forget all about the clothes on the bed. Jasper wasn't a man of many words, she'd come to know that, but when he shared the warmth of his love, and it seeped into her skin, down to her very core, Alice knew that was more than enough.
Alice watched her husband lovingly with a shy smile on her lips as she watched him beginning to unbutton her dress.
And then...a vision, vivid and horrifying, crashed into her, making her gasp as she was pulled away from her Jasper and transported into what appeared to be the inside of an ambulance. Being jostled into a strange new atmosphere, Alice was stunned for a short moment. The bright lights inside the vehicle made her cover her eyes for a second until they adjusted. She leaned up against the wall on a bench and the harsh sound of sirens echoed around her. The confusion she felt was unlike any she felt before.
What is this...
Staring wide-eyed at the little girl who laid unconscious on a gurney in front of her while paramedics worked on the horrible injury on her shoulder, Alice immediately recognized the little girl who was supposed to be a part of their family in the future. Gasping, Alice covered her mouth in horror.
No, no, no! It wasn't supposed to happen this way! Alice thought sadly as she had no choice but to watch the little girl open her eyes warily before they filled with tears. Bella cried silently as the two paramedics whispered around her, "Poor kid. Lost both parents right in front of her. Most of the blood isn't even hers."
"You just know this is going to mess with her head. Probably going to be traumatized after this."
With a pang of great sadness, Alice kneeled beside the little girl. She wished she could place a comforting hand on Bella's own and whisper that they would come to get her, that everything would be alright. To hold on...But before she could do so, Alice was pulled out of her vision and shoved back into consciousness. Jasper had his arms around her, steadying her before Alice could fall off the bed, gasping as if she'd been drowning in the bottomless ocean. Cupping her face in his hands, Jasper breathes, "Alice! What's going on, darlin'? What did you see?"
It takes her a few more seconds to readjust to the present, Bella's pale face still in the back of her mind. Alice looks to her husband, shaking her head, the concern on his chiseled face conveying more than words ever could to her. Running a thumb across her cheek, he probes, "Talk to me."
"Oh Jazz, it's horrible." she says, her voice wavering with emotion that unsettled Jasper even more, "So horrible."
Edward entered the room, a pained expression on his face as he looked at his sister, who looked uncharacteristically distressed. Jasper looked over his shoulder to see his brother walk into the dining room where Alice called a meeting with the others, sensing his troubled emotions too. Edward had to ask, recognizing the child in the vision after seeing her in Carlisle's and Jasper's mind a few times before, "That's Bella?"
"It wasn't supposed to happen like this," Alice murmured helplessly, leaning against an alarmed Jasper and alerting everyone else sitting at the table too. Carlisle tensed, already thinking about a hundred ways Bella had been hurt this time, "but it's not too late. I think we can still help her."
"What do you mean?" Jasper asked but growing impatient with worry as he rushed out, "What happened to her?"
As everyone gathered in the dining room, each sitting in their usual seats, Alice tried not to imagine Bella's nearly lifeless body as she's rolled into the emergency room.
"I think they were on the reservation because I couldn't exactly see what happened, but," Alice licked her lips nervously, clearly still shaken up by the vision. They were rarely this strong, and yet when they were bad visions, they haunted the seer, "Bella's parents are dead. I don't know how."
"Where is she? Is she-" Carlisle couldn't bring himself to say it. To ask if the child he'd come to care for in such a short amount of time was dead.
Alice shakes her head, feeling Jasper's shoulders relax from the corner of her eye, "No. But she is injured, very injured by what I saw. I think she's lost a lot of blood. She's being taken to the hospital now."
Just like that, Carlisle was standing and walking out of the dining room before she could say more.
A hand clasped down on his shoulder and stopping him right as he reached for his car keys off the counter. Turning around, Carlisle couldn't hide the worry marring his face as he faced his youngest son. Edward shook his head, "What are you going to do once you get there? It'll be days before you get back to Forks."
"I'm going to help that little girl and find out what happened to her family," Carlisle stated, already regretting leaving Forks in the first place to come visit the Denali's for a change.
"She doesn't have a family anymore," Alice murmured as she and the others walked into the kitchen. Carlisle met his daughter's amber eyes and felt her sorrow even without Jasper's gift, "apart from her parents there are no other blood-related relatives who could come and claim her. Bella is...alone."
Looking to his wife, Esme crossed the distance and held Carlisle's hand. The wordless conversation they had with a mere glance told Edward exactly what they'd agreed upon and he knew that no matter how much he or anyone else in the family objected to bringing a human into their home—Carlisle and Esme had made up their minds. "Jasper, can you contact Jenks?"
Jasper turned to his wife with a curt nod and walked out of the room, already dialing his old friend.
Alice gave a small smile to her parents after seeing another vision that resulted in their decision, "It will work. Go."
Watching as his adoptive parents drive down the gravel driveway and onto the road, Edward remained by the window and gazed out towards the storm that loomed over the small town of Forks. Closing his eyes when Rosalie started protesting with alarm, just as frightened as the rest of his siblings were to harm a fragile child that could be broken at any second, Edward couldn't help but agree with his sister for the first time in a long time.
"I'm so glad you called. We were about to speak to social services right before you arrived, Dr. Cullen!" A kind nurse named Shay said enthusiastically as she led Carlisle and Esme down the hall of the hospital. The couple held hands the entire time, glancing towards one another with a collective sigh. Both were more than relieved that they'd made it back to Forks in less than two days, to ensure that Bella wouldn't be taken away before they could see her. Now, they were nervous about what they would find behind the glass door Shay stopped right in front of.
"How is she?" Carlisle asked the woman, noticing the way Shay's shoulders dropped right away.
"She's, um...not doing well. I think from the shock of it all, she refuses to speak or eat. And she refused to allow the nurses to check her wounds, throwing a fit until they had to sedate her."
Esme couldn't hold back a frown, "Was it wise to do that to a child?"
"Oh, of course, they tried to calm her without it but Bella did open up the stitches because she was trying to get away from them. Please," Shay opened the door and stepped into the room where the sound of a heart monitor beeped steadily.
Esme and Carlisle shared wary glances at one another before finally walking into the small room. Shay led the troubled couple to the very end of the room, and there, sitting on the bed and gazing out towards the large rectangular window, was Bella. The little girl was sitting up though her shoulders were slouched, her eyes staring blankly at the raindrops that rolled down the glass. Carlisle could see the way she rested her arm on her lap, clearly in a great deal of pain if she was injured in the same place Alice had described. The smell of fresh blood was still lingering in the air.
"Isabella?" Shay said gently, standing beside the girl and whispering. A flinch was all the reaction she got to indicate that Bella had heard her, "Someone's here to see you. They're going to sit and talk to you for a bit, okay?" Shay excused herself soon after that, wishing them both luck as she closed the door behind her.
Walking around the front of the bed, Carlisle's eyes never left the little girl who still hadn't looked at him. Taking in the bandages wrapped around her shoulders and a few scratches on her face, the doctor reached for her medical chart at the foot of the bed and read the report tentatively. Esme on the other hand took a seat on a chair beside Bella, smiling warmly with sad eyes as she greeted her, "Hello, Bella. I'm Esme and this is Carlisle. Do you remember him?"
As if just noticing that someone was in the room, Bella slowly turned her head away from the window. Her brown eyes that had once been so bright with excitement and curiosity were dim and filled with sorrow, too much for a young child to have. She looked at Esme for a moment before finding Carlisle standing there, gazing at her with a gentleness that seemed so foreign to her.
"Hello, Bella," Carlisle finally spoke to her and watched as Bella blinked a few times before turning her head to look back out the window. With a saddened sigh, Carlisle walks around and takes a seat next to Esme, "Would you mind if we talk to you about what's going to happen now? I think it's important that we explain your options."
Bella blinked again as her face remained vacant of all emotions. He wished Jasper could have been here to tell him what she was feeling or Edward to tell him what she was thinking. Her hands fidgeting with with the thin blanket that had been draped over her legs. Whether she was waiting for him to speak again or not, Carlisle continued nonetheless, "We know that you've been through a lot, and it might not make sense now, but we want you to know that you're more than welcome to come home with us, Bella."
Her silence was almost as bad as her heart beating faster—the tears filling in her eyes weren't unnoticed either and Esme found herself inching closer to the little girl. Before she could place a comforting hand over Bella's, the girl gingerly slipped her hands away and tucked them under the blanket, her heart beating faster than it had been seconds ago.
Carlisle wrapped his arms around his wife's shoulders and gave her a reassuring hug, noticing the unintentional rejection had saddened Esme. A note in the chart specified that Bella didn't want anyone touching her, that it seemed to trigger fear as soon as a nurse or doctor had touched her. He would have to keep an eye on that if Bella did come home with them.
Only one way to find out, he thought as he finally said, "If you don't want to come with us, Bella, then the nice lady over there will have to call some people to take you to another home for kids like you. And we won't be able to see you anymore. Do you understand, sweetheart?"
"Would you like to come home with us, Bella?" Esme asked, her hand holding Carlisle's tightly in hopes that the child would say yes. That she wouldn't want to be taken into foster care where she would possibly be taken far, far away.
A long moment passed and Carlisle shared a look with Esme when they thought the child wouldn't respond, clearly in too much shock to speak at all. When she turned to look at them again however, Carlisle couldn't express his heartache when he heard her ask, "Mommy and Daddy aren't coming with me?"
Esme looked to her husband, covering her mouth with her hand as her emotions got the best of her. Carlisle inched closer to Bella and looked into her eyes, noticing the way they shined with unshed tears, "No, love, they can't come with you. I'm so sorry, Isabella."
"Why...? They can't wake up?"
Carlisle shook his head slowly, "No, Bella. They can't wake up."
Endless tears ran down her round cheeks as she finally blinked them away, looking down at her hands as the droplets hit the white fabric of the blanket. Her shoulders shook as she bit her bottom lip and whispered, "Oh..." Her little sobs weren't loud at all as she cried and cried, "Okay..." Wiping her tears with her forearm and hands to try and stop the tears, simultaneously breaking Carlisle and Esme's hearts as they watched in silence, "Okay..."
But Bella's tears wouldn't stop and the worst thing was that she didn't understand why but she knew that her parents wouldn't come back for her.
They were still sleeping on the beach, holding hands...