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"I can't believe I of all people have to say this, but have you all lost your minds?!" Edward shouted.
Emmett winced, but held his ground beside Rosalie. The entire family assembled for this meeting, well, if you want to call Edward's temper tantrum a meeting. Edward gave him a dark look, but again Emmett did not waver. He was not going to let his brother win this one.
"We all appreciate your concern, but I think in this case you may be overreacting," said Carlisle, ever the diplomat.
"Overreacting?" said Edward incredulously. "Overreacting?! You let a human into the house! You let her spend hours, days with you. God knows what she could have seen! What? You don't think she might notice how none of you ate in front of her? You don't think you might slip and run a little too fast? Or break something that's impossible to break? Did none of you THINK at all before you decided to adopt her?"
"Dude, chill," Emmett interjected. "None of that happened, and she's spent practically every waking hour of the week here. If we were gonna screw up, it would've happened already. So stop freaking!"
Edward curled his lip. "And did you think about what this would do to me? Or should I stop freaking about that too?"
"You've improved," Jasper said quietly. "I've been watching you carefully with her scent. I think you might manage staying in the same room if you focused."
Jasper was referring to the dozens of clothes saturated in Bella's scent. It was a brilliant idea on Alice's part, and he helped her carry it out all week. Everyday Alice had forced the poor girl (who in this respect, was the complete polar opposite of his fashion-obsessed wife) into as many of her outfits as she could stand for the express purpose of leaving her scent. Almost always Alice would get carried away, especially when she realized how little Bella had. Then when Jasper felt Bella's panic and discomfort reach too high a level, he would rescue her with whatever distractions he could concoct. That night, Jasper or Carlisle would travel to Denali to deliver the clothes to Edward, where they patiently watched him struggle with the madness and coached him as best as they could.
He smiled as he thought back to the "distractions" he came up with. Bella had an amazing mind...she loved history as much as he did, and had read recreationally on the subject beyond anyone her own age. His own uncomfortable thirst for her appealing blood had subsided considerably, simply because of all the time he spent with her discussing this and that. He cherished her company enough to swallow the venom that still dripped from his teeth when a breeze blew her aroma in his direction. But for the first time in his existence, he refrained from attacking her not just because he didn't want to hurt an innocent human, but because he liked the individual in question-he truly did not want any harm to come to this girl, whether caused by him or by another. His observations over the last week told him his family felt the same way.
"Why can't you comprehend the danger you're putting us all in?" Edward asked, staring each of them down, "the danger you're putting her in? If the Volturi catch wind of this..."
"I think I can speak with more authority on this subject than you can, Edward," Carlisle started, "and I don't believe the Volturi will knock on our door anytime soon. They've never graced us with their presence before, and there's no reason to think they will now."
"And I've been looking," said Alice, referring to her unusual ability to see the future. "There's nothing to be worried about. Please Edward, I really like her!"
"Clearly," he snarled, "you've decided to wait until something does happen before acting in our best interest. Shall I just go find her and have myself a nice meal then?"
Despite his ability to read their minds, Edward was still startled when his sarcastic remark was met with five different angry growls. Esme and his siblings, in fact, looked ready to pounce. Edward stood in shock as he listened to the thoughts around him. He was making a joke, of course. Callous, but a joke nonetheless. Yet, on the other hand, many of them had made terrible mistakes before. It wasn't something any of them liked to think about, but unless you had Carlisle's willpower and restraint, accidentally killing people was something that did occasionally happen. Deep down Edward knew that if he did slip, as awful as that would be, his family would deal with it in the same way they've always dealt with similar slip-ups.
Listening to them now, Edward knew he had better err with anyone in the world but Bella...because if he so much as looked at her in the wrong way, his sibling would rip his head off. Rosalie's mental images of what she would do to him (and the resolve behind them) were especially gruesome. But what was most jarring was Esme's reaction. Esme was the kindest and most loving person in their family. Even though Edward was technically "older", over the years she had played the role of mother so well that he often couldn't help but think of her in that respect. Her thoughts toward him now however, were not very motherly at all.
"Well, then," he said, bitterly. "It's nice to know I have some sympathy."
Carlisle sighed. He knew Bella's blood was torture for his eldest son, but he did believe he would eventually get past it. Like Jasper, he had observed Edward very carefully over the last week as he tried to get accustomed to Bella's scent.
"Son, I think-"
"Don't!" Edward snapped, as he grabbed his bag and snarled at his family. "I'm going back to Denali." And with a final growl he was gone.
Esme looked at her remaining sons and they both nodded. Without a word, they disappeared after Edward. They would try to comfort him-give him a few kind words and encouragement before he left. But they would also make sure he didn't carry out his earlier threat.
For two days, Bella sat in a near catatonic state. The only window was up by the bed, so that's where she remained as she stared out at the woods. She wondered, as she moved for the first time that day, what her breaking point must be. She had sat here, letting the pain course through her body without release, for hours and hours. It was the first time she had done that-purposefully not stamping it down, but not losing control of it either. And it hurt. It hurt more than anything she'd ever experienced.
You deserve it, she thought to herself darkly. You deserve it and more.
Bella had come here to try to move on with herself, but clearly that wasn't going to happen. Oh she would move forward in some ways. She would finish school so her dad-so Charlie could feel like he fulfilled his obligations. Is was all she could give him now, and she would, no matter how much pain staying here caused her.
She looked down from her perch at her new home. It was an improvement over the trees and rooftops that had been her previous sanctuaries. And to be able to have a hot meal and shower daily...that was a luxury...a luxury she didn't deserve. She looked down at her bed. It looked new, she was surprised to find, and even though the sheets and blanket obviously weren't they were still warm and comfortable. It's too much, she thought, her heart clenching again. It's way too much.
As had kept happening all weekend, Bella started to feel closed in and uncomfortable. She hadn't given much thought to how she would take to living indoors but now that she was here, alone in a tiny space she started to panic. She opened the window and took in a few deep breaths of fresh air. Exhaustion overtook her all of a sudden, and she welcomed the darkness as she lay down on her new bed.
Rosalie stood on a branch high enough so that she was able to see inside the single window in that godforsaken shed. She had stayed at that post for hours, watching Bella go through a series of emotions that had left her, Rosalie, trembling.
She couldn't understand what the girl was doing here. She thought she had gone to the wrong house at first when she couldn't sense her anywhere at the address she thought belonged to Charlie. But then she had caught her scent in a breeze and rushed to the tiny shack at the edge of Chief Swan's property, and there she was.
Rosalie had felt a mild panic as she watched the girl, because Bella had kept absolutely still for hours. It wasn't natural. Then again, every day this week Bella had caused her to come to that same conclusion in her mind. This girl was not natural. What 16-year-old has never heard of a Wii? She would never believe it if she didn't actually witness it for herself...the past week, it seemed like everything Esme cooked for her was a brand new experience for the girl...like she really had never had pancakes or egg rolls or steak in her life.
It wasn't natural how she'd wormed her way into her family's dead hearts. Emmett and Alice were absolutely crazy about her. Jasper had spent hours upon hours comparing books they'd read and arguing over pointless details...what normal human gives a damn about any of that? And what normal human reads so goddamn much anyway?! Esme...Esme was practically a first-time mother with the way she fussed and fawned over her...though Rosalie had to hand it to Bella on this one-Bella too seemed to care for Esme as she would care for her own mother, and she knew Esme's heart swelled with this knowledge.
As for her...Rosalie didn't know where to begin. It would've been so much easier if she hadn't had that encounter with her at the supermarket. It would've been nothing, then, to hate her and insist along with Edward that they leave lest their family be exposed. But that was an impossibility now. The things she felt for the girl...she was terrified out of her wits at the things she felt for this girl. That night after Bella had foolishly stuck her neck out to "save" her, Rosalie had gone to hunt and to knock some trees down. When Emmett found her later she had been so overcome she had sobbed silently on his shoulder. They had talked for hours then. Emmett was a kind soul with no real malice at all. He was intrigued with Bella and had calmly reassured her that the strength of what she felt only meant the girl was worth the effort.
He just had to befriend her...she thought wryly. Emmett and Bella got along like they were best friends (or BFFs as her husband so eloquently put it). She didn't think he had meant to take things quite so far, to get quite so close to her, but it happened and there was no going back now. Emmett cared for Bella just as deeply as the rest of them did. She couldn't hate her. Not when her husband loved her so much. Not when everything inside her screamed at her to get to know her, to get closer.
And now the girl who had captured her family's hearts was sitting in a dirty, tiny shed and looking like the definition of suffering. Rosalie had never felt so helpless before. She wanted to leap through that window and hold her in her arms, but of course she couldn't. Aside from the whole leaping through the window thing, Bella would probably freak if she reached for her in any way...she probably thought she wanted to kill her.
Rosalie sighed at that...she had let her pettiness go a little too far this week. As usual, she had let her own anger and shame out on those around her, and Bella was the perfect victim. She had glared at her incessantly, hoping her feelings for Bella would follow her hints and transform to real hatred. But that never happened. It seemed to accomplish the opposite in fact, as she felt herself soften more and more when Bella, instead of recoiling in fear like any normal human would, stared her down with patience and curiosity.
Rosalie sighed again. She would try to be on better behavior from now on. With that resolve, Rosalie looked at her one last time and ran home to Emmett.