Don't own Twilight, the rest is all me.
8.
Alice's POV
It's been ten minutes since we arrived at the hospital and I'm gazing around at the plain white walls, commenting to Esme on the lack of color. Jasper sits restless beside me, bouncing his leg up and down - I don't remember seeing him this antsy before.
"Are you alright?" I ask, laying a hand on his.
"I can only feel confusion and despair in here," he whispers back.
Carlisle leans forward and looks to me, "When will Charlie be here?"
"In about 20 seconds he's going to walk through the front door. He's not going to be thrilled to see us, let alone Edward," I warn, my eyes glancing over to the broken man sitting across from me. Rose suddenly lifts her head off Emmett's shoulder , leans in and tells me in a deadly soft voice, "The doctor is mine."
"No, no. You've had your revenge - it time for the woman who's been in the mental health system before to have a go. Esme, would you like to help?"
She shakes her head in return - her and Carlisle, never a thirst for vengeance. Truthfully, I never thought I would be the one for it either but with the memories of my sister...with Bella. Every fresh recollection is like a stab and I haven't bled in 80 years but the pulsing ache bubbles up so easily - like riding a bicycle: once you learn you never forget.
The door swings open and Chief Swan waltzes in, right on time. Carlisle gets up and glides over to him - discussing Bella in an undertone - but we all hear them.
"Where's the boy, Carlisle? This whole thing started with him leaving her."
"Charlie, she would have been diagnosed with it had we left or stayed, you know that. I understand this hasn't been easy for you...if we had known, we would have come much sooner."
Charlie nods, sighing. "I'm not sure how this is going to work, Carlisle. Washington has laws about this kinda thing, voluntary submission, all that. If the doctor thinks she needs to stay there's not much we can do. We may need a court order or something."
"I've already gone through everything we need," Carlisle assures him. He pauses for a second before dropping his voice even lower. "I realize we may not be on the best of terms right now, Charlie. But we all love Bella and after discussing it with my wife, I wanted to ask if you would allow Bella to stay with us for a while. I would take over as her primary doctor and even be able to get in touch with a better psychiatrist than the ones here.
"I know she's in a fragile state right now and you're worried, you would want someone to make sure she took her medication and such, but with all due respect that's why we feel it would be best this way. I would be able to monitor her and make sure she's very comfortable. Our kids would also like her there - they were all close before the move and I know Alice would especially appreciate having her around."
Charlie glances toward me and I smile as warmly as I can under the circumstances. "Yeah, that Alice is a good kid." He shuffles his feet a bit then and looks to Carlisle directly. "And Edward? I'm pretty sure the stress alone of having him nearby wouldn't help. "
"My son is...having a difficult time with all of this, he -"
Edward stands up and sulks over to Charlie and Carlisle with the rest of us watching solemnly. This isn't quite the moment of truth...but it's close.
"You better tell the boy to sit his ass down again before I punch him, Carlisle." Charlie's face floods with a beet red tinge and he turns to stare out the window.
"Chief Swan, I don't deserve anyone's forgiveness for what I did - especially not yours or Bella's," Edward starts.
"He better have a damn good speech prepared, I may have to leave, Alice," Jasper says.
Charlie whirls on Edward, his mustache ruffling a bit. "That's it? That's what you have to say after all this time? Son, help me understand something there. You spend Bella's birthday celebrating with her and then you bring her back to the house and spend the next night all funny?"
Edward's eyebrow's raise an inch.
"Oh yeah, I could tell you were acting weird - remember, I'm a cop. Bella may have bought it but I sure as hell didn't. Was it too much cake or something?" Emmett chortles across from me. "And then," he thunders, pointing a finger close to Edward's nose, "You left her in the woods, alone!"
Edward shakes, crying on the inside all the streams that will never travel the distance down his face.
"Do you know what it was like, watching her roam around on her feet as nothing more than a corpse? I figured the girl would snap out of it! But you know what, Edward? She never did, and the last time she talked to me I found out she beats herself up for her mom's car accident! I thought bringing her to this place might bring her some kind of peace. Now here you are -" He doesn't finish the last thought as he rubs at his eyes. "The worst part is, we found out there really is something wrong." Charlie glares at his feet as he murmurs the last part, "And I can't fix it."
Carlisle falsely clears his throat. "Charlie, Edward won't be responsible for Bella. We all want to help her. Beside's you're going to need help with this. You can't expect to run out of the house on a night call while Bella is having an episode. This is a fulltime deal - you'll need fulltime help."
And finally, something inside Edward breaks, coming to a boiling point. "Chief Swan, I am truly sorry for the way I treated Bella, I'm not worthy of her and I know it. But I swear that I will spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to her. If she tells me to leave, it will be more than I deserve."
"You're damn straight it will be," Charlie affirms. "Frankly Edward, I don't like you. I don't like anything about you, but you're not my main concern right now - Bella is." He turns back to Carlisle. "I'm not keen on Bella staying with your family, quite honestly. But I don't know what else to do. I'm not so sure about this place either, some of the things Bella has said...the way she acts...it's not right."
Suddenly a tall security guard comes around the corner. Everyone's head jerks up and we stand to see what he has to say. Stepping aside, the man starts to look over some paperwork on the counter and I gasp, seeing who is behind him. My eyes fill with venom.
Bella.
She gazes up, wonder and heartbreak veiling her as she leans over.
"Isabella, we've been through this. There's no such thing as a vampire."
Well that's too bad you don't believe in them, you're about to meet some.
Edward glances at me out of the corner of his eye - he's not about to get in my way, not this time.
Bella's POV
No one moves. A thread pops loose in my brain and I feel like a ragdoll whose stitches are weaving their way out of the carefully crisscrossed pattern that holds it together. All my greatest joys and all my greatest fears are standing stone silent on the opposite end of the room. I take each face in like a breath of air.
Carlisle nods back at me reassuringly.
Esme looks at me with glassy eyes.
Rosalie leans against her husband, her lips twitching up into a small curve.
Emmett rocks a bit on his feet, grinning widely at me.
Jasper measures me up as he places a hand on his wife's shoulder - ridden with a guilt he can't seem to toss aside.
Alice stares into my eyes - a small light in her own, faded, but there just the same. Sadness surrounds her. My hand twitches, aching to touch her. But how do I know? How do I know she won't vanish into mist?
One more ghost, one more demon to confront. As luck would have it he is the biggest fear, and joy of them all. Edward Cullen...a voice taunts. My heart races inside my chest - so much that I can feel it in my stomach and even my feet. A tear slides down my cheek and I shuffle my feet to take him in.
"If I could dream at all, it would be about you..."
Pain, agony, despair - thousands of emotions etch themselves in his amber eyes. The angel is still breath-taking, even with wilted wings. I take a step forward, because even after all of this, even after Heaven and Hell and everything in between he makes me feel alive. He throws everything else in the background. The smile that comes to my face isn't forced but easy and genuine. And the answering smile I get is radiant.
But with a small pin drop, Edward turns to someone else. He has red eyes and scabby skin that's grazed with death. A voice startles me - it belongs to my dad. What's he doing here? I hadn't seen him, he must have been standing in the back.
He's the visitor...
I scold myself and remember, vampires don't exist. This is all smoke and mirrors.
"Bella, look - the Cullens came to see you! Doctor Cullen has asked to allow you to come with them, isn't that nice?" His voice is wrong, too friendly. He's talking to me as if I'm just a little girl. He coughs a bit and comes toward me. "Bells, won't it be better this way? You'll be out of here with people to talk to you and," he pauses - lowering his voice, "Kiddo, I don't know what else to do. You're not improving here, nothing is working and I think they could do you some good."
I have to reach out and grab on to Charlie's arm for balance because when I look behind him, the shapes are still all there - twisting back and forth from marvelous to terrifying.
Alice's harp like voice is sharp. "Carlisle, something's wrong."
Doctor...Doctor Cullen? Doctor Thompson...
I tilt my head to the side and the words click into place like a puzzle. "No!" I shriek. Arms chain themselves around me and I start shouting more. There is a rush of footsteps gliding quickly across the floor and my breathing gets harder, my arms flinging out to pinch and claw my way out.
John is on me...
I dive deeper into the cocoon, defending myself as long as possible. "I'll kill you, I'll kill you for touching me!"
A smooth, musical voice yells and it sounds like piano keys echoing. I start biting at whomever has their warm hands gripping me, gnashing and scraping to cause some kind of reaction. There is cold skin brushing against my cheek and I can tell I'm being handed from one pair of arms to another. I feel like I'm dying.
Not yet...show me your face one last time...
"Bella, please, come back to me. I'm here." I thrash around harder, trying desperately to fight the anchor steeling me in place. Where is the angel? I hear him but I can't see him anymore.
"Edward, let Alice through," Carlisle says softly.
Passed again, this body is softer, smaller. Not threatening and rough. I subtly wrap myself tighter against her and then start to sob.
"Hi Bella, it's me. It's Alice," the harped voice strings against my earlobe and I feel like I may pass out. Wetness is at my inner elbow and I feel a prick. My eyes start to droop. Faces swirl into nothing before me.
I can't handle this...Edward...
Edward's POV
In all the chaos, Alice glides her back and forth as though they're on a tire swing in the wilderness. Kneeling next to them, I run my palm up and down Bella's back and Jasper stands in the corner trying to avoid everyone's emotions they may throw out.
Emmett watches the security guard from the corner, glowering, waiting for the moment when he and Jasper can follow him outside...where Rose waits.
I can recall rolling my eyes at her escapades with Royce and his friends, but now I internally smile at her vindictiveness. Fixing my stare back on Bella, I drink in the sight of her - even in her hysteria, even in the lurid concealment of her mind, she emits beauty. My eyes travel over her, taking in the way her eyelashes fan against her cheeks - her skin is translucent, she hasn't eaten enough. Her lips are chapped when I run a finger against them, the feel of sandpaper. She's so dehydrated.
Because of me...
So much could have been different had I stayed. We could have worked through this together but I was a coward. I was so afraid of being a monster. Now? Now I am one.
Alice shifts Bella over to Esme and stands, casting a shadow over me. Moving fluidly to the desk, she barks at the receptionist that she needs to see the doctor. "He's on the phone with -"
Alice's eyes flicker dangerously. "They'll call back." As she turns, marching down the hall, I turn to Esme and she gives me a small nod. Sighing, I follow the wrathful nymph to the center of this nightmare, Carlisle and Charlie right on my tail.
