Trigger warnings: SA, trauma from SA, etc

Chapter 20: Revelations (EPOV)

The thoughts were infallibly his. I could hear them louder as they approached, and it irked me how determined he was to talk to Bella.

"Edward?" The confused, and slightly panicked, voice pulls me from my internal loathing of her former friend.

"He has come to talk." I mutter, not attempting to control my voice at all. It would be particularly difficult to not kill him during his ridiculously ill-planned interruption. Bella had, in easy terms, broken up with her best friend. Therefore, I did not need to be on my best behavior.

"To talk?"

The trembling in her voice pulls me from my fury-filled thoughts. Was it disbelief? Anger? I couldn't quite tell. Her heart, already panic-stricken from our forgotten conversation, was not offering an inkling of indication. One peak into Jasper's mind told me she was still shielding – or whatever it was that she was doing to make herself invisible to his ability. My anger would not help her in any way, nor would it help me understand her emotions better. I needed Jasper now.

"Yes. Terrible timing, too." I work to control my voice. There was no need to make Bella stressed with misplaced anger.

"Should we be worried?" The uncertainty in her voice is strange. It's uncertainty I've never heard in words she previously used regarding the dog.

"We should always be worried when it comes to him." I mutter to her quietly. I could hear his thoughts clearly, and his motorcycle, as he approached the house. I pull her gently by her hand towards the front of the house and she stumbles, distractedly tripping over her own feet multiple times. Jacob was just getting off his bike as we arrived.

"Hey Bella!"

"Don't speak to her as if you're sinless, Jacob Black."

His thoughts were obnoxiously loud as he approached carefully, still keeping distance between us. He only glares in respond to me. What he fails to speak into the air are not hidden in his mind, and I feel myself growing tense at the thoughts as they blaze through his head.

"Go away Jacob." Bella's voice is sweet despite the venom-laced tone she uses. He wouldn't listen to her.

"Friendly reception." He mutters in response. "Don't be a poor sport, Bells. I came to talk to you."

"To persuade." I snap.

"Stay out of my head." He growls.

"We're a bit preoccupied at the moment. I'd appreciate if you sent our regards to Sam and leave."

"What regards to Sam?" Bella ask quietly, utterly confused. That was the only thing I understood about her mental state, as of now. Just two minutes ago she was on the verge of a panic attack and now she seemed to be at a crossroad between anger and hatred for her former friend, in addition to the confusion.

"He's worried you're dead, Bella." I explain quickly to her.

She gasps, her eyes wide. The anger was much more apparent in her now and I try to hide my smirk as she turns to face the dog. "Jacob, is that why you're here? You came to check on me?"

Jacob doesn't respond, guilt ridden on his face.

"This is ridiculous, Jacob. Go tell Sam whatever you want." Bella crosses her arms, looking murderous. "And don't come back here!"

The conflict in Jacob's thoughts is appalling. Bella is very nearly spot-on – Jacob had come to check on her, among other things. Jacob, a stupid as he is, seems fully aware of Bella's accuracy.

"I came to talk, Bells." He mutters. His words were true. He had been swimming in regret and guilt ever since their fight. A part of me feel empathy for him, knowing full well what its like to have left things on bad terms with the girl we cared for so much. But an even bigger part of me knows he deserves her cold shoulder.

"You're wasting your time. Go home." Bella mutters petulantly, turning away from him. She pulls at my arm, hiding her face in my side. It's hard to feel bad for her beneath the pride of her movements and how furious they make Jacob. He's practically seeing red as he watches Bella latch onto me, and I'm slightly elated by his wrath.

"Charlie needs you. You can't keep him away forever." Jacob's tone holds an ounce of desperation. A small grimace of dislike crosses his expression as he speaks, though his thoughts are so fleeting I can't quite grasp them. He's working to keep something from me.

"I never told him to stay away!"

"You did when you stayed with them." Jacob points a finger in my direction. His eyes shoot daggers at me, his thoughts furious. Though I didn't know why.

"Watch yourself, dog." I hiss. "We don't turn against our own so easily."

"This is between me and Bella." Jacob snaps back. He's seething, though I can hardly care seeing as he's so outnumbered. Even without the added benefit of my family, I'd easily be able to take him. It might just get to that today.

"Edward. It's fine, he doesn't know what he's talking about." Bella mutters quietly, shaking her head.

Jacob laughs – or, rather, snorts – darkly. "Go ahead, if that's what makes you sleep at night."

I'm almost angry for a moment, wanting to berate Jacob for such a terrible joke knowing that Bella hardly sleeps at all. Bella, however, is quick to respond. Her pulse is thrumming angrily beneath my fingertips. I squeeze my fingers around her wrist, hoping to comfort her.

"He's come to visit me before and I didn't banish him from here, and I don't know why he hasn't come back."

The distaste was more evident in his expression now than before. His body, clear with anger, is enough to bring back the thoughts that slipped away so quickly before. My hand instinctively tightens on Bella's wrist as I hiss at him, rage overcoming me.

Bella's quiet whisper pulls me back, and I have to remind myself that my limbs are wrapped around Bella. The last thing she needed was more broken bones.

"You told him!"

Bella makes a noise of distress, barely audible over the violent sounds from my own throat. Jacob flinches, whether from my words or Bella's reaction I'm unsure.

His voice is quiet, not as elated as I would have expected. "Didn't have to."

"Do you have any idea what you have done?"

Jacob's expression morphs into anger. "I didn't do anything, bloodsucker. You took him for a fool."

My thoughts are a glaring mix of fury and horror. Recognition dawns on me then – this was the reason Charlie hadn't come to visit in over a week. We had assumed he was seeking space for himself and Bella. Hoping he was finding comfort with his friends in La Push during a time of difficulty and uncertainty for his daughter. We were further from the truth. He was hiding from us.

"Jacob," her voice is so weak that it pains me. "why?"

Jacob's thoughts are no more displeased than Bella's.

Jacob's thoughts are much clearer now as he reveals his secrets.

Charlie had heard the legends again during a bonfire. It was an intentional event by the pack and council. Sam made the final decision to allow him there. This time, advised to pay keen attention to specific campfire stories, Charlie had put the pieces of the enigma together the very same way Bella had. The only difference: Bella felt safe among us while Charlie was terrified of us and terrified for his daughter. Certain that we hadn't killed Bella yet, he stayed away hoping that she would be safe without us knowing he knew. No one in La Push thought to reassure him of Bella's safety, hence the daily calls.

"I didn't do anything, Bella. Give him some credit, would you? He's fine, he's tough."

Emmett's arm, appearing from virtually nowhere, latches onto mine, pinning me in my spot before I can lunge at the dog.

"Edward, don't!" Bella's voice is loud and anxious as she perceives what's about to happen. What could have happened, had Emmett not grabbed onto me. Jacob had already crouched, preparing to phase in response to my movement.

Emmett's face is grim when I turn to him, hissing. His thoughts, as angry as mine, are tight with decision. His bones should be broken individually for what he did to Bella. "The treaty." He contends.

"It's annulled." I growl. "It's been broken on his account – twice now! He told Charlie."

"You broke the treaty when you condemned Bella to death." Jacob snaps, his hands shaking at his sides. "I know what happened in Phoenix – that's when the treaty was broken, leech."

"That was after you broke it, Jacob Black. Don't project your own failures on us." My voice is harsh enough to make Bella flinch. "You put a human in danger. Danger far greater than he ever needed to be in."

Bella ignores our words about the treaty entirely. "Why would you do this, Jacob?"

"Bella, he figured it out himself, honest. He's been staying at the Rez and he comes to all the bonfires. One night, Billy told the stories about the cold ones." Jacob argues defensively. His shoulders deflate.

"Coincidentally, yes?" I hiss.

"Edward." Bella mutters. "We can't afford another fight right now."

"Another?" Jacob repeats, his eyes wide. His thoughts fly to his recent meeting with the pack, assuming he must have missed a fight between us and another mutt.

"It's none of your business, dog." Emmett speaks. He needs to learn his place. "Bella has made it clear she doesn't want to associate with your kind anymore. I suggest you go home before I break your neck myself."

"I can't leave until I talk to Bella." Jacob argues. He looks towards Bella. She's turned toward the porch, gripping the wood in place of the arm I pulled from her grasp. "Come on, Bells. I came to tell you about Charlie. I know he hasn't been here in a week. He misses you."

"You made your position on things. . . clear. What more do you want?" Bella whispers palely.

"C'mon, Bells. I'm sorry, okay? I didn't mean what I said."

"I don't want to see you or talk to you. And I don't want you talking to Charlie either – he doesn't need to know about any of this, Jacob. I can't believe you did this. He didn't need to know."

"Bells, it wasn't my decision."

I snort quietly. Months of flipping through Jacob's mind made me privy to certain secrets. Jacob's orders, as second in command and rightful alpha, had to be followed just as much as Sam's. "Do your orders not have weight with the pack, mutt?"

Jacob's eyes narrow to slits. "Stay out of my mind, leech."

"Did you tell him about you and Sam and the rest of the pack?" Bella responds, fuming. "Or did you just let him run wild with the vampire thing?"

"We tell humans about us all the time." Jacob mutters passively. "He figured the vampire stuff out himself."

"That's not applicable now." I growl. No, definitely not relevant unless Charlie found himself a victim of imprint. I shudder, trying not to get locked up in thoughts between Charlie and one of the mutts.

"You didn't tell him about yourself, did you?" Bella turns to me, her eyes wide with questioning. "Did he?"

I shake my head with a grimace. "No, he did not. Sam forbade it."

"Jacob!" Bella's voice is a mixture between a whine and yelling. "What the hell is wrong with you? Don't you realize how dangerous this is?"

"Two minutes." Jacob insists, completely ignoring her words. "I'm sorry, Bella. Honestly. Just let me talk to you, please."

"She said no." I snap at him.

"I wasn't talking to you."

"You're acting like a child, Jake. Go home."

"You're the one being childish." Jacob grits his teeth. "What will two minutes cost you in the grand scheme of things?"

Bella is quiet for a moment, and I can see her expression changing as she considers his words. "You can talk to me from there." She finally mutters. "And you better explain what happened to Charlie. I won't ever forgive you for this, Jacob Black."

"Alone."

The growl that comes from Emmett's chest is loud, almost as loud as the fury in his thoughts. Jacob glares at him for a short moment before turning back to Bella. She's hesitant, looking from Jacob to me and then back again.

"One minute." She revises quietly.

"C'mon, Bells." Jacob whines, throwing an annoyed glance at her. "What can I possibly say in one minute?"

"You're wasting time." Bella harrumphs. Despite my anger, a quiet laugh slips past my lips at Bella's stubbornness. She shoots me a confused look, and I only shake my head in response. My chest swelled with love for her.

"We'll be inside, Bella. Just yell when you need me to rip him apart." Emmett glares once more at Jacob before turning to go inside, nearly pulling me along with him. Bella seems mostly comfortable on the porch, which satisfies me enough that I don't resist Emmett as we go inside.

"He's trying to make amends. Let him." Esme tells me, closing the front door. "Bella needs a friend."

"Esme, she doesn't need him." I hiss, turning my gaze to the window. Jacob moved closer and they're only a couple of a feet apart now.

"She doesn't need you either." Rosalie responds coolly. Let her make decisions about the company she keeps.

"Do you realize how rash and unrestrained they are?" I hiss.

Rosalie cocks an eyebrow at me, and I narrow my eyes at her. "Not any less unrestrained than you when you're pissed. If I recall, you were the only one who's ever almost killed her."

"Rosalie!" Esme whispers horrified. "Let's not start attacking one another, please."

It almost made no sense that she was defending Jacob, let alone any of the wolves. Recently, however, very little of Rosalie's actions made sense. She wanted autonomy for Bella – autonomy in medicine, food, and friends, apparently. Safety and health, it seemed, was not a concern for Rosalie if Bella decided she wanted danger.

"The treaty is void. If he harms her. . ." Alice says quietly, her eyes watching through the window carefully.

"We act as if the treaty is still in place." Carlisle's voice is firm as he speaks, ensuring all of us understand. "Always."

"They told Charlie, Carlisle." Jasper responds quietly, his voice hard. "That was a clear violation. They clearly don't respect the bounds of their own agreement."

"Arguing over who broke the treaty or when is futile. No real harm has been done and no harm will be done if we continue as we have." Carlisle murmurs. "Charlie will learn to accept things, just as Bella did. We can speak to him ourselves, clear up any miscommunications."

Rosalie scoffs at his words. "Right, miscommunications. They threw us under the bus, Carlisle. Not everyone has our best interests at heart."

"We will talk to Charlie, and he will make his decision." Carlisle's voice expression is calm, his voice level. "As Bella did."

"No real harm has been done yet, Carlisle." Jasper says. "I don't trust them."

Alice moans, dropping her head into her hands. "I can't see anything associated with them. I'm just now getting my visions back. What if they start telling others?"

"Their intentions are not to reveal us to humans –" Esme starts, but she's interrupted.

"Forgive their crimes, why don't we." Rosalie snorts quietly, flipper her hair as she sits down. "As if they deserve it. If I recall, they wanted our heads for associating ourselves with Bella."

Carlisle offers Rosalie a short glance, before choosing to ignore her comment and spare another verbal alteration. "Is she still shielding, Jasper?"

"Yes. She hasn't stopped at all, from what I can tell."

Between the spiral of my thoughts, I was more than a little concerned about her epiphany with Jasper in the kitchen and about Jasper's inability to get a read on her emotions at all. She was shielding, an act we didn't fully understand the implications of yet. There was no need to test boundaries with anything today, on top of everything else.

Carlisle shakes his head, half in astonishment and half in strain. "It's hardly impacting her, from what I can tell."

That was mostly true. The weakness in her muscles was apparent the moment she had risen from her interrupted sleep this morning, just before her queasiness pulled her from her breakfast. Seeing as how the two seemed interlocked, there was little I could differentiate between symptoms of her panic from our earlier conversation and impacts from her shield – if there were any at all. Besides the somewhat haphazard beating of her heart that let me know that in spite of her earlier medication her blood pressure was much higher than it should be.

I glance outside, watching the two of them carefully. It's entirely clear that whatever Jacob Black was saying – words I was doing my best to block out for the sake of Bella's privacy – was working. The distance between the two of them was getting shorter as Jacob encouraged them to go for a walk. The idea made my tense, but there was little I could do about it. The words of my family are almost enough to pull me from my observations.

"She hasn't been doing it long, has she? She only started when she was explaining. . ." Esme begins. It makes sense. . . Shielding at potential danger.

"What Bella said in this kitchen . . ." Alice starts, her lips puckered in deep thought. "I was thinking –"

"This doesn't change anything." Emmett says, almost seeming excited. "The intention does not matter; the outcome is the same." I'm ready to kick some Volturi ass.

"It matters when the Volturi is conspiring." Jasper disagrees. "It matters that they are going against their own laws. They're unrestrained now. If they get away with this, they'll have no desire to hide their dishonesty in the future."

Jasper frowns, realizing the parallels between the pack in this situation and the Volturi.

Carlisle grimaces. "I am unable to believe, still, that Aro is capable of this."

"Nothing else fits so perfectly, Carlisle." I mutter in response.

No other theory had made sense at all. Not one regarding nomads passing by, Victoria's grudge, or even the Denalis – the closest sedentary coven in the region. Nothing fit in the attack of Bella with a monster that fit neither human or vampire descriptions and the chaos in Seattle. It was strangely irking that Bella had been the one to put it together, showing just how vital the information she carried was.

"I know." He frowns. Perhaps we should pay them a visit. Maybe that might sort things out?

"I'm not sure that will sort anything out, Carlisle, except that he'll know we're coming under less than desirable circumstances." I respond quietly. "He might just kill us there."

"Why didn't he kill you when you were in Italy before?" Rosalie questions, her eyes narrowed, and her arms crossed defensively. Bella's story connects everything, but maybe we shouldn't be connecting it. Maybe, Edward, if you bothered to think for yourself instead of listening to Bella all the time, you might realize this could be independent events. The attacks in Seattle were happening weeks before Bella's attack. They just didn't garner attention until around it.

"We always assumed they were independent events." I don't bother hiding my annoyance as I respond to Rosalie, and she doesn't appreciate my tone either.

"We never had any reason to believe they weren't." Carlisle adds slowly, exchanging a glance between Rosalie and I. We discussed this before. We only considered something different when Bella voiced her input. "What are you suggesting, Rosalie?"

"I'm suggesting exactly what we were doing before. Treat this as two different events, don't try to connect the two."

"Bella said –" Alice starts.

"I know what Bella said!" Rosalie hisses, her eyes flaring.

Alice growls in response, and Jasper puts a calming hand on her shoulder. There was no point in attracting attention from our guest outside. My eyes shoot to the window, realizing with a slight bit of panic that they had ventured away towards the yard. Part of me should have been relieved that Bella was – potentially – recovering her relationship. But I was mostly frustrated with the dog.

"I guess you only care about Bella's input when it's convenient for you." Alice snaps.

Rosalie stiffens, her eyes narrowing to slits. "Nothing about this is convenient for me. I'm saying that she didn't come to this conclusion until now – weeks after the attack. Carlisle, you know victims of trauma can become delusional and can reconstruct their memories."

My growl is just as loud as Alice's, both of us taking offense at Rosalie's words. She ignores us, steadily keeping her gaze on Carlisle. Her thoughts, usually loud and obnoxious in my head, are strangely guarded and quiet. Her trying behavior is even more frustrating having to wait for her to make a decision to share with us, rather than just picking her brain.

Carlisle's eyes shoot between Alice and I, hesitant. "I'm not sure that's happening right now." Carlisle disagrees with a short shake of his head. "I think it was Jasper's story that prompted this"

"We've been discussing armies for days." Rosalie stands, her arms crossed tighter. "Why didn't it come up before? I'm just saying that victims of abuse, especially sexual abuse, make things up intentionally or unintentionally to protect themselves."

"No one is posing a threat to her." Alice seethes. "She's not making things up."

"Oh, and you can confirm this?" Rosalie questions. "She's shielding now, isn't she? A potential defensive mechanism?"

"She's not stupid, Rosalie!"

"I'm not calling the girl stupid. I'm just saying she claimed to not remember a thing and is now arguing that the Volturi is conspiring with her attacker and this army in Seattle to kill us."

"Babe," Emmett starts, but Alice cuts him off.

"What the hell do you want?" Alice demands, her expression hard. "You've been defending her half the time and insulting her the rest. You called her out for lying to us – you're the only one who did – and now you're suggesting she doesn't have a clue."

"There's only so much the human mind can take, Alice." Rosalie's voice is sharp enough to make Jasper act, forcing us all to calm down.

I'm trying to keep my voice level as I speak, but the idea of controlling myself seems to only infuriate me further. "Agreed, and she hasn't reached that yet."

Idiot. As usual. "And when she does? When will you know?"

"We will adapt as the situations change, Rose." Esme's voice is starkly different than the rest of ours. "We have yet to come up with a reason that Bella's explanation isn't valid."

"Eventually it's going to catch up to her, Esme. I don't even need to go back to when she first got involved in all of this. In the past month and half since the attack, nothing we have done has helped her." Rosalie insists. "And her attacker isn't a vampire – we know this. Who else has Aro supposedly roped into doing this?"

Alice pushes Jasper's hand off her, taking a step towards Rosalie, her teeth bared. I'm almost ready to take that stance myself, but Carlisle moves towards me warningly.

"What do you propose we do?" I'm so furious with Rosalie now that I'm not at all concerned about Bella's discussion with her manic werewolf ex-best friend.

"She doesn't need Jasper's history of vampire wars or Edward running after her demanding to know what happened to gain an upper hand in the fight or Carlisle investigated this shield. She does not need us running around fighting armies for her when she can't even eat breakfast."

"I'm not sure why you think our intentions are less than pure." Alice snaps.

"She needs help." Rosalie enunciates every word as if we couldn't grasp them if we tried. She needs family. She needs her family. She's going to kill herself here. "Real help."

I can feel my own body starting to relax slightly as I realize Rosalie's intentions, or, rather, her misplaced anger. Despite my understanding, it doesn't take away from the annoyance pulsing within me at her less than appropriate way to express herself. Bella was incredible and possessed strength than even Jasper understood. She was not manipulating her memories nor was she repressing them in her trauma. She was filled with so much strength that she could think through her trauma and connect the dots where we failed to.

"Rose, you can't chase away all her demons by yelling at us." Esme starts quietly. "Bella is stronger than we all know and realize. She's capable of handling this, as she's handled everything in her past. You know we have no ill intentions toward her – we never have."

"It's not ill intentions." Rosalie growls shaking her head. "You can't chase after her demanding stories to fill your agenda." Rosalie jabs a pointed finger in my direction, her eyes full of an emotion I can't grasp. "That's her power right now, Edward. Screw mental shields and emotional strength or whatever the hell you and Carlisle talk about. It's the only thing she's grasping onto – she's literally using her memories as a comfort, knowing that it's what will keep you with her."

I nod slowly, accepting her accusation. She's right – I had begged Bella for her story just now and been furious with Jacob Black for his appearance when I was making progress for my own benefit rather than Bella's.

I can see the shock of Rosalie's face as I take it from her, but she continues.

"Bella has a right to share that story when, and only when, it benefits her. She owes that to herself, and she owes nothing to anyone else."

Stand up way of expressing that, Rose. Alice's mental voice is grim.

"You're right."

"Damn." Emmett mutters, smirking. "Never thought I'd hear those words from you, bro."

"Shut up, Emmett." Rosalie hisses at him. "Don't reward him for the bare minimum. He's still an arrogant, selfish fool."

I try to contain a sigh, but it doesn't quite work, and Rosalie shoots me another glare as if daring me to sigh once more.

"Everything is a life-or-death situation with her. We need to forget about the Volturi and armies and just focus on her. I hate to say it, but that mutt is better for her right now. With an army potentially coming after us and Aro conspiring, the only place she's relatively safe is with the mutts where vampires wouldn't dare to go."

"The mutts attempting to turn her father against the only ones helping her?" Alice mutters sarcastically.

The creak of the door stops any response and Bella steps in, her eyes wide as she takes a look around the room.

"Sorry." She mutters, blushing slightly. "I didn't mean to interrupt."

"Nonsense, Bella. Come in." Esme walks quickly to embrace Bella's frail body, pulling her toward the couch. "Did you have a good talk with him?"

Bella nods slowly. "I need to talk to Charlie."

Esme nods in understand, though Carlisle is the one to speak. "Why don't we give you both an extra day to think about things, and you can call tomorrow?" She's in no shape to discuss anything with him. Her heart is much too fast already.

"He has been thinking. For days!" Bella whispers, her voice stressed.

"You need to worry about yourself right now, Bella." Carlisle murmurs, bending down to meet her at her eyelevel. "It would be best for you to be calm before discussing anything with Charlie."

"He could be telling people, Carlisle. Do you think that's why he's calling? To make sure that I'm alive. . ."

"Bella, they can't be telling him anything terrible. If you recall that legend also talks about how unlike other vampires we are." Carlisle reassures her.

Rosalie rolls her eyes behind Bella's back. The mutts weren't telling Charlie anything untrue, but the information certainly wasn't in our favor. I don't correct Carlisle, though.

"Whatever they are saying about us can be applied to them, as well." I tell her, realizing that Carlisle's words aren't calming her at all. "They would not hurt their own reputation. They certainly wouldn't allow Charlie to spread what he's learned – it would expose the wolves."

"Tomorrow?" Bella asks, her eyes wide and hopeful.

"Whenever you feel up to it." Esme promises, patting her hand. "Maybe this is a good thing, Bella. You won't have to hide so much from him now."