Previously:
Bella frowned with concern. "You still look tired. Are you in any pain?"
"I'm fine," Brady insisted but another yawn said otherwise.
Bella urged Brady to get some more sleep and it only took a little convincing. She felt such a relief at seeing him and speaking to him. It was like a huge weight was lifted from her chest and she could finally breathe again.
Chapter 9: Kid
Brady slept fitfully all day. His breathing was back to normal, but the bruising and soreness made it hard for him to get comfortable. Bella was there whenever he woke up to adjust his pillows or give him food. They tried watching a movie on Bella's phone but Brady fell asleep after the first fifteen minutes. As much as he hated being stuck in bed, his body knew he needed sleep.
Emily was amazing—cooking for them and running interference with Brady's mom. It freed Bella up to focus on Brady. Most of the pack stayed away and Collin was Brady's sole visitor. He shook Brady awake when he arrived, which Bella was pissed at, but Brady was so happy to see him that she let it slide.
By nighttime, Brady was doing well enough that Bella felt comfortable sleep on the couch instead of the kiddy futon in his room.
The next day, Bella was woken up at an ungodly hour by someone banging around in the kitchen. She popped her head over the back of the couch and glared at Sam in all her sleepy fury.
As if he felt her stare, Sam turned around and froze when he spotted her. His shoulders dropped minutely and he looked almost chastened. "Sorry," he whispered gruffly.
With one last warning glare, Bella flopped back down on the couch and tried to get comfortable again. She listened as Sam quietly ate, put his dishes in the sink, and left the room.
After a few more hours of sleep, Emily apologized over breakfast. "I'm so sorry about Sam waking you up when he got back from patrol. I didn't get a chance to warn him you'd be on the couch."
Now back to her old self, Bella politely waved her off. "It's no big deal. I understand. I'm just really not a morning person. I hope I didn't scare him too bad with my cranky attitude." Bella grinned.
Emily chuckled. "Maybe a little but he's used to being growled at."
Bella smiled at Emily's teasing. Other than Brady, Emily was becoming Bella's closest friend in the pack. She was friendly without being overbearing and she shared a lot of the same interests as Bella. They had cooked breakfast together and actually made a great team. Whoever said it was bad to have too many cooks in the kitchen wasn't referring to Emily and Bella.
"So what's on the agenda for today?" Emily asked between sips of coffee.
Bella thought about the latest pleading texts she'd received from Edward. "I really don't want to leave Brady but I should go see Edward. He's going to make up a bag for me so I don't have to keep borrowing your clothes. Sam would be ok with me meeting him at the treaty line, right?"
Emily responded slowly. "Yeah…I don't see why not but maybe one of the boys should go with you just in case."
"Oh I don't want to bother anyone. If it's a problem to meet at the treaty line, I can drive to the Cullens house instead. It'll take me a little longer but…" Bella trailed off. She really didn't want to leave Brady any longer than she needed to. As it was, she worried how long Edward would want her to stay.
"No! I mean, I don't think there's any reason for you to go all the way to the Cullens. Let me just check with Sam." Emily rushed out of the kitchen before Bella could reply.
In the end, Sam approved the trip without an escort but Bella wouldn't put it past him to send a wolf to watch them anyway. Bella checked in on Brady one last time and confirmed that he was still asleep before leaving.
Unfortunately, the meet-up didn't go as well as she'd hoped. She thought it would reassure Edward to see her in person but it only seem to make him angrier that she wouldn't come home.
"Those mutts are dangerous, Bella!" Edward yelled. His face was twisted with fury and Bella had a passing thought that he finally looked like a vampire to her. "Why can you not accept that fact? He engaged in a fighting match right next to you! I could not have lived with myself if you had been hurt or worse."
Bella panicked, thinking of him going to the Volturi, and quickly reassured him that she was perfectly fine. She tried to explain that Paul had kept her out of the way but that information made him blow up even more.
"Paul! The dog that previously attacked you? How is that a comfort to me? Please explain Bella how I should be comforted that the most volatile dog, aside from that Brady boy, held you back from a deadly fight. With one slip of composure he could have ripped you open. Do you comprehend that?"
The louder and angrier Edward got, the more Bella curled in on herself. When she'd finally had enough, she told him she wouldn't talk to him until he'd calmed down. He was pissed but didn't try to stop her as she left.
"Bella! You're back!" Emily greeted her enthusiastically on her return. Then she frowned in confusion when she saw Bella was empty-handed. "Didn't you get your clothes?"
Bella shook her head and flopped down at the kitchen table with a sigh. "No, Edward didn't bring them. He wanted me to go home with him."
Emily's lips compressed tightly. She rummaged around the cupboards for a pan and Bella jumped when she slammed it down on the counter.
"Sorry." Emily slid a look at Bella. "We'll do a load of wash today and in the mean time you can borrow something else of mine."
Bella smiled tightly and thanked her. "I'm going to take a shower if that's ok."
Emily assured her it was. "You know where everything is, right? Let me know if you need anything."
Bella hoped the shower would sooth her frayed nerves but it only had minimal success. She reminded herself over and over again what she promised Brady yesterday—that she'd stand up for herself. No matter how much it hurt to have Edward mad at her, Bella knew in her heart that she'd done the right thing by staying in La Push with Brady. She was even a little proud of herself for holding her ground.
Unfortunately, Edward's animosity towards the pack seemed to be growing despite Bella's best efforts to bring them together. His stunt the other night threatening to cross the treaty line certainly wouldn't help ease tensions on the pack's side. Bella dreaded what Leah would have to say about it the next time she saw her. Maybe Bella could just avoid her forever?
Bella shook her head and reminded herself that she wasn't letting other people fight her battles anymore. She had to stand up for herself, at least when it came to the pack, or else Brady could get caught in the middle of it again.
When Bella went to get dressed, she realized her predicament. If she wanted to get her clothes washed, she'd have to go commando or borrow Emily's underwear. Either sounded gross and Bella was annoyed at Edward all over again for not bringing her a change of clothes. She'd just have to suck it up and deal.
Feeling uncomfortable in the borrowed clothes, Bella tentatively searched for Emily and found her in the living room. She was seated on the couch, concentrating on her computer. "Oh sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt."
"You're not! I'm just finishing up a commission, but my deadline's not for a few hours. I have time to talk." Emily closed her laptop and patted the couch next to her. "Come sit. Tell me how you're doing."
Bella took up the invitation. She didn't have much else to do other than watch Brady sleep, which she could acknowledge now was a little creepy.
Emily turned to her so they were facing on the couch and listened earnestly.
"I'm doing ok," Bella told her. "It's been a bit of a rollercoaster but now that I know Brady's going to be ok, I feel a lot better."
Emily smiled. "That's good to hear. Does that mean you'll be leaving us soon?"
Bella froze. Had she overstayed her welcome? Hesitantly Bella replied, "I promised Brady I'd stay until he was fully recovered but if that's going to be a problem, I can—"
"No!" Emily interrupted. "No, of course you're welcome. Stay as long as you want."
"Are you sure?" Bella asked warily. She felt like she was getting mixed signals from Emily.
"Yes, absolutely!" Emily replied with enthusiasm. "Honestly when you said you were going to meet Edward, I wasn't sure you were coming back." Emily laughed but Bella could tell there was some true worry behind it.
"That's what he wanted," Bella confessed, "But I made a promise to Brady that I won't break." Bella frowned, thinking of some of the awful things Edward said about Brady. She muttered, "He should know that insulting the pack isn't a good way to convince me to do anything."
Emily huffed, reminding Bella who she was talking to.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything," Bella backtracked. "I don't want to cause an even bigger rift."
Emily shook her head. "No, I'm sorry. I'm your friend and you should be able to talk about your fiancé with your friend. I'll try to put my wolf girl biases aside," Emily added cheekily, "But no promises."
Bella seriously considered her offer to discuss Edward, but there was one worrying detail. "I wouldn't want any of it to get pack to the pack."
Emily gave her a look. "Contrary to popular belief, I don't tell Sam everything. As long as you don't tell me anything that will endanger the pack, my lips are sealed. Promise."
As Bella opened her mouth, Brady called her name from the guest room. She jumped up in surprise and rushed to his bedside. He was wincing as he tried to sit up.
"Here, let me move the pillows." Bella rearranged everything to be more comfortable for Brady as he leaned against the headboard. "How are you feeling?"
Brady reached his hand out for Bella and when she took it, he sighed happily. "I'm perfect now."
Bella snorted. What a charmer. "How are you really feeling? Do your ribs hurt? Is it hard to breathe?"
Brady shook his head. "I'm just a little sore but it's not that bad. I'm sure I'll be fine by tomorrow. Maybe we can even go down to the beach together?"
"Woah woah woah! No way." Bella folded her arms and stared him down. "Sue said at least three days of rest, so you're going to stay in bed tomorrow."
Brady groaned and flopped his head back dramatically. "Oh come on! Please? If I stay in this bed any longer I'm going to go crazy."
Bella watched his tantrum with faint amusement. "You can barely sit up. I think it's a bit premature to talk about you running around at the beach, don't you?"
Brady deflated and grumbled about the unfairness.
Bella wondered how much pain he was in if it was making him this cranky. He wasn't usually a whiny kid. "How's the pain? Should I call Sue and see if we can give you something?"
Brady shook his head. "Pain killers don't do anything for us; we burn through them too quickly. Will you stay here and distract me?"
"Of course." Bella squeezed his hand in fondness. "What do you want to talk about?"
"I don't know." Brady shrugged as he idly played with Bella's fingers. "I want to hear about you. How did you convince the Chief to let you stay here?"
Bella huffed out a laugh. "I'm eighteen," she reminded him. "He can't exactly stop me but I do let him know where I am out of courtesy. I told him I was staying with Emily and he was fine with it."
"I wish my mom was that chill. She's always on my case about school—even before I phased. Now it's way worse with me having to do summer school not to fail 7th grade. Sometimes I think it'd be so much easier if she knew about the pack."
Bella scowled. "But Sam won't let you, right?"
Brady looked at her funny and shook his head. "The Council. They want as few people to know the secret as possible. The only parents who know are the ones who are council members."
"That's messed up," Bella said, thinking of the unfairness of it all. Why should Jake get an easier time than Brady just because Billy was on the Council? "Are you sure there's no way they'd reconsider?"
"I don't know," Brady replied skeptically. "I only know what Sam showed us from his memory and they were really clear we couldn't tell anyone."
It made Bella think back to when she found out about the pack. No wonder Paul was so pissed. He couldn't explain to his parents about the pack but Bella got to know the secret.
Pulling herself out of her thoughts, Bella focused back on Brady's situation. "There has to be something we can do to improve things with your mom. You shouldn't be punished for protecting the community."
"I could come live with you," Brady suggested innocently.
Bella barked out a startled laugh. "Yeah right, like your mom would give you up. And what exactly would I tell Charlie? That you're my long-lost little brother?"
Brady frowned in distaste and muttered something Bella couldn't make out.
Bella shook her head in amusement. "I guess you'll just have to keep living at home, then." Thinking seriously, she asked, "Do you have to lie to her a lot?"
"Nah not that much. Mom's usually on the nightshift so I take the midnight patrols the nights she's at work. I don't have to sneak out of the house or anything like Embry."
Unlike Brady, Bella didn't think a kid being able to stay out all night without their parent noticing was a good thing. She knew he was left alone a lot but she didn't realize it was this serious. "You said your mom's a nurse, right?"
Brady nodded. "At the hospital in Forks. She has a 7 to 7 shift—7pm to 7am—but sometimes she has to stay longer if people are late. We eat breakfast together after she gets home, then I go to school and she's asleep when I get back."
Bella could guess the rest. "Then she goes to work around dinner time and you go patrol?"
"Yeah I mean, she only works three days a week or four if she can get an extra shift, which she usually does. When she doesn't have work, I do afternoon patrols while she's sleeping. It's easier for her to keep a nighttime schedule all week rather than switch back and forth. We joke that she's nocturnal," Brady says with a fond smile.
"That's cute." She could've left it there—maybe she should have—but something in her chest ached hearing about Brady's overworked life. "It sounds like you patrol a lot. When are your days off?"
Brady looked confused. "We have patrol everyday."
"Everyday?" Bella was horrified. "So you're either patrolling at midnight when you should be sleeping or skipping school to patrol?"
"Yeah that's why I'm in summer school," Brady acknowledged sheepishly. "I missed too many of my afternoon classes and some of the others I failed for falling asleep."
It was madness. Did Sam and the Council not realize they were stunting his growth and education or did they just not care? Brady looked embarrassed at his admission so Bella tried to reign in her shocked expression. Very carefully she said, "None of that it your fault. You know that, right?"
Brady nodded quietly, avoiding her gaze.
"Kids need sleep and time to do their homework. It isn't right," Bella insisted.
Brady looked up with alarm. "You're not going to say anything, are you?"
Bella frowned, wondering what he was afraid would happen. "Yes," she told him slowly. "I am. This isn't healthy. You deserve to be a normal kid."
"Stop calling me that. I'm not a kid!" Brady shouted. "And I'm sure as hell not normal!" He shook the bed with his tremors and Bella's eyes widened in shock. Brady dropped her hand instantly, gripping the bedding instead, and squeezed his eyes shut.
Bella tried to choke back the irrational hurt she felt at Brady yelling at her. She knew that he was just upset—that it wasn't personal—but the knowledge didn't comfort her at all. "I'm just trying to help," Bella whispered. She cringed at how pathetic she sounded. She wanted to get out of there before he saw her crying but she couldn't leave without knowing he was ok.
After a moment, he got the phase under control and the bed stopped rattling.
"Are you good now?" Bella asked tightly.
Brady nodded without looking at her and it broke her heart a little bit. She didn't know if she could handle him being mad at her.
Bella stood. With a small voice, she said, "Ok, I'm going to go make lunch."
Brady didn't say a word as she left.
Emily was working on her project so Bella was on her own fixing lunch. Her heart was still raw from Brady yelling at her and she wished she could run away. Edward would be happy to see her, take her into his arms and comfort her.
Bella sighed. It was a nice fantasy but she wouldn't break her promise. She'd stay until Brady recovered, even if things got a little uncomfortable.
When she was done making lunch, Bella fixed a plate for Brady and steeled herself for another confrontation. He was in pain and deserved her patience, she reminded herself. Taking a deep breath, she brought Brady his food only to find him asleep. She leaned against the doorway and regarded him. He was tall, like his pack brothers, and his legs barely fit on the small bed. Otherwise he looked a lot like any other kid his age. He had a baby face—cute and youthful. He lacked the harsh masculine angles of his pack brothers and Bella's heart ached that he resented his youth.
She understood now why he'd been upset earlier. It was the same reason he hated being called the pack baby: he wanted to be treated like an equal, not a child.
Bella couldn't agree.
Thinking back on her own childhood, she understood that sometimes when things are lost, you can never get them back. Renée was very open with Bella, treating her more like a friend than a daughter. Bella thought it was cool when she was growing up but now she could see that certain things—like knowing about their money troubles—cut her childhood short. She stopped trick-or-treating earlier than her peers because she didn't have money for a costume. She made her own lunch rather than buying it at the cafeteria. She would even remind her mom not to buy wine and magazines at the store when they were on a budget.
Bella didn't think her mom knew she was trying to save them money when she was a kid. Renée just thought she was anti-social. In retrospect, saving a few bucks here and there probably didn't make much of a difference to their income but it made a big imprint on Bella's childhood.
She knew that Brady had already experienced things as a wolf that no kid his age should have to deal with and that's precisely the reason why she wanted to safeguard whatever innocence he had left.
