Chapter Two
The hospital is abuzz. This is the most action they've seen since the some bikers came into town and one of them busted his ass literally when he tried to show off on his bike, back in the 80s. Bella sits on the plastic seat and ignores the overwhelming stench of antiseptic and mud. Her father is sitting next to her, partially dried and the mud forming unappealing crusts on his shoes and pants legs, and on the front of his jacket where he held the woman to him.
It blocks out the word police and like this, under the strong florescent, he looks more tired dad than cop.
The nurses won't let the two of them in until the woman is stabilized. It's been three hours now. Three hours waiting here, Bella biting her bottom lip, drinking hospital cafeteria coffee and trying not to gag on it. Charlie's told her all he knows about the situation and now they wait.
"You should really be home, Bells," he tells her, stroking his mustache. He's got bags under his eyes but they're full of energy. His body may be tired but he's curious on what's happening. On who this woman is.
"I have class in an hour anyways. I'll sleep when I come home from school," she intones, curious too and needing to be here.
When she closes her tired eyes she can still see the images from earlier this morning. Her father stumbled into the house and Bella opened the screen door for him, as he set the woman down. She's naked but covered in mud, sticks and leaves in her hair. And she's bleeding. They don't know from where but she is.
"Bella, call the ambulance!" he instructs once more and she pulls out her phone as he goes to get the woman a blanket. She must be cold. Whatever happened to her, has her unconscious, her head lolling to the side.
"What's your emergency?" the operator on the other end asks and Bella stumbles over her words, not quite sure how to describe this situation. "Um, my dad and I, we found a girl in the woods. She looks hurt. She's unresponsive. We need an ambulance."
"What is your address?" asked the operator and Bella quickly told her. Charlie is back with Bella's old blanket, the one from upstairs. It was the only one he could find. He wraps the woman in it, and takes her wrist to measure her pulse.
"She's alive, but it's slow," he tells Bella and she swallows in uncertainty. Charlie lifts the woman up and Bella ends the call after the operator tells her they're on the way. Charlie takes her to the front of the house so they can wait for the ambulance there. Bella snags her jacket off the coat hanger and waits with him. The minutes stretch by and yet they go by so quickly. They hear the sirens first and open the door, stepping out. Two paramedics come with stretchers and take the woman out of Charlie's hands and put her on them. There's a flurry of motion as they get her into the ambulance. "Get her an IV," shouts one.
"Her pulse and oxygen levels need to be checked," says the other.
"I'm coming with her," Charlie says, "This could a missing persons case." He flashes his badge at them.
"I'm coming too," Bella announces and Charlie doesn't argue with her on this, finding that there's too much chaos and too little time to debate Bella's tagging along.
And that's how they make it to the hospital. They haven't had word on anything ever since the mysterious woman got here, but they are too curious to go home and wait there, until hours have passed. The doctors have some questions for Charlie and he answers them standing by the seats, not too far from Bella that she cannot hear. There's no point in keeping this secret from her. Charlie already told her what he'd seen.
"Where did you find her?"
"In my backyard, some ways in the woods."
"When did you come across her?"
"During the night. I think it was like one in the morning," he filled in. "I was only out because I heard a loud noise and it startled me and Bella awake. I went to check it out. There was some weird glowing light coming from where this woman was. By the time I got to her it had gone out and all I saw was her, lying in some deep crater."
"That is odd," the doctor says as he scribbles down his notes. "Do you recognize her?"
"It's hard to tell with the mud covering her."
"She's all cleaned up now. Would you like to see her?"
"Yes," Charlie nods his head, hands on his hips. "I'd also like to bring my daughter in. She might help with the identifying."
The doctor hesitates before nodding his head. "Of course."
Bella gets up and follows her father down the hall when he jerks his head at her, indicating she should come. They get to the room. The mysterious woman is the only one in it and the two nurses who were just finishing up her IV drip are leaving to allow them access.
They stand at the end of the bed and look her over. She looks more human now. Nothing like the thing they had rescued last night. She had been so muddy it was hard to tell what was under it all. But now, cleaned up, they can finally see her for what she is.
"I don't recognize her, do you Bella?" Charlie asks, glancing the mysterious woman over.
She's beautiful, is Bella's first thought, when she sees the woman spread on the bed in front of her. Her skin is a golden warm hue and her hair is pale blonde, curled in long locks that spread like a halo around her head. Her nose is strong, her lips full, and her brows perfectly structured. Her facial features make her look like an angel, especially given the gentle and peaceful look on her face as she sleeps. Bella watches her chest rise and fall longer than she should, wondering what color her eyes could be.
It takes a second for Bella to register the words spoken to her, they sound like they're coming under water. "Um, no," she shakes her head, takes her eyes away from the woman. "I don't know her."
Bella and Charlie are shuffled from the room, her father hanging his hands off of his belt loop. "Well, it seems I won't be able to do anything until she wakes up. Wanna grab some hot chocolate on the way home?" he asks Bella who nods her head yes. She's quiet now, but only because she's so deep in thought. She can't shake the sight of the beautiful mysterious woman out of her head. She's so beautiful it almost hurts to look at her.
Bella's so deep in thought that she only really is drawn out when they're in the car and Charlie's driving to the old diner that sells hot chocolate and he comments, "oh, finally. It stopped raining."
And Bella looks up and sees that the first rays of light are breaking free from the clouds, shining down on the wet world around them, for once the sky not trying to drown them.
Bella goes to school, feet dragging and eyes prickling with tiredness.
"You look like a vampire," Mike comments, throwing an arm around her shoulders as they walk down the hall to their shared class. She knows she looks bad, she has bags under her eyes and her hair is messed up because she wasn't able to brush it since she woke up in the morning before this whole crazy adventure.
She stifles a yawn before answering. "Just couldn't fall asleep," she says, not wanting to tell anyone about the stranger they found last night. This is a small town and word gets around quickly. Besides, a part of her oddly doesn't want anyone knowing about the woman. She doesn't know why this is, maybe it's because she wants to protect her identity? Give her some privacy from the snooping of small town folks. Besides, she seems to have been through so much, why not give her a small break?
School slides on by, and Bella goes from class to class, just trying to stay awake. She couldn't be happier when the bell rings. She springs out of her seat, intent on her getting home so she can do her work quickly and then go to bed early. She says goodbye to her friends before she clambers into her old truck. With a roar she is pulling out of the parking lot, blinking her eyes rapidly so she doesn't fall asleep behind the wheel.
Bella gets home about twenty minutes later, parking her truck and taking out her bag as she enters the house, stifling yet another yawn. Opening the door and throwing her bag onto the couch as she normally does, she can smell food. The house is filled with the scent of a fresh meal. Is Charlie cooking? That's odd. But when she comes into the kitchen, she sees Charlie isn't there.
But the mysterious woman is.
She's at the stove, making grilled chicken and wearing Bella's flannel and loose sweatpants that are both a bit small on her given the way the pants stop at above her ankle and the shirt sleeves stop before her wrists. Her hair is down and loose, ends curling up a bit, trailing down to nearly the small of her back. Bella gasps at the sight of her. Hadn't she just been in the hospital?
Her head jerks at the sound of Bella's gasp and she smiles. It's like the room lights up when she does and Bella screams because she's overwhelmed by this woman's sudden presence.
Charlie is down the stairs in second's, lumbering down them at break neck speeds. "Bella what's wrong?!"
She clamps a hand over her mouth, unsure why she even screamed. Was it because she was so shocked to see someone here that wasn't supposed to and her body had a delayed reaction? "Uh, nothing," she pulls the hand from her mouth, her father looking between her and the woman in the kitchen, alert and ready to protect Bella. "I was just surprised." The woman in the kitchen stares blankly in shock at being screamed at, but doesn't comment.
"I forgot to text you," Charlie says, exhaling in relief that nothing had happened and placed his hands on his hips, affecting a strong stance. "I had a lot of paperwork to fill out and it slipped my mind. But, she's going to stay here with us."
Bella's brow furrows. Is she dreaming? Hallucinating from lack of sleep? "Why?"
"Well, the hospital said she was fine. Released her on the all clean bill, and because we don't know who she is, or where she's from, she doesn't have anywhere else to go. So, I offered her if she'd like to stay at our house for the time being while her memories return to her. This way I can keep a closer eye on her and solve her case."
Charlie said it like it made sense, but Bella wasn't entirely sure if she wanted to have a stranger staying in their house. Their ramshackle house. What if she was dangerous? But as the woman smiled softly at her, not hurt by Bella's earlier scream, Bella could feel all her qualms fall away. There was something just so disarming about that smile. It made Bella feel soothed.
"Uh, hi," Bella held out her hand in greeting, deciding she should remedy her rude greeting of the way before when she screamed her head off. "I'm Bella Swan."
The woman shook Bella's hand. Her fingers were so soft, and warm. She didn't say anything back.
"The doctor's said she lost use of her vocal cords. They're not damaged or anything but they think whatever trauma happened to her, caused her to lose access to using them. Frightened her from speaking," Charlie explained as the woman let go of Bella's hand. Bella curled her fingers around her palm where it tingled from the woman's touch.
"Oh, okay," Bella said because she didn't know what else to say.
There came a ding from the oven and the woman rushed over to it, getting something out of the oven. Bella turned to her father who understood the look in her eyes. He jerked his head over to indicate they should talk about this in the foyer. Bella followed his heavy footsteps there.
"Dad, are you sure this is okay?" Bella whispered, mindful to keep her voice low even if they were out of ear shot.
"Bells...I felt bad for her. She's a young woman, lost and with no idea who she is. What if she was someone's daughter, and I didn't do anything to help her?" Charlie shook his head, clearly thinking of what if Bella had been in a position like that. Charlie always had been a compassionate man, thinking more with his heart sometimes than his head. "I couldn't do that, I couldn't leave her there, or let her be sent off to some shady motel room." They both peered down the hall to see her moving around and setting the table as she plated the food, looking so pleased with the menial task she was doing.
"How long do you think she'll be here?" Bella asked. The woman looked so out of place among their drab and shoddy house. She was too bright. Too clean.
"I'm not sure. But I already told her if she wants to stay here, she needs to earn her keep. She'll be helping us around the house by cooking or cleaning. Should make things easier for you, Bella."
"What about the hospital bills?" Bella knew those couldn't be cheap.
"The police department agreed to pay for it, on the conditions that once she gained her memories back from whatever trauma took them, she would pay us back."
"What if she doesn't regain them?" Bella voiced hesitantly. That would be a horrible thing. Bella couldn't imagine it happening, couldn't imagine forgetting Charlie.
Charlie sighed, smoothing a hand down over his mustache. "We'll look for her next of kin. Or someone who knows her." He gave another sigh. "I also hope you don't mind me giving her your old clothes. She didn't exactly have anything to wear."
"It's fine. I can take her shopping later if she needs some more."
"Thank you, Bells," Charlie put a hand on her shoulder. Then they both went to join their new house-guest for a dinner she made.