Thank you to everyone who has been reading my story. I would like to remind my readers that since I wrote this story so long ago, I have no more than a general recollection of what it is about. This also means that any plot or grammar issues will have been made long before I received my Bachelor's in English.

Enjoy :)

Chapter 9

Esme POV

I heard Carlisle and Edward's phone conversation as I was feeding Bella. Well, if they were coming home, there were a few things that we had to get done beforehand, and we only had a couple of hours.

First, I have to finish feeding my daughter, I thought, calming myself. I looked into Bella's face, which was blotchy from exhaustion and thinner than it used to be because of her weight loss. Her eyes were blank, and her expression was emotionless. I smiled at her encouragingly as I went to deliver her third spoonful of applesauce.

I couldn't help but feel my heart warm every time she opened her mouth for me. My baby daughter was trusting me. I always knew her insecurities were deeper than they were broad, but I never thought that our leaving would affect her this much or I would have refused to leave in the first place. Yes, I begged and pleaded. I would've rather done anything than leave my vulnerable baby to fend for herself. When we left, it was like losing my child all over again. I felt the same pain that I had when I jumped off the cliff as a human. I would've probably fallen apart if Carlisle hadn't been there to hold me up.

Ah, Carlisle. What a guy.

I was broken from my reverie by none other than the man himself. "Esme," he called from the other room, soft enough that only I could hear him. "I'm sure you've heard that the children are on their way home. They shouldn't be home for an hour or two, so please prepare Bella as only you can." I smiled. He knew me so well.

After I had finished feeding Bella, I brought the spoon and bowl to the sink to wash them. While scrubbing, I glanced up at Bella, and her eyes were staring unseeingly at the wall across from her. I finished with vampire speed and appeared in front of her. "Bella, darling, you're going to need to take a shower. Would you like my help?"

She shrugged feebly.

"Bella," I said concernedly. "I think it'd be best… If you would let me help you." She looked so terribly weak and fragile. Her detachedness was worrying me, to the point where I truly believed that she wouldn't get anything accomplished on her own. She didn't have the physical strength or the willpower.

She didn't respond, so I scooped her up in my arms and brought her upstairs and into Carlisle and I's bathroom. I closed the lid of the toilet and sat her down on it. As I undressed her, her face continued to look blank and empty. I couldn't wait to get her in the shower to see if the hot water would affect her at all.

I was horrified by what I saw. "Bella," I chided. I had to say something. "Why did you do this to yourself?"

She didn't look up at me as she said in a monotone, "Why not?"

I silently carried her into the shower before setting her down and replying, "Because you're worth more than that, that's why." I turned on the water to a warm temperature.

"I'm not," she said so softly that if it wasn't for my exceptional hearing I wouldn't have heard it.

I didn't say a word as I washed her hair (which was as short as Alice's now) and body. I waited until we had gotten out of the shower until I said, "Bella. Please, speak to me. Just tell me why."

"Why what?"

"Why… You've so terribly forgotten yourself. Why you've given up." As I spoke, I dried and dressed her, and then carried her to Carlisle and I's bed.

She still didn't look at me as she replied in the same monotone, "Please don't do this anymore. You don't need to feel guilty about anything. It's all entirely my fault."

"What is, Bella?" I said, beginning to get seriously concerned, even more than I was already.

"That my friends left me, that my parents left me, that you all left me… That he left me, especially." She looked up at me then, with emotionless eyes. I could tell that she was fully convinced that this was true, but I didn't interrupt her, giving her time to finally speak her feelings. "What he told me in the forest was nothing new. I was already aware that I was nothing, that I was just a weak human. And I was just kidding myself to think that he loved me… I wasn't good enough for him; he didn't want me. Neither did my parents. It's completely understandable. I would leave myself if I could…"

I opened my mouth to speak, but she held up a hand, interrupting me.

"But the last thing I ever will want is pity." Her voice was firm. "That's why I'd do anything to just leave now. Yes, as I said earlier, I miss each and every one of you more than anything in this whole world, but I simply don't deserve it. And I don't ever want to burden you ever again." Tears began to fall down her face. "Esme, look at me. I'm broken. Unfixable. There's nothing you can ever do to fix this mess that I've become. It's not worth your time. I'm not worth it."

I knew then that I needed the rest of the family here, especially Jasper, if I wanted to make any impact on my daughter emotionally. This was going to be the hardest part to fix.

At that moment, Carlisle appeared in the doorway. He sped towards Bella and took his place by my side. Taking her face in both of his hands, he looked into her eyes and didn't look pleased at what he saw. "Bella, I do not ever want to hear you say those things again. I especially do not want you to ever think it. Instead, you are to always think the opposite, because only in the opposite does the truth lie."

Her expression didn't change, but there may have been something different in her eyes, something better.

We were going to have to work on that.