CHAPTER ELEVEN

Bella woke up to the brightest lights she may have ever seen. She felt like her eyes were open long before they actually were. The only thing that pulled her out of the in between state was the sound of her son chatting to whomever would listen. She could hear Alice's voice off in the distance, but no Edward. Her senses began to flow back into her all at once, and Bella jumped up in the bed she was in with a loud gasp. Suddenly, she felt a grasp on her hand, pulling her attention to who it belonged to. Edward's soft eyes gleamed at her, causing her to instantly relax.
"Bella," He whispered, standing up so he was at her side. "It's okay, calm down."

"Edward," She whimpered, finally looking away from him to gaze around the unfamiliar room. "Where are we?"

"We're in Sacramento, at my father's house. You got shot in the side, but our doctor took the bullet out. You're going to be sore for a few days, but you're okay."

"Ezra?" Bella asked, her eyes focusing on Edward again. She let her eyes scan over him, looking for any signs of injuries. There was a large gauze pad taped onto Edward's arm, and she wondered if he had been shot as well.

"He's okay," Edward said softly, leaning forward to lean his forehead against hers. "He's with Alice and my mother right now. They just adore him."

"I want to see him." Bella whispered, turning her head back to the door. Edward left without a word and brought her son back with him.

"Mommy!" E.J. exclaimed when he saw Bella. She grinned at him and put her arms out, taking him into her lap with Edward's assistance. "Did you nap?" He asked her inquisitively.

"I did," Bella nodded. "I had a long nap and now I feel better." Her fingers traced over Ezra's face, across his cheekbones and down the slope of his nose. Damn Jacob Black, but he sure did give Bella a beautiful child.

Before Bella knew it, the room was filled with people. She sat in the bed, wearing nothing but a gown and a blanket, and found herself looking for Edward. Instead, her eyes landed on a woman about Alice's size, but practically the woman version of Edward.

"I'm Esme." She said softly. "Edward's mother. I figured that you may want to meet the people that you're staying with, but if this is too overwhelming, just say so."

"No, it's okay." Bella whispered softly.

She watched as Esme introduced everyone in the order they stood while Edward lingered in the door frame. Emmett was first. He was built like a quarterback. Bella bet that she and Edward could sit on his shoulders and still have room. He had a cheesy grin, regardless of what had happened to them previously. She recognized him from some pictures, but Edward obviously favored his little sister, who was next in line to be introduced. Seeing as she had already met Alice, she gave her a small smile, then listened as Esme continued on. A man clung onto Alice like she was going to run if he didn't. This was Jasper, Alice's husband. She had never seen pictures of him, or even heard of him often, but she vaguely knew of him.

"Where's Rose?" Esme asked, turning her head to her youngest son.

"She's somewhere." Emmett shrugged.

Esme rolled her eyes, then looked back to Bella. "Our blondes are absent, as you can see. My husband is Carlisle, you probably won't see much of him. Rosalie is Emmett's wife. She'll be around here somewhere.

"Thank you for taking care of us." Bella said softly, looking at all the eyes on her, then pulled E.J. closer.

"You're family." Esme smiled with her response, then shooed her family out of the room to give Edward and Bella some privacy.

"Rose went to get you some clothes." Edward told Bella as he sat on the edge of the bed. Ezra crawled over to him and right into his lap.

"I don't understand what's going on." Bella whispered to her boyfriend, concern pooling in her eyes.

Edward then began to quietly explain to her exactly what she witnessed in that shed; two differed bosses having a stand-off. He told her about Aro's son, Alec, and everything he knew about the situation. Then, Edward told Bella about his father and how they had so much money, and everything that they did.

"Your family business is the mafia?" Bella asked incredulously. She remembered when they first met and how Edward told her that he left California to get away from falling in line to his family business.

"Yes, and I need to warn you of some things, Bella." Edward whispered, scooting closer. They were both very fortunate the Ezra was not an excellent listener at this point, but Edward still put him down and let him roam around. "My father is going to insist that we get married because you're pregnant."

The world seemed to freeze yet again for Bella Swan. Pregnant? Again? There was no way; she was on birth control. She had been taking the pill every single day for two years. She never missed taking a pill. Well, there was that one time that she had slept through her normal time, but she took it that night! There was no way that was the reason.

"Bella," Edward asked, placing his hand softly on her hand. "It's okay. We're going to get through this."

"What's going on?" Bella seemed to ask for the millionth time. She could tell that Edward was either worried about her or annoyed with her confusion, but she didn't care. She was slowly losing control over her life. "I want to go home."

"This is home," Edward said sadly. "For now, at least. I'm sure that we can get out of here, but my father won't let us leave anytime soon.

"This is not home, Edward. You father can't keep us here; we're adults." Bella began to get frustrated.

"Bella, my father carries a gun. He can make us do anything he wants." Edward told her with a tone, as if she was being ridiculous. To him, she was. There was no room for error in this family. "I didn't want to marry you this way, I wanted you to be ready for it. I wanted you to get your nails done and go dress shopping and have your father with you, but my father is arranging for our priest to come tonight." Edward sighed.

"What?" Bella asked, now feeling overwhelmed. "Edward, I want to go home." She whimpered, feeling tears will up in her eyes.

"I'm so sorry, baby." Edward whispered, scooting closer to her. He was relieved when instead of scooting away, she curled into him and cried into his shoulder.