STRUGGLES

Disclaimer: The Cullen's, the Swans, and most of the characters mentioned in the story that are known from Stephanie Meyer's beloved Twilight Saga, are all hers and hers alone. I neither have nor wish to pass them off as mine. I do appreciate the fact that she did bring them to life and allows us to play with them in our imaginations. The only thing I will claim is the current storyline.

The awesome and talented dowlingnana searched out my errors and corrected them. She also makes the banners for each of my stories.

Someone had asked me what type of gun had been used to shoot Frank since I hadn't made it clear. I made an error in referring to Norma replacing the empty casings in the clip. Only automatic handguns have clips and it was a small revolver that had been used to kill Frank. I do appreciate for this person calling my attention to the error and I hope this clears up any further questions concerning the gun.

He motioned for her to continue as he moved closer to Bella. Once he was standing next to her he reached out to take her hand. Bending low he whispered in her ear, "Things are always darkest before the dawn, but, it will turn out okay in the end. I promised you and I will keep my word, pretty lady." And, it was as he spoke those final words that Edward received the shock of his life; he felt a small pressure or squeeze, he wasn't sure what to call it, on his hand.

CHAPTER 23: FINALLY THE RIGHT QUESTIONS

'Did I really feel that?' Edward thought to himself as his shocked glance was swung up to take in Bella's face, but, saw no changes before looking over to his sister to see if she had noticed anything unusual taking place with the patient. The only thing he observed was that Alice was no longer talking to Bella, but, was watching him and his actions instead. She had a small smile that was threatening to appear, but, she was fighting to keep her facial features under control. "What?" He simply asks her aloud.

"Oh, nothing. I was wondering what had caused such a stunned expression upon your face and why were you acting a bit strangely. That's all." She quietly replied. But, her answer gave no clue to Edward as if she had seen or felt the small bit of pressure that he had from Bella. Hell, he wasn't totally sure that he had actually felt it, or, maybe, he imagined it.

Not being able to detect a sign from Alice that would silently answer his questions, both his mental or verbal questions, he decided to ask her outright. "Alice, have you felt any sort of movement, or, gesture, no matter how small, from Mrs. Harrison?"

"No, but, from your reaction a moment ago, I would venture to say to you did."

"I can't say for sure that I did, but, I do think that I did as I had finished talking with her just now. It felt like a slight squeezing of my hand, but, I'm hesitant to say that it really did happen. That's why I was asking you if you had felt or seen anything. I was wanting to make sure it wasn't my imagination before calling the doctor or anyone else."

"I can tell that never has anyone else seen or received a reaction from her since she was thrown into this mental state. But, Edward, I still think that it would be worth telling someone; it might mean something." Alice told him before making her suggestion.

"My darling sister, if I told anyone about what I think I felt they might think that I'm a little crazy since I have no proof to offer. No, Alice, I need for it to happen again, but, with someone else seeing a change of a position or facial change, a slight pressure felt, you know something that would verify what I just felt."

"I guess you're right." She agreed with him after a little thought as to what he was saying. Then she considered what Edward was forgetting and that was that Bella will be with him in future, so, maybe, she needed to remind him of that fact. And, for that to happen proves that all of the present situations were mere hurdles that had to be overcome and would be resolved in the scheme of things. But, she didn't think that she needed to remind him of what she had seen on the plane as they were coming to Seattle; no, it wasn't the right moment for her to bring that up once more.

After both, brother and sister, looked at each other for a long moment, Edward turned back to Bella and bent low one more time just to tell her that all was going to be okay and to get well soon. Once that was done he told Alice goodbye and left the room. It was now time to seek out the Head Nurse and ask her a few questions before heading back to the penthouse to look more closely at the file and then head to ask the D. A. some very pointed questions.

XXXXXX

Edward stopped at the nursing station to ask for directions to the Head Nurse's office. It didn't take long before he was directed to his destination only to arrive to find that the lady he sought wasn't available at the moment. He did inquire as to when she would be returning, and the response was that she should be back at any moment; so, he decided to wait.

He was determined to get some answers concerning Alma Johnson and how she ended up being assigned to looking after Isabella Harrison. Those answers he was sure would be most informative in aiding in Bella's defense.

The fact that Nurse Johnson had been related to the Harrison family caught both him and Charlie by surprise. How was it that no one had thought to mention that fact when he first took this case? Was it possible that no one knew until Emmett brought it up? Then even scarier thoughts crossed his mind, 'Was it possible that the fact had been covered up even from Bella Harrison and that was why no knew about it? And, if it had been the next question would be why? Was there a hidden reason that no one knew about this fact until now?' These questions floated through Edward's mind while he was waiting for Mrs. Reasoner, the Head Nurse.

It wasn't long before a woman that was slightly overweight walked into the office doorway and went straight to her desk. After sitting down at the desk that had the nameplate reading 'Mrs. H. Reasoner, Head of Nursing,' Edward knew the lady he had been seeking had finally shown up. He walked up to the door and knocked before entering and introducing himself.

"Okay, Mr. Cullen, how can I help you?"

"First of all I want you to be aware that I'm representing a patient that is currently in this hospital. And, with that being said, I'm sure that you're aware of the circumstances concerning this patient. Her name is Mrs. Isabella Harrison and one of your nurses was responsible for causing a medical setback for Mrs. Harrison." Edward paused as he saw that Mrs. Reasoner was about to say something, so, he held up his hand to halt whatever she was going to utter and continued. "Mrs. Reasoner, I'm not here to bring any legal action against you, any of your current staff, or, this hospital at this particular time.

"All I'm wanting to do is ask you some questions about one of your former nurses, Alma Johnson, that has since been arrested and was fired from this hospital."

"Mr. Cullen, I'm not sure that I can legally give you much information about Nurse Johnson. I must ask you to give me time to discuss this matter with our legal department and then get back with you after that time."

"Fair enough, but, the information that I'm wanting to know at the moment is how Nurse Johnson ended up being the attending nurse to Mrs. Harrison."

"Please leave me with your contact information and I'll give you a call after talking with our legal team." So, that is what Edward did, even though, he was feeling a sense of disappointment at not achieving his goal, and then he thanked Mrs. Reasoner for her time and said he hoped to hear from her in the not too far future.

The only other option he had at this point was to return to the penthouse and review the file that Capt. Jenkins had given to Charlie earlier today. Once that was done then he felt that he would be better prepared to deal with the D. A. Maybe then, he would be able to get some answers concerning Alma Johnson and Norma Harrison, especially, her whereabouts, and, he knew now that the ADA that was assigned to the Harrison case had been withholding information.

That was the path that Edward knew he would need to take; look over the file, gather the information needed then file the necessary writs and attack the D. A. about how the case had been handled. So, the penthouse was his current destination.

In the meantime, Renee and Esme had relieved Alice from bedside duty with Bella. They were wanting to spend time together and with the unconscious woman. Alice wanted to spend time with Jasper and then get some rest; maybe, she thought that by resting she might be able to catch a vision of where they all needed to look for Bella's sister in law. There wasn't much else she could do except what she was doing now.

XXXXXX

Emmett had looked over his copy of the file that Charlie's friend had given them and made several notes in the margin as to things that he wanted to check out. The main one being the facts involved in Norma Harrison's statement to the police, both at her home the night Frank Harrison had been killed and then the one that she gave at the police station a few days later. There was something about the two statements that weren't adding up to the truth.

But, the biggest questions that kept crossing his mind was 'why had she stayed with Frank Harrison' and 'what kind of hold did he have that might have forced Bella to stay with him; forced her to stay with him and to suffer in silence and to accept his abuse?' Emmett felt if he could find the answers to those two questions then everything else would fall into place and they would stand a better chance of clearing Bella of having to face any murder charges.

Of course, there was still the connection between Alma Johnson and the Harrison family and why the relationship had been kept quiet. What was the reasoning for that fact?

Next, he needed to check out the information that came from the coroner's report about the fact that it was a second bullet that had killed Frank Harrison; not the first one. That the first had nicked the artery and he was in danger, but, would still have been alive when help arrived if only the one bullet had hit him. Where was that second bullet, the empty casing and who had been at the house that night that fired it?

All good questions and Emmett knew that once all of the answers were discovered then a lot more evidence for his friend would clear her of all charges. He firmly believed that fact and he believed that Bella had fired at her husband in self-defense.

He and Rosalie knew their friend too well to believe that she would willingly allow herself to remain in an abusive situation; it wasn't like Bella to do something like that and it wasn't the way she was raised. Neither her father, Charlie Swan who was Chief of Police in Forks, nor, her mother, Renee Dwyer, would have encouraged such behavior, or, would have allowed Bella to remain with Frank if they had known for sure the truth of her circumstances. If only Bella had been honest with all of them then things wouldn't have gotten to the current situation.

It was as he reached this point in his thoughts that Emmett realized the time and that he had been so involved in his mind that he hadn't paid any attention to the passing of time. He had things to do and it was time to get to doing them.

As Emmett entered the main living room area of the penthouse, not really paying any attention to the fact that he was about to run into someone. Alice was returning from the hospital, but, she didn't notice that Emmett was also on his way out as she was coming in. The two met in the middle as they ran into each other. Of course, with Emmett being the bigger of the two, he managed to knock Alice backwards and she landed on her butt.

"Damn, Emmett, watch where you're going." She scolded him and then immediately apologized since she wasn't watching either.

"That's okay, Alice, are you hurt anywhere, but, your pride?" He asked as he was helping her up as he gave a bit of a chuckle.

"No, but, it seems that we both have things on our mind that caused us to not pay attention to our surroundings."

"Yeah, I was just putting things in order in my mind of what I needed to do to help Bella get clear of these charges."

"Wish I was able to help more like the rest of you, but, I guess we all do what we're best at, huh. But, I do know what you mean about getting things in order to be able to help her.

"An incident happened at the hospital that really didn't register with me at the time, but, now that I was thinking back over things the oddity of something got me to thinking."

"Is it anything you want to talk about, or, something that I might be able to help you with?" Emmett asked as he helped Alice to the couch after noticing that she was walking a bit gingerly after he had knocked her down.

"I don't know. You know what, I really do think it might help to get it into perspective if I told someone about it. Who knows, maybe, I'm making something out of nothing."

So, Emmett sat down and listened while Alice told him about the incident concerning two nurses attending to Bella, back to back, to perform the same duties. "You know, at the time I didn't really put things together about how odd it seemed, but, it just happened to pop into my mind as I was coming back for a bit of a break."

"I think that I have to agree with you; it is odd. Did you want me to check into it, or, to mention it to your brother? He did say that he was going to be talking to the Head Staff Nurse today. He would be able to get the answers for you while he was talking with her."

Alice agreed and thanked the big man before rising and slowly making way towards her room to rest for a bit.

Emmett didn't say anything else to Alice, but, he did see that things weren't adding up concerning what he had just been told. He reached for his phone as he was continuing on his way out and was waiting for Edward to answer.

A/N: So, the odd bits and pieces of things are starting to come to light with questions being asked. Edward is seeking answers from one direction while Charlie is going another and Emmett has some questions of his own.

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