CHAPTER 7 BE STRONG FOR HER
BELLA
Two hours later, Bella regained conciousness. When she opened her eyes she found herself in a hospital room. She hurt everywhere and she had an ivy in her. It took her a minute to remember what happened to her.
When the memory of Jacob's body on top of hers, ripping into her came back she choked on a sob. Why would he do that to her? She still didn't understand. At the same time she worried what he would do now that people knew. She would be in so much trouble. She had to get out of here before he found out. She pulled the blanket of herself and went to stand up but found she couldn't. It hurt too much.
The door opened just as she collapsed back onto the bed. She looked up to see Carlisle standing there looking extremely worried.
"Bella, you're awake. Thank god." he said as he walked to her and began checking her vitals. "Do you remember what happened?"
"Yes." Bella answered on the verge of a break down.
"You been unconcious for a couple hours. I examined you. You have some severe vaginal tearing. It's possible that children won't be a possibility for you. I'm sorry. That; however is the worst of it. You have some cuts and bruises on your legs, arms, and breasts. That's it."
Bella just nodded slightly dazed. She was no longer afraid because Carlisle was there and he wouldn't let Jacob near her. She was still having a hard time wrapping her mind around what Jake had done to her.
"There are some things we need to discuss." Carlisle said sounding very serious. Bella did her best to focus all her attention on him. "You aren't well wnough to not be in a doctor's care but do to the supernatural nature of the sitiuation the authorities can not find out about the abuse or the rape. If there was an investigation, we could all end up exposed. I know you don't want that."
Bella simply shook her head. As much as she hated Jacob right now, she didn't want to see him or the pack or the Cullens dead or worse studied.
"So what do we do?" Bella asked.
"I'm going to write in my report that you fell in a ditch and Alice found you." Carlisle explained. "Esme has already arranged with Charlie for you to spend a few days at our house. Alice went over and did your laundry. She, also, packed some clothes for you. I will discharge you shortly. Rosalie and Alice are in the waiting room. They'll come back and help you into some clothes and take you to the house. I will observe you from there. You can go home once I'm satisfied that you are healing."
Bella nodded.
"Does the whole family know?" Bella asked. She hoped he understood the emphasis on whole.
"Emmett and Edward just got back from a hunting trip. Esme told Emmett but everyone's been trying to block it from Edward. Carlisle replied. "We wanted to ask you if you wanted him to know before anyone said anything.
"It's going to be pretty difficult to hide from him. Just make sure he doesn't do anything stupid when he finds out." Bella answered. "I don't want him to regret anything else in his life because of me."
Carlisle nodded and stared at her for a minute. Bella had the feeling he was debating whether or not to say what he was thinking. Finally, he took a deep breath and said,
"You know, he doesn't regret anything in life because of you. I'll send the girls in so you can change. I'll be back in a couple minutes with the discharge papers.
AN HOUR LATER...
Rosalie pulled her car into the garage. Emmett was waiting for them by the door. He opened Bella's door and lifted her from the car effortlessly. He carried her to the couch in the living room. Esme offered to make her something to eat but she declined.
The family was very attentive and helped her get comfortable. She found that she felt very safe in their care. She also realized that she didn't care if Jacob found out where she was. Hell, she didn't even care if he came here to get her. Her family would protect her from them just like they always had.
Once she was settled, Bella noticed that Alice drifted off upstairs.
EDWARD
Edward knew since he and Emmett returned from their hunting trip that something was going on. He figured it had something to do with Bella and that mutt because he was the only one left out of the loop.
Part of him had decided that he didn't want to know. That was the part of him the was fighting to stop loving Bella. The part of him that kept saying she was no longer his responsibility. It kept reminding him that she didn't love or care for him anymore so why should he still care about her.
The other part of him wanted to know. That was the part of him that knew, no matter how much he fought, he would never stop loving her. It kept reminding him that Jacob didn't deserve her. The part that was convinced Bella would walk away before it was to late.
The two parts fought each other as he debated about trying to get into his brothers and sisters heads. A knock on the door pulled him out of his internal debate.
"Come in." he said softly knowing whoever it was would hear.
The door opened and Alice stepped in. She looked like she was terrified to be there.
"What's up?" he asked. She made her way over to the couch and sat.
"I need to talk to you about something but first I need you to avoid reading my thoughts." Alice stated. "I want you to hear the words."
Edward nodded and did his best to push away Alice's thoughts.
"As you've probably figured out, something happened with Bella and Jacob today." Alice stated. Edward nodded. "I'm not sure of everything, she's not ready to talk about it, but Jacob raped her."
Edward sat there for a moment and let the words sink in. When they did he felt utter rage running through his entire body. He wanted to break something or rather someone.
"He did what?" Edward breathed trying to keep Alice talking so he wouldn't leave.
"He raped her. I found her because I hads a vision of her truck on the side of the road. She was hysterical when we found her and passed out shortly after." Alice explained. Edward kept his focus on her. He had to keep telling himself that attacking Jacob would start a war with the pack, who probably had no idea what the dog was doing. "We took her to Carlisle right away. He wants to observe her for a few days, just to make sure that she's starting to heal. Though, due to the fact that we can't go to the authorities, she couldn't stay in the hospital. People would ask questions. So we're keeping her here until Carlisle is satisfied."
Edward sighed as he let go of some of his anger. He was glad that his family was there to take care of her, even if it meant him spending a few days away.
"So, I guess I'll be taking a little trip." he said.
"Actually, I was hoping you wouold stay this time." Alice said quietly.
"Why?"
"Because I think it'll help her."
"What's that mean?"
"I'm not sure. I have a theory though. I was talking to her last night and I asked her why she kept putting herself through all this. She told me that she didn't have a choice. I didn't aske anumore question but I've been wondering about it all night and day. I think I understand know." Alice started. "You know how Bella is she doesn't think very much of herself. Well, the first problem is what that asshole is doing to her. It's making her think even less of herself. That also brings up the problem of her feeling that if she leaves him, she'll be alone for the rest of her life. She doesn't believe that any one else will love her. Mostly though, she thinks that she's completely lost you and that makes her feel worse about herself."
She said all this very face. Though, Edward caught every word, he had a hard time understanding all of it.
"So are you telling me she thinks she deserves it because of me?" Edward question.
"Something like that. She doesn't think that she can be happy again because you are the only one, other than Jacob that ever really loved her. She thinks that you don't love her anymore and so she thinks that Jacob is the only one she has." Alice answered.
"How do you know all this?"
"She's my best friend. I don't need your power to know how she feels. It's just a simple matter of observing and I've observed a lot about her in the past month. Especially, the way her face falls when you don't seem to care that she's hurt."
"So how do I change things?"
"Well, you could start by going down there and trying to talk to her and help take care of her. Do something to indicate that you still care. Then when your ready, tell her how much you still care. I know it's hard and it's going to hurt you a lot to see her like that but you can't keep running from it. If you do, we'll lose her and I know you don't want that."
"No, I don't. I'll head down in a minute."
"Okay." Alice said and walked out the door.
He needed a minute to think about what Alice had just told him. How could she think that he didn't care? He wanted nothing more than to pound the life out of that stupid dog. Maybe Alice was right though, he just kept running from it. That was probably why Bella thought that about him. He hadn't given her a reason not to. He would just leave her in the care of his family and walk away like her pain meant nothing.
He realized in that moment that his pain of seeing her constantly hurt was nothing compared to her constant hurt. It was then that he decided from now on he would be strong for her. He'd do anything to make sure that she was taken care of. Mostly though, he wouldn't run from her pain because it was in those moments that she needed him the most.
With that last thought, he headed downstairs to talk to her for the first time since the break up.
A/N: This chapter and the next one were orginally supposed to be one but this part turned out longer than I planned so I split them up. Enjoy. Free cookies for those who review!
